MINISTER'S TOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18077, 29 April 1922, Page 10

MINISTER'S TOUR.

MR. COATES AT TE AROHA. DISTRICT NEEDS VOICED. BX TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TE AROHA. Friday. The Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister for Public Works, arrivsd in. To Aroha late yesterday afternoon, and immediately re-1 ;eived deputations from the Borough Council, the Returned Soldiers' Associa-1 ;ion, and the Piako County Council. The Minister offered to sanction the culverting j jf Boundary Street creek, beside the post | jffice, if the borough would find £400 of j the estimated cost, £1000. The borough »uld do the work by arrangement with | the department. The council agreed to , provide £400. The Minister said he would j confer with his officers to see if any solu-1 tion could be found in regard to the pro- | vision of a new concrete traffic bridge over the Waihou, within the borough. The present bridge was much too narrow for safety. Mr. Coates heard objections to the proposal of the recent Rivers Commission in the matter of allocating the cost of improving the Waihou, and then informed the deputation that wme mistake appeared to have been made. Te Aroha was required to find about £600 per annum, not £1500 as stated; Piako County's contribution would be £1600. not £4000. However, he advised the local bodies to be represented at the conference arranged | between his engineers and the Thames VaDey Drainage Reference Board. lne figures quoted were based on the assumpthat the whole work would cost £650,000, but personally he hoped that figure was largely in excess of actual requirement*. _ The Minister told the returned soldiers deputation that he would make representations to the Repatriation Board, with a view to extendiiu the closing date for ipplicationß from joldiere for assistance in establishing businesses, making homes, etc., particularly with a view to enabling soldiers at piseat in hospitals or sanatoria to have the same facilities ao the fit men who had been discharged. The Morrinsville-Tahuna Road question was discussed with the county chairman, and finally the Minister said ho would provide a further £1500 to enable the work to be completed. At the Minister s request the deputation did not press for an immediate start upon metalling Starkey's Road. He promised to give the council authority to proceed at once to lift the subsidy of £1 for £5 for metalline Wardville Road, agreeing that that road was an important thoroughfare and the metalline very nrpently required. The Minister said he was much interested in the concreting of Stanley Road, and hoped it would bo completed as soon as possible for it was an innovation that promised to solve the reading problem on much nsed hirirways. He intended to inspect tbe concreting, even thoutrh in the hours of darkness. Later the Minister departed for Frankton