KAITAIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Northland Age, Volume 19, Issue 31, 3 November 1921, Page 6

KAITAIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

(To the Editor) SIR, —When Rip Van Winkle awoke from his long sleep in the Katskill Mountains which sleep he thought was only of a few hours’ duration, he was astounded at the change wrought in the surroundings of his native town, Sleepy Hollow. The whole place had changed, the friends of his youth had disappeared, Old Nick Vedder who kept the inn so much frequented by Rip had died and given place ' to his son, and Rip’s little daughter, Alice, was a budding woman whom he mistook for his wife, Gretchen. Had you, Mr. Editor, gone to sleep in 1914 and awoke in the year I<)21, you would have been as greatly astounded as Rip Van Winkle at the change wrought in our town and district—notwithstanding the five years of war—and at the new era of progress now so happily inaugurated, and notwithstanding the statements contained in your leader of October 6th, I have no hesitation in saying that this change is almost entirely due to the splendid work done by that progressive body, the Kaitaia Chamber of Commerce. The members of the Chamber are deserving of the wholehearted thanks of the farming and business community. They are the type of men who have done so much to place other districts in their present position, and their efforts have demonstrated to the people of New Zealand, and further afield, as no organisation lias ever done before, the splendid agricultural, pastoral and industrial possibilities of our district, the erstwhile Cinderella of New Zealand. I will now proceed to analyse the misleading statements contained in your leader, the first that the formation of the Town Board was held up contrary to the public interest. As I explained in a former letter the Council were unable to acquiesce in the scheme at the time for financial reasons; but apart from this there were two other great difficulties to overcome, one the impossibility of securing a revaluation of the town, and another —which as far as public health is con-cerned-made it impossible to carry out an efficient nightsoil service. This disability was placed upon us by the Act which allows those holding half an acre of more to evade their obligations to the community. These disabilities my Chamber has taken steps to have removed, and I understand that they are now removed. You go on to infer that it was not possible for a small body of citizens to exercise sufficient influence to bring the various schemes into being'. I thank you for the compliment, Mr. Editor, for the fact remains that the Chamber did succeed, and also that the work of creating the Western and Kaitaia Special Rating Areas, and the financing thereof, was done before placing the schemes before the County Council. It was also the Chamber that first suggested the procuration by the Council of up-to-date reading machinery, and members of the Executive made arrangements for a joint and several at the bank, and offered to finance the Council in the purchase of a road roller. The offer was not accepted, one member of the Council urging caution, saying that road rollers were still in the experimental stage. If you turn up your files of five years or so ago, you will be able to read of the Various fights put up by our VicePresident, Mr. F. Holder, then a member of the Council, when he wanted to purchase a grader and a few scoops. You go on to state that the soil survey of Northland promulgated by my Chamber had not been accomplished at the time your editorial was written. In this statement you display the most remarkable and culpable ignorance. The work was started many months ago by Mr. Ferrer, geologist ; the W hangarci section is already completed, and the survey is about to be continued up the western coast to the Far North. It will be a matter of surprise to residents to learn that the Postal Department keeps pace with the requirements of all districts. After over eighty years of settlement the postal business of Kaitaia was conducted in a miserable whare at the Junction. It is only about eight years ago since a portion of the present post office was built, and at that time the business was done by a postmistress and a girl. There was no telegraph system, no pillar boxes in the town. Owing to the urgent representations of the Chamber, a postmaster was appointed, a telegraph system installed (against the wishes of some of the officials), postal boxes erected, and the office enlarged. The same thing occurred with regard to the bridging of the Peria rivers, where for nearly a century the people were blocked by every flood. This matter was strongly taken in hand by the Chamber with the result which you behold to-day. You go on to ask who is to be thanked for the Ministerial visits. During the past six or more years all Ministers who have visited the district have come on the in-

vitation of the Chamber, and if you care to look at your official files you will see these communications from various Ministers, “ In response to the invitation from your Chamber I am arranging to arrive at Kaitaia, etc.” The Chamber was responsible for extending invitations to Sir Wm. Fraser, Hon. H. D. Guthrie, and the Hon. Gordon Coates, all of whom accepted the invitations. The Chamber also invited the members of the Land Board and Education Board, both of which bodies arrived in due course. The Chamber also extended an invitation to His Excellency the Governor-General, who has promised to visit the district during the present summer if possible. You will probablv be able to see by the newspaper report that one of the Ministers who paid an early visit gave as an excuse for not com•ing before that Ministers had hitherto not been invited, and that they had come to the conclusion that we did not want anything. This disability to our district was removed by the Kaitaia Chamber of Commerce.

Regarding the planting of the Sand Dunes, this was taken in hand by the Chamber on June 23rd, 1913, and a continuous agitation was kept up. The result is the steps now being taken. The Farmers’ Union did not take any steps whatever until a few months ago, but before that the Commissioner of Crown Lands had decided on the steps to be taken. With regard to the analysis of lime deposits, the initial steps to have the survey of the district made were taken by the Chamber on August 9th, 19x5, when a request was made to the Minister to have an expert sent up. This the Minister agreed to, and the report of the analysis was published in the “ Age ” in I believe 1916. Now to deal with the schemed which you state have been formulated by my Chamber and “never got beyond the talking stage.” You have the misfortune to have named five, and here again vou display the most crass ignorance of what has been done. With regard to the scheme for opening up the Awanui River for navigation and the reclamation of the mangrove swamps, three preliminary reports have been made, one by Captain Bollons, of the Hinemoa, and two by Mr. J. B. Thompson, Chief Drainage Engineer. Mr. Thompson’s final report—which was held up until he had inspected dredges in America—is now I understand in the hands of the Minister. The scheme for the establishment of the aerial mail service to the Northland was first started by the Chamber over three years ago, since when experimental runs have been authorised for Whangarei, covering a period of three months, also an experimental, or demonstration run from Auckland to Awanui, when aerial mails were delivered for the first time at Russell, Whangaroa, Mangonui and Awanui. On this occasion the cost was borne £6O by the Government, and £4O by myself. On that occasion I made the trip both ways, and had an ocular demonstration of the great possibilities of this means of transit, especially as far as mails are concerned. Further negotiations are now taking place with a company in England with regard to a permanent service. The proposal to build a hospital at Kaitaia was dealt with some twelve months ago, and received strong support from the Board, who set up a committee to deal with the sites offered. The fact that the financial conditions preclude the Board from taking further steps at present is not the fault of the Chamber. The opening up of the Motutangi Swamp was first taken in hand by the Chamber and voluminous correspondence, and many deputations to Ministers and others have taken place, with the result that we have secured a promise that the work will be put in hand. This question I dealt with fully at a public meeting held at Houhora some two months ago, when a number of returned soldiers were present who wished to take up the land. You state that the claims put forward by the Chamber is simply belittling the County Council, Ratepayers’ Association, Farmers’ Union, etc. No attempt whatever has been made to belittle any public organisation. Right from the inception of the Chamber it has been our policy to enlist the assistance ot Ministers, Members of Parliament, County Councillors, and all who could assist us to carry out our schemes; but the indisputable fact remains that the Chamber has been the organiser ef almost every progressive movement in the district for the past six years, and already carried to a successful issue. It may interest you to know that the expenses of organising the Kaitaia and W estern Special Rating areas, amounting to £7O, was borne by members of the Chamber, and that not a penny was subscribed by any public body. Then again the extra cost of entertaining Ministeis and other distinguished visitors was also botne by the Chamber, in addition to the expense of taking Mr. Crow, our present Consulting Engineer, on his first trip through the district in order to make a report on the best methods of road construction. Encouraged by the result of our past efforts, the Chamber will when the financial cloud lifts, promulgate, and carry to a

successful issue, other progressive schemes, and it will by its accomplishments continue to be a standing contradiction to the statements made by detractors of our fine district, which until seven years ago was unknown, whilst to-day the name of Kaitaia is a household word from one end of the Dominion to the other, solely through the untiring efforts of the Kaitaia Chamber of Commerce and those counected with it I am, etc., ALLEN BELL, President Kaitaia Chamber of Commerce. [Having published Mr Bell’s Brutum Fultnen we leave it to our readers for a week. Publication of matter we deem more important renders it impossible to reply to it in this issue. W e see no reason to alter our previously expressed opinion in the matter, but the length Of Mr Bell’s effusion, (let alone the abusive tone of it), and his again re-iterated claim that all progress in the district emanates from the Chamber of Commerce, will render it necessary for us to again strain the patience of our readers.] Editor, Age.]