TUAPEKA NEWS

Evening Star, Issue 14224, 25 November 1909, Page 6

TUAPEKA NEWS

[Frojl Oun Own Correspondent.] • t "■ —— The annual statutory meeting of the Tuapeka Oounty Council was held yesterday, when ail the coiiiicillore (with the exception of Cr J: K. Simpson, who was indisposed) .were present. The first business on the order paper was the election of a chairman .. for the ensuing twelve months, preceded by the retiring chairman's valedictory remarks. Mr G. H. Stewart, member for Crookston Riding, was the only candidate nominated, and was declared duly elected to the position. For some years past the Council lias lived up to the principle,that the chairmanship should be a rolling office. Cr Stewart, in the ordinary course, should have filled the position last year, but for private reasons ho declined nomination, holding himself in reserve ior the current year. This is Cr Stewart's third term as a councillor, and it is generally recognised that he is in every respect well qualified for the position. Not enly does he take a deep and keen interest in local government matters, but he is withal a man far above the ordinary intellectually, having had the benefit of a univ?Tsity education, with a. wellstored mind and sound judgment, ripened by travel in many lands. Mr Stewart, who is a of the late Mr W. Downie Stewart, of Dunedin, possesses a fine, estate in the famed Crookston district.

The retiring chairman (Mr W. E. Knight), before vacating the chair, took the opportunity of thanking councillors for their assistance and the good-will extended towards him during his term of office. With the experience he had gained as chairman, he realised the necessity more than ever of councillors, at the beginning of each year, going through their ridings with the engineer and noting the most urgent works, allocating their expenditure accordingly. It was impossible, with the revenue at their disposal, to give effect to every request for road%vork made to the Council.- It was his idea, begotten of experience, that if any riding desired a special work carried out, an. extra rate should be imposed for a year or two with the object of carrying out such work. At the present time, with a chronic overdraft, it was a case of " cut your coat according to your cloth." During the past year twenty contracts had been carried out, involving an expenditure of £6OO of county revenue* and £I,OBO of Government grants. In addition, £2,452 had been expended on day labor, £B2l on carting and grading, £571 on timber, etc., £l2O on blacksmithing, £lO7 on running county punts, and £95 on miscellaneous, giving a total expenditure on roads and works of £5,846 for the twelve months. Their timber account had been heavy, and would be so for ihe next two or three years, as the decking and beams of many of the bridges had reached their age limit, and called for lenewal. Cr Knight was specially thanked for the careful, painstaking, and oven-handed way in which he had carried out his duties and regulated the expenditure in the various ridings during the past year. The engineer reported that on the whole the roads throughout the county were in very fair summer order. The bridges around the Heriot district would require a good deal of attention this summer. The ro;id from Mat heron's Corner (Crookston) towards Heriot required a- coat of gravel, as in many places the gravel was worn down to the clay. As recommended at last Council meeting, the engineer suggested that the works proposed to be undertaken for the current year should be started a* soon as possible. Owing to the high state of the river, the bridge at Tuapeka Mouth had not yet been completed. The engineer was pleased to report that the Government had granted £IOO for the decking of the Waitahuna Bridge. 'The main road between Lawrence and Roxburgh called for attention in many places. There were several portions of the roads in Brown's riding that required to be graded ; in all, about four miles. The grading of portions of the road between Chalmers Hill andMoa Flat woolshed was well in hand. Application had been made to the Government for a vote tc give Mr W. H. Hay an outlet to his run in the Crookston district.—The engineer's report was received and adopted.

From nil accounts., matters in connection with the county severance question, when before the Local Bills Committee of the House the week before last, -were decidedly brisk. The separationists wer.enot a strong force, but what they lacked in numbers was made, ujn in virulence on the part of the recognised leader. All manner of charges were levelled against Tuapeka County and its administrators. " The officials," eo it was said, " ran the show. They did 36 they liked; they squandered the money when and wherever it be6t suited them ; the interests of the ratepayers were never studied. Muddle and incapacity was a byword. Tapamii and Crookston ridings contributed nearly the whole of the revenue of the county, and hardly ever got a penny returned for bridge or road works. The bridges were rotten and useless for traffic, and tlio roads, even in summer, wore bogs and death-traps." And so on. But the separationists. had rot everything their own way. Facts and figures—hard and incontrovertible—were trotted out against these wild and misleading statements, and it was conceded on all hands, and even admitted by the more reasonable and sober-minded and truth-loving of the separationists, that Tuapeka County made a. strong and wdrthy defence, and deserve a meritorious win. The ballast engine that has been at work o/i the Lawrence-Roxburgh railway line for the past six or seven months was removed from here on Monday to Broken River, where it is to work in future. The driver and fireman took their departure next morning for Christ .church, witli an instiuction to report themselves at Broken River* on the following day. It is understood that another ballast engine will arrive this week to take the place of the one that has been transferred, and that a gang of platelayers will commence laying the rails on the line from C'repk to Big Hill. There is no word of the resumption of work in the tunnel, but the Beaumont settlers are satisfied that the Hon. Roderick M'Kcnzie will issue the necessary instructions in the course of a week or two. The Dunedin branch of the Lawrence-Roxburgh Railway league should wait on the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie during Show Week, and get his assurance of the speedy resumption of the tunnel and construction works. The hon. gentleman 'is anxious that Roxburgh should be tapped by a railway without unnecessary delay, and why not by the Lawrence extension when the Prime Minister will not authorise the scheduling i>f the line from Bahlutha via Tuapeka Mouth?

" Bethlehem Farm." comprising some 600 acres of very choice agricultural land, highly improved and in splendid heart, situated at Edicvale. has just passed out of the hands of Mr John Kdie, jun., into those of Messrs Edie Bros. I am not at liberty to five tlie exact amount tendered for the farm and stock, but am not disclosing a secret in saying (hat it .was in the neighborhood of five figures. Truly, the value "of choice land in and around thelDunrobin and Crookston districts is surprising. The difficulty cf finding a candidate to fill the vacancy in the Borough Council caused by Cr Peteix's retirement has been overcome by Mr H. H. Leary, an excouncillcr, consenting to nomination.- It looked at one time as if the vacancy would go by default, as this was the third occasion which nominations were invited. Lawrence, November 25.