DIAMOND JUBILEE

Evening Star, Issue 22631, 24 April 1937, Page 20

DIAMOND JUBILEE

WAITAKI COUNTY COUNCIL FUNCTION

The diamond jubilee of the Waitaki County Council was celebrated last night with a dinner in the Queen’s Hotel, at which were present councillors and their wives as well as representatives of the Oamaru Borough Council and the various other local bodies of the town and district. The function was a memorable one, and speeches in reminiscent vein narrated many tales of hardship for early members of the council. Roads in the beginning were unformed, and travelling about was a task at times of the greatest difficulty; but those times are now relegated to the limbo of forgotten things, for Waitaki’ County is to-day the proud possessor of many fin© highways, while the back-country roads are, in the main, particularly well formed and comfortable for travelling. The function was presided over by the chairman (Mr James Rodman), who extended a warm welcome to the gathering, and expressed pleasure at the large attendance of representatives of other bodies. . In proposing the toast of The Waitaki Council,’ the mayor (Mr M. F. E. Cooney) said the sixtieth anniversary of the council was indeed a noteworthy event. The interests of Oamaru and the County of Waitaki were closely interwoven, so that it was unnecessary to expatiate on the happy and cordial relations existing between the two bodies. The county had overcome almost insurmountable difficulties in its advancement through the years, and it was to the early members that great credit was duo; for they had given to posterity and the present council a county almost free of debt. The speaker extended to the council hearty felicitations of the attainment of the diamond jubilee, and expressed the hope that the future would mark an epoch of even greater prosperity and progress. . ’ Mr Rodman, in reply, said they had to. look back to the early members for what .they possessed to-day; for their co-operation and. harmony, together ■with, the spirit of advancement, had been the means of making the Whitaki County one of the finest in the Dominion. The .work of the early councils was to make and open up_ roads and hills, build crossings and bridges; but as New Zealand advanced, so djd the work of the council become enlarged and the outlook. broadened, until to-day the position was very different indeed. The early councillors had boasted that , they had no need to borrow money, and they certainly left the county almost free from debt; but in these times it was virtually impossible to advance without borrowing in some shape or form. Circumstances were vastly different to-day, but ratepayers would be consoled to know that the rates levy was lower than in any other county in New Zealand. To-day they had 36 miles of tar-sealed roads, while

the country highways were in exceptionally '-good order. T{jey were still endeavouring to make progress, and during the last few years hadjaccomplished much in this direction. Whereas in' the early days people travelling had to carry spades in the event of being bogged, to-day travelling was a comfort and a pleasure. _ There was much to be done, even yet in the way. of progress, but they would endeavour to overcome all difficulties in the same manner as they had been Overcome in the past. Other speakers referred to* the great strides made by the council in the opening tip of the back-country roads, which were now in good order, and to the cordial relations existing among all the local bodies.