Stratford and Ngaire.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XX, Issue 2318, 5 January 1893, Page 2

Stratford and Ngaire.

i (FEOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Stratford publicans would appear to have bad no oanee to complain of wont of " custom daring the holidays if it Jbe true, as i rumour cays, that the conitable had hii M lock-up fall of •'drank and disorderlies" tbe other night, who held high carnival { whilst their epirita (natural. and imbibed) luted, Her Majesty's exchequer made a ' big haul the next morning, though, when fines and costs to tbe tune of something like £10 were ordered to be paid. ' " The local lodge of Masons have deter* mined to build a Masonio Hall, Bro. J. Gorrie being entrusted with; the piani* There has been some talk, too, of building a theatre or opera hoaae, but that will probably bide a wee. Tenders for tht Masonio hall have been already incited. Mr. Mason, who , wss our firstrßank of New Zealand manager and who was lately ordered elsewhere,. is; so well contented with Stratford and co bopefal of Utfatar*, that he has retired from the bank%fgerviee ,: and has oommenoed bußiueß&locthimielf '"' here. " • <>/-ffTf.. The Bird road .£2,500 loan waa" } carried by a very narrow majority, there being - discontent as to the boundaries bf tfr . Bpeoial area. This question of speeiaV areas is likely to prove .very. troublesome?" in the near future. At lair meeting of -c 1 the Goucty Council, Mr. H.CoutU ' 1 attended to complain of the inclusion of ; his land in the. To'to road special area, alleging that it was 90& fo be adequately > benefited. Alter a good deal of discussion ■ the resolution to raise the loan was rescinded, and notice ■ was given of the 1 Council's intention to raisea loan :on the ' security of an area to be then defined, the ' engineer meanwhile to go QDulaying off r the work bo as to save time. • , ' The Government havV taken 'i "peculiar 1 course with respect to the ißagt road. [ They have wired to the County SOooncil 1 to say tba| they have determined to < f devote fifteen hundred -pounds v t6' r raising ' * the road through Coutte' swamp, and to » metalling patches amounting to 4 siilei 9 16 chains between the Kahouri and the * Toko store. The Council, ia notified thajfe^ 7 this is all that the Government- in te^Uok^ do op to the Mangaere blobk,-,indlß|it« '• tbe Counoil will have to take .'over thef * road and provide * for : 'anV further * metalling. What has become of the 1 £18,000 ? and bow are the 1 CJojubil to ' provide the money? are queationV which 9 at onoe suggest themselves* Again, what ■» is to become of tbe metalling through the 1 Mangaere block ? If I remember, right, ' tbe block was loaded with. the cost of a reading only, without metal even ok Bm 6 road. The settlers are in there^ls busy 9 as bees, felling bnsb to make homei. How '•, are they going to get out? lam afraiflt 5 the Government are not yet quite on the ? right track with respect to tbe settlement 8 of bush tends. ,i • , Mr. Miohali'3 tender has bean.accepted 9 for tbe formation contract, Kabdnri to Toko road. The figure has not yet been j* disclosed. ' -) * At the last meeting of the. County ? Council, tbe engineer vraff.orSeted to re* } 0 port upon the applioatibn' of Messrs. 8 Johnson for improvement io Upper Hast* 3 ings road. The council decided to have l ". Opunake road metalled with broken stone, 6 not considering the sample ' of gravel 8 submitted good enough. The question' 6 having arisen as to how, the driver of Mr. " Erongh's engine; which has been hired by a the council for Brierly's contract, was to 6 be paid for six weeks' lost time, it was ? mutually agreed that Brough and the y council should each pay half. The 1 machine is guaranteed to crush a minimum '• of 60 yards a day. Mr, Beid complained 9 that tenders had not been invited for Bird 9 road loan works. It was explained that ? the engineer had been too busy, tbe press * of work being very great. It was resolved 1 to spend i>2s in backing np-the; metal on t East road, which was urgently needed. t On the; motion of Mr. Irvine, it wai * determined that accounts should for tbe 3 future be passei. immediately after eon* 1 firmation of the minutes. Mr. Thomson J asked that a monthly balance aheet for 6 each riding should be laid upon the 5 council at every meeting. The motion ' was opposed as involving too mUofr work 1 for the clerk, and, not being seconded, ■ lapsed. On tbe question arising oi pay* \ ment of the chairman's expenses to Wellington recently, on East road business, Mr. Thomson objected to the amount being paid out of county revenue. He considered that tbe public meeting whioh had requested the chairman to go to Wellington on this mission should also have provided for the payment of tbe cost. The item was passed on division, Mr. Thomson being tbe only dissentient. The amount agreed to be borrowed by the. Stcatford county from the Treasury for road works up to date is £17,000/ Of this £5000 was borrowed last year, 36000 this, and the Treasurer, under the provi. sioiis of the Act, has promised to lend £6000 next year. The council is there* fore right up to its limit (£BOOO a year) till tbe end of March, 1894. In addition to the above, there is tbe Fjoftaerty road £1400 loan and the Cardiff Waingongoro £600, making another £2000 which' will have to go against tbo 1894-95 allowance. As all these sums are borrowed on the security of heavy special rates, it cannot be said that onr settlers are afraid to take their fate into their own bands. Some people will, no doubt, consider us mii* | guided and reckless ; others will applaud our enterprise. Be it for good or iljlit is tbe dairy factory and its satellite tbe milk-oart that are responsible for this «*ate of things, and thai will tax to tbe uttermost the resources of more than one neighboring local body before long, t venture to think. If you don't want good roads and special rates, keep the dairy factory at a distance and your household pegging away all day ekimminjt nadU wishing pans and busy with the many other attendant tasks of private dairvin/. Verbumsap. There is a strong belief in "some quarters that the advance and prosperity ol Strat. ford up to the present have been due to the expenditure of money on roadworks, and so on. This is, however, quite a mistake. Very little, money has Vo far been actually spenfi on theae wbrki, very few oontracts having been as yet com. pieted. Our progress hag been simply due to our position and to lcokuif after

N0. .1 (as our critics would put it). I, think it probable tbat the expenditure of • large ram annually on road works will have a very stimulating effect in tbe future; which will last some time, and be then, perhaps, followed by a certain amount of reaction ; but that this latter will be very serious, or will be ot long duration, Ido not believe. Stratford will * bave to grow into a very big place before it outstrips its legitimate bounds. At least, so I think and bave always thought ■nd written.

Mr. Darling, who is organising the "West Coaet Dairy .Association, is in the district, and proposes holding a meeting at Stratford to lay the aim and proposals of tbe concern before dairymen.