NEW COURTHOUSE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 25 November 1941, Page 4

NEW COURTHOUSE

RUATORIA AMENITY OPENED BY MINISTER COAST DEVELOPMENT The opening of the new courthouse in Ruatoria was the occasion of a large gathering of Waiapu Valley residents, principally to meet and to hear the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, Minister of Justice, who visited the Coast centre to perform the official function. The Minister was accompanied on his visit by Mr. B. L. Dallard, Undersecretary for Justice, and Mr. G. Dixon, private secretary. In the absence of Mr. D. W. W. Williams, chairman of the Waiapu County Council, who was unavoidably detained on urgent business, the Minister and his party was welcomed by Mr. V. G. H. Rickard, a member of the council. Other speakers at the function included Mr. I. S. C. Dalgairns, representing the Justices of the Peace, Mr. L. C. Parker, representing the Gisborne Law Society, Mr. Henare Poananga, representing the Maori people of the district, Mr. A. J. if. Kirkham, chairman of the Waiapu Hospital Board, and Mr. E. L. Walton, stipendiary magistrate for the district. Replying to the warm welcome extended to him, Mr. Mason remarked upon the large attendance, and commented that the opening of the new courthouse in Ruatoria exemplified the change which had taken place in recent years in many parts of the Dominion, as the result of improved facilities for transport. It was also the consummation of a proposal first mooted exactly 20 years ago for the establishment of a court more centrally located. In the early days, Mr. Mason continued, the principal court on the Coast, after Gisborne, was Port Awanui. Later, sittings were established in Tolaga Bay and Waipiro Bay, but with the development of the roads and closer settlement, the movement had been to place the courts lurther inland.

In May, 1922, the establishment of a court at The Crossroads, as Ruatoria was then called, was gazetted, but whether the move was then premature, or whether it aroused parochial rivalries, was a matter of opinion. It was strange that the closing of a court or of a gaol was almost invariably regarded locally as a sign of retrogression. The court in Ruatoria was closed in July, 1923, and the one in Port Awanui was reopened. Drift of Settlement Sir Apirana Ngata, with his customary prescience, had represented to the department in 1922 that, although the time was not then ripe for a change, ultimately it would be found that the drift of settlement would call for a rearrangement of court sites, and that the actual development would be the shifting of the court from Port. Awanui to Ruatoria, and the opening of a courthouse in Te Araroa to meet the requirements of a large population in the northern part of the district. The court in Ruatoria was reopened in 1935, and sittings were held in the community hall. “It is not generally recognised that this part of the magisterial district embraces approximately 25 per cent of the total Maori population of the Dominion, and that there is a steadilyincreasing European settlement,” continued the Minister. “The district, due to its inaccessibility, has been one of the last to be brought into closer settlement, but since the roads have been improved the district has gone ahead by leaps and bounds. “The task of the magistrates in the early days was no easy one, and they frequently complained of the terrible conditions of the roads and the uncertainty and dangers of the Waiapu and Awatere rivers. The bridging of these rivers, and improved transport lacilities have tended to consolidate the district and develop a community sense, and the building of this new courthouse represents the provision of a further amenity by the Government to meet the growing needs of the district.”

At the conclusion of the opening ceremony at the courthouse, the Minister’s party and other visitors adjourned to the Whakarua Park Centennial Pavilion, where afternoon tea was provided by a ladies’ committee under the leadership of Mrs. J. W. Burch. While the tea was being served, senior pupils of the Manutah.i Native School entertained the gathering with Maori action songs. Floral decorations for the tables were provided by Mrs. I. S. C. Dalgairns, and Mrs. Meffan, with the aid of school pupils, was responsible lor decorating the dais from which the Minister spoke during the official function.