NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15 1920 A MINISTERIAL VISIT.

Northern Advocate, 15 December 1920, Page 2

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15 1920 A MINISTERIAL VISIT.

Registered for transmission through the post &s a newspaper.

The announcement that the' Minister of Public Works is to visit Whangarei next Tuesday evening is very welcome. Ministers' visits to this progressive J part of the Dominion are almost like those of angels though the very fact i that the North is busy with the process of development means that there are many subjects which local boJies and public men would like to discuss with i the members of Cabinet.. Air Coates, i no doubt, will find himgeli yery fully occupied on Tuesday evening, not only with questions affecting his own Departments of Public Works and Post and Telegraphs but al3o probably with listening to requests which he will bo asked to pass on to other Ministers. .His stay, we arc afraid, will bo too short, but the people in Whangarei and tiro neighbourhood should not on that account bo reluctant to make their wants known to him. We are ,glad to see that the Mayor of Whangarei and the Chairman of the Whangarei County Council have called a meeting for Friday night in order to prepare for Mr Coat'es' visit. The County Council, of course, will have important matters to bring under his notice. We presume that the question of the through roai to Dargaville by the Wheki Valley will be one of these. The Public Works Department certainly should 'assist the local bodies to make jtlijo route passable. As we said the other day, the borough is keenly interested in this matter, and wo hope that the county and jthc Borough will make combined representations to the Minister. The Borough Council, no doubt, will also have itsown business with the Minister, and the local bodies should try to strengthen the claims that have been put forward from time to time for State assistance in various ways. The whole district is interested in thp drainage of the Hrkunnigi Swamp,. Mr Coates should be asked for (definite information concerning the scheme and urged to pugh it forward- The mail services in many parts of this district are sadly inadequate, Mr Coates i 3 the

Postmaster-General, and he should be willing to ■receive representations concerning the needs of the district. Wh.ingarei is still without a delivery of postal parcels. It should be worth while to get tho Minister to look into this question.. The request that has' been made so frequently for the housing of all the Government offices in Whangarei under one .'ooi; ig one that affects the Public Works Department. Whangarei needs a branch of the Valuation Department, and though this is a matter outside Mr Coates' province lie would, tio doutt, be willing to pass on any representations that are made to him. There arc many more mattri's for Ministerial consideration thai might be mentioned, and we trust I hat Friday's meeting will go into them, if a definite programme can bo drawn up, Ho that no question of importance is overlooked, and speakers can be selected to put the various requests before the Minister timo will be saved and the host results obtained.