POHANGINA COUNTY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 79, 2 March 1927, Page 7

POHANGINA COUNTY

HISTORY since formation in 1894. INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES. Thirty-five years ago—in 1892 when tne progress of settlement in the Pohangina region began to call for the construction of more access roads, part of the Kiwitea Road Board’s territory was cut off and constituted the Pohangina Road Board, and two years later the Pohangina Cotinty Council. Then, as now, there was a limit to the borrowing powers of local bodies and the Kiwitea Road Board found itself in the position of being unable to finance the construction of the roads required when the bush was being so rapidly cleared and the land settled. The formation of the Pohangina Road Board was designed to overcome the difficulty and the measure succeeded, although in a round about manner. The first meeting of the board was held at Feilding on September 27, 1892, in the office of Mr E. Goodbehere. The five wardens at that time comprised Messrs G. R. Luoas (chairman), H. Dickin, F. Arbon, F. Richards and Burton.

WAGE SCALE 84 YEARS AGO. Mr Goodbehere was appointed secretary at a salary of £6O per annum, he to furnish a meeting room. Mr C. Bray, the Kiwitea Road Board engineer, acted for the new hoard until the appointment of Mr H, J. Haynes. The outgoings of the board at the outset were small, being as little as £l7 at one meeting. Roadmen in those days were paid six shillings a day and the wardens received 10s per day for attending the meetings at Feilding. The first payment by way of levy to the Palmerston North Hospital Board was £23 10s 3d. To-day it is over £IOOO per annum. The Pohangina and Kiwitea Boards then had no representation on the Palmerston North Hospital Board and it was not until 1896 that a joint representative was appointed. FIRST MEETING AT POHANGINA.

In 1893 a move was made to have the meetings held at Pohangina and that year the present offices were erected and the first meeting held in the township. It is interesting here to note that the first rates struck were a general rate of id in the £1 and a separate rate of like amount. The present chairman of the Pohangina County Council (Mr F. W. Arbon) and the late G. R. Lucas were largely responsible for the removal of the place of meeting to Pohangina. It was then that Mr Haynes was appointed engineer and clerk at a salary of £2OB per annum, the office being open on two days of the week.

The next progressive step was to have the board constituted a county council. A bill was drafted by Mr J. P. Innes (the present solicitor to the man), W. Vickary, E. Bell, A. A. WagMember for the district) took charge of it in the House where the measure was passed in October 1894 and the Pohangina County established. The first meeting of the council was held on November 3, 1894, the Councillors- being Messrs H. Diokin (chairman) W, Vickary, E. Bell, A. A. Wagstaff-, C, Selby, R. W. Brown and fi. Fraser.

For many yearß the main business of the council was the formation of new roads to serve the settlers in different quarters of the district but before this could be done tracks had to be cut through the bush which still covered a great part of the country area. However, the settlers loyally cooperated and owing to lack of funds often had to wait a long time for payment for their work on the county’s behalf. Eventually the council resolved that no settler be paid for road 'line clearing work until the road bad ljeen actually formed. At this period of his history bush felling was one of the most important matters on the agenda paper at Pohangina County Council meetings.

BUSY DAYS. Busy days succeeded the formation of the council. Roads and bridges had to be built at a great pace to cope with the demands for access to bush blocks but Government loans facilitated matters and by 1896, two years after the council was formed, its public debt had risen to £23,531. A source of revenue was the thirds which were obtained when sections went into occupancy. As time went on other on this body bad to face the particular problems of their era such as more advanced road construction and metalling. As many as 12 contracts in connection with roads and bridges were let at one time in those days. The streams in the district necessitated quite a lot of bridge work and to-day there qre 40 with spans of 25 feet or over.

With the advent of motor traffic the maintenance of the roads which had been good enough for the horse traffio constituted a fresh and not easily solved problem. Machinery had to be purchased for the purpose and the number of employees increased and boused. In 1895 a motion to build a clerk’s residence was carried although it was not given effect to untTT 1916. Since then the residence of the engineer and those of several roadmen have been erected. Since the formation of the council 40 different persons have sat on it and there have been seven engineers and nine clerks. VALUATION COMPARISON. The following comparative figures for the financial year 1926-27 with those for , 1894 in parentheses are of interest i —Valuation of county, £1,713,636 (£191,378); total rates, £9,441 (£1196); general rate, £5362 (£598); special rates £4079 (£598). The mileage of roads in the county to-day is 178. The public debt at March 31 last was £71,262 2s 4d of which £1207 expires this year, £3791 next year, and £1209 in 1929. ’