PROPOSED NEW COUNTIES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8937, 1 July 1905, Page 2

PROPOSED NEW COUNTIES.

KAPONGA DECIDES TO MOVE

Mt Bridge, Chairman of the Waimate Road Board, said at the. meeting held at Mimaia several spoke very strongly against Okaiawa, Maugatoki. and tltluuu being included in the Waimate county scheme, and it was decided to leave those districts out. Since then, however, it had transpired that those ratepnyers did not voice the opinions of the district and that was the reason for the present meeting. The speaker then went on to deal with the reasons for the formation of the new county. As to Okaiawa he pointed out that whereas they now had only one member they would have throe under the new scheme. The district would have no rough back country liable to slips to take their money, and the proposed county would be one of the most easily looked after in New Zealand. The size, as compared with- other counties and tiho subsidy .question were discussed. The proposals before the ratepayers was to hfivc the railway reserve as the northern boundary, th© sea on the south, Waingongoro on tho cast, and the Oco river on tlic west. If the Okaiawa people did no!- fall in with the suggestion there was no doubt the Waimate proposal would be gone on with us there was only a. small portion fighting against, it.. With Okaiawa and a portion of Mangatoki added there was no doubt it would be better than the original proposal. The only objection h<! could see was that Ihn county would not have control of the roads to the railway station. Bui they would only haw to pay » trivial sum to keep up tlrnt road us the law would only allow what was fair. It had bwn «aid if Okaiawa joiiiod Utoy would luivo to taar n, portion of the W.umatc debt, but. that would not Ih so as riding accounts would bo k<«pt. At present Okaiawa riding pays £950 in rates, a.tid it was for the ratopayeT6 to any whether they got- that, amount epcnl on their roads or not. The Hawcra county overdraft was now £5700, of which Okaiaxva's share was £384, and Manga) okis £1590 so that Okaiawa was in a fairly good position. .• The cost of admin : *}t(<ring the new county should not be more than 7 per cent. — tlie cost of the present Road Board. He set tho rateable value down at £950,000, which, at Id rale (which Okaiawa now pays) should produce £3960 in rates. Other revenue would be : Subsidy £742, hotel licenses £50, dog tnx £100, and if 1-Jd rate were struck on Waimate (as nt. present) there would be another £680, making a total of £5530. He .(suggested that th© present Okaiawa. and Maugatoki portion would Ixj o.n'tit.k'd ro thTee members and recommended that the now county should be formed.

Mr R. W. Foreman said they had heard from Mr Bridge what would be gained by joining the new county, and he asked that Mr Joll would now tell them what they would lose by so doing.

Mr Joll said he would speak as a ratepayer. H© agreed that it would benefit " the Waimate Road > Board and the Hawcra County Council if a new county were formed. It was a. funny thing, lie thought, that the county had been running so many years ' without .discovering they had been losing revenue. But,' although it would be a distinct advantage for Waimate to form a county it was questionable whether Okaiawa should join them or remain with Hawera. Personally his intere6te lay with Waimate, but by joining Okaiawa would lose control of the Main South Toad. Formerly, if anything was brought up against 'the interests of Wairnato there were three members ou the Hawera County Council who exercised a. strong voice. If Okaiawa joined SWaimate Hawera could put on toll gates or a wheel tax. As they had considered the cutting up of the district he thought the whole, matter should b© left in abeyance for a while to see if they could get a workable county where they would have full of the toad from Hawera to Opunake. ' (Hear, bear). So far as the back country was concerned it was no drawback to be attached . to it, as the money that was collected here was spent here. Again, if Waimate formed a county there would be .three .members fewer and very likely Okaiawa would be entitled to one of the seats. He concluded by saying that Okaiawa had better stay where it was.' .Mr Marx addressed the meeting on the lines of hie Mangatoki and Kappnga. addresses. He urged that' a better county would be an extension, of Hawera to the west, and the northern and central divisions of Waimate, with w, portion of Man-. gatoki to fojm k county. Theyjwould them have a through road in both instances. He held UiaV it would be better to; forego the subsidy for another twelve months 'than to make a botch of- it and what Mr Bridge was proposing was only a botch. , (Hear, hear). , , Aii Bridgfl/Baid/t% would get, pretty, strong opposition from the dentral division* to the proposal put. forward by .Mr Marx:; l t 1^. been< f°if^f ito 4.t h «t the district should <be got hold, of to 'help pay for the upkeep of.the Elthaon road,{ but the iht«r-\ «sta of th©' 1 central division were identical with the southern.

There were about 20 persons present at the Kaponga Hall on Friday morning to discuss the question of forming a new county for northern Waimate. Mr L. May, who was voted to the chair, called upon Mr M. Fitzgerald to place his views before the mooting. Mr Fitzgerald said lie had not gone into figures, but the question was, Should an alteration in the county boundaries be made? Their district had to construct the roads, and the matter of management required consideration. He complained that Waimate had not treated them fairly, and said they gained nothing from start to finish by being with Waimate. By forming a county with the centre at Kaponga, and joining a portion of Egmont, they could then put a strong case before the Minister for Railways for the constructiou of a line. Mr Marx, upon being called upon to speak, said he was there as a ratepayer of the Mangatoki riding and not as its representative. If it were decided not to join in with Hawera. but to set up a new county, then the thing was to determine which would be the best boundaries. At the Manaia meeting certain boundaries were laid down, but they appeared to him to be arbitrary, and on his motion Mangatoki was excluded. Supposing a division were decided upon, a very good ' division could be made if they could get I the people to agree to it. The main thing to consider was the arterial "roads, and they had three west of Eltham, namely, the Eltham, Main South and Skeet roads, and in any division made it was desirable to have each road under one or other oi the counties. A division north and soiitli •would not suit nearly so well as a divisior through the territory east and west. Th« speaker went on to deal with subjects discussed at the Mangatoki meeting, and said if they changed they wanted to change for the better. (Applause.) A trouble he foresaw was as to where the seat of government would be, but the important matter really was, to see that the country was cut up properly. He did think, however, that Manaia was too far away to be- the county town. He I thought two counties could be formed out \ of the present Hawera county with a capital value of 1£ millions each. Mr J. Richardson said they had a meeting at Riverlea a little time ago, and the feeling was to keep the Eltham road open for their straight outlet to the railway. Mr Jjitzgerald asked Mr Marx, as a momber of the County Council, if he thought the railway could be forced on if there were two counties. Mr Marx: I really don't think so. 1 am not nearly so sanguine of th© railway as Mr Fitzgerald, and am afraid it's the proverbial bunch of uarrots. What we have to watch is the roads. (Hear, hear.' Continuing, Mr Marx said complaints had l>een made of the mismanagement of the Hawera County Council, and it had been asked where the rates went to. He had worked it out that in his riding, allowing a wear of iinch of metal over a 12ft road per annum, 2000 yards of metal would lie required, which at 10s per load meant £1000 per annum. They could not, of course, have that amount of money spent. Mr Fitzgerald asked Mr Marx whether Mangatoki would be satisfied to come in with them. Mr Marx: Oh, I cannot express an opinion on that. Mr Fitzgerald moved, That the northern and central divisions of the Waimate Road j District, with the Mangatoki riding and a portion of the Egmont County at a boundary to be determined unon. together with a portion of the Okaiawa survey district, form a county. Mr Frethey seconded, Mr Marx thought they should keep to the Hawera county, as they would only be multiplying difficulties by interfering with Hawera County. The motion was briefly discussed and carried unanimously, and it was resolved to hold meetings in other parts of the district interested to further consider the matter. The meeting then rose. OKATAWA REJECTS THE WAIMATE I SCHEME. About fifty ratepayers assembled at the Okaiawa Town Hall on Friday afternoon to, consider the question of joining Waimato in the endeavor to form a new county. Mr Bremer, who was voted to the chair, remarked that it had been said that the meeting originated with Waimate, but that vjas not so, as he was one of those responsible. The meeting was called to consider whether it was not to their advantage to join the proposed Waimate county. Reasons in favor of the proposal were that the county would be one of the finest valued in Stevy Zealand. It would be compact, very easily supervised, and an engineer would not be required. There were several portions of the back country across the railway line which they did not wish to have anything to do with, as their interest ceased as soon as they got to the railway.

Mr Fit/geraid said the present was the usual performance of Waimate. He liad been a ratepayer for 23 years and rates from his district had been gathered for the. Main South road. Now that the roads wero made it was proposed to cut the northern, people off, Mr Hurley said nothing was decided against, tho northern division yet, and they had only to say tho word to be included. Mr Maunder moved, That the proposal which has lieen submitted to this meeting does not meet with the approval of the ratepayers of the district interested. He said they had undoubtedly to make a change in face of the loss of subsidy, but the question was, What was the change to be? It 6hould bo done in a businesslike way 50 as to give the management of the arterial roads right through. A lothad been said regarding rates but all the cutting up would not affect the revenue; 1 it would be made neither more nor Ices. j Mt Foreman seconded the motion, which I wns carried unanimously. 1 I Tho meeting then dispersed.

Mr Maunder : What- about the northern division; why is that hung up between heaven and earth? Mr Bridge said it was their own fault that, they were not included in the scheme. A Voice : Oh, they have been naughty ! Mr Bridge explained that meetings had been held at Kaponga a<nd that place had decided against the project. There was no reason, however, why the northern division should not come in. Mr Fitzgerald said the Kaponga meeting had adjourned for further information. Air Maunder asked, assuming that the northern division were left out, if they thought the- House would agree to a county of euoli a shape as Hawexa would then bo?