BAG LAN ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12400, 13 October 1903, Page 6

BAG LAN ITEMS.

CONSTABLE McNAMABA and Mrs. McNamara who are leaving this district for Cambridge, to the charge of which police station the constable has been transferred, were entertained at i a farewell social gathering in the Public Hall hero on Saturday evening last. A capital entertainment was provided, the programme comprising vocal and musical items, speech-making, the making of a presentation to Mrs. McNamara, and dancing. Mr. W. M. Bankart, J.P., who presided, explained that the regulations of the police force prevented the acceptance of a gift as a testimonial by an officer from the public, but that it had been determined Mrs. McNamara should not be allowed to leave without taking with her some mark of the esteem and good wishes of the people of Raglan for herself and her husband. At the conclusion of an appropriate speech, during the course of which Mr. Bankart voiced the general appreciation of Constable McNamara's behaviour as a zealous and conscientious officer of the law, and of his own and Mrs. McNamara's popularity among the residents of the district, the latter was asked to accept a token of the good will manifested towards them, in the form of a marble timepiece bearing a silver plate with an inscription commemorative of the occasion. Mr. T. B. Hill also referred to the high reputation Constable McNamara had earned for himself, and Mr. C. D. Husband, who had been his schoolmaster in Canterbury, commented upon the pleasure it gave him to see one of his former pupils honoured in such a manner. The function was throughout of a most successful nature, and the arrangements, which were improvised at short notice, reflected much credit on Mr. B. W. Hamilton, J.P.. by whom they were organised. At a gathering of residents of the. district, held during the day, a resolution was passed, on the motion of Mr. Bankart, seconded by Mr. Edmonds, expressive of the appreciation of the residents of the district of the manner in which Constable McNamara had discharged his duties as officer in charge of the police station and clerk of the Court during the time he- had been stationed in Raglan. Another meeting was held in Raglan on Saturday afternoon, in connection with the road-metalling proposals. The chair was occupied by Mr. E. H. Schnackcnberg. chairman of the Road Metalling Committee, who stated that information had been received to the effect that the Treasury would not sanction a poll for a loan of more than £12,000, the expenditure of which sum would be extended over two years, so that it was useless to persevere with the scheme adopted by the committee, which involved the raising of £22,500. Mr. Bankart, one of the councillors present, expressed the opinion that if a .poll were taken on a proposal to raise £12,000, in the event of its being successful only a portion of the amount would be available, as the Local Bodies' Loans Act provided that a County Council could not borrow more than £6000 in any one year, and as other ridings of Raglan County contemplated raising loans for road works, the distribution of the £6000 would he pro rata. It was eventually agreed, on the motion of Mr. G. A. Edmonds, seconded by Mr. W. P. Cogswell, J.P.. "That this meeting of ratepayers request the County Council to take steps to raise a loan of £12,000, the money to be expended as follows:—£3soo in Karioi Riding, and £8500 on the main road between Raglan and Whatawhata, in the following manner, viz.:— £1500 on the deviation" between Waritetuna and vVhatawhata, and £7000 in metalling ■ continuously from Raglan to Mftungatawhiri, and where found most necessary beyond that point in the direction of Whattnvhata." It was somewhat remarkable that after all the conflict of opinions as to the allocation of the money proposed to be borrowed, unanimity should at last prevail, and the latter fact sliced augur well for the success of the loan proposals when the matter arrives at that stage which necessitates the taking of a poll of the ratepayers.