DEPUTATION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 770, 3 December 1886, Page 30

DEPUTATION.

4l deputation consisting of Messrs Thomas Mackay (Chairman of the Wairarapa East Oounty Council), David Crewe {Chairman IPahiatua Road Board), W. Jessen (Chairman Mauriceville Road Board), W, W. McCardle and Eli Smith (members of the Wairarapa East County County Council), A. Reese 4Mangahao Special Settlement), C. J. Richmond (Secretary Wellington Special Settlement No. 1), and J. R. Morgan (Secretary Wellington Special Settlement No. 2), ■who represented the various local bodies in the Wairarapa District, waited upon the Hon E. Richardson, Minister of Public Works, and the Hon L Ballance, Minister ior Lands, on Monday morning. Mr Mackay, who acted’ as spokesman, eaid that the chief object of the deputation was to ask the Government if they would •provide a certain sum of money for the purpose of placing the road through the Forty-mile Bush in a of repair. Mr Mackay pointed out to the Ministers how much the settlement of the land in the district would be affected if the road were not repaired. It was quite impossible, he said, for the county to put the road in repair, for at present the ratepayers were taxed to their utmost capacity allowed by law. Mr Richardson said that when he came into office he was under the impression that the road were practically in the hands of the Councils, and the Government were subsidising them. , , Mr Mackay said that the subsidy was not sufficient to keep the road in a thorough state of repair. . . Mr Richardson was of opinion that the Waipawa and Wairarapa County Councils were contributing largely to the maintenance of the road. The Public Works De. partment, he said, were quite prepared to pay—to a reasonable and fair extent—any damage done to the road by the railway. Mr Mackay pointed out that the cost would be something like £3OOO, which would take a rate of about 2s or 2s 6d, and he did not see how the ratepayers could do it. He thought that if the road were kept in-its present state it would greatly deter the prospects of the district. Mr Ballance said that they ought to be thankful that the Government had given them Buch a good road, and that when it was made they ought to have taken it over. He pointed out that the outside expenses might be met by making tolls. -Mr Richmond asked if the Government would be prepared to name a specific sum for the damage done by the line, and would they make a definite subsidy. Mr Richardson supposed that the extreme damage done was the carting of heavy timber on the road. Mr McCardle said that if they were going to get any money they had better get it at once, for if they did not get it before March it would be of no use. _ Mr Richardson understood that since 1577 the roads hai been in the hands of the county, a part of the agreement being that the Council should maintain part of the road. He could see no reason, considering that the district was being rapidly settled, why the increased rates accruing should not be sufficient to keep the road in repair. Mr McCardle asked what the result would be if the settlers could not pay the m M? y Ballance said the settlers would have to suffer. ' ... Mr Jessen did not thmk.it fair that the settlers should suffer. The Government had promised years ago to give them a road. Mr Ballance did not know that the Government had made any definite promise with regard to roads. He would venture to say that more money had been spent on roads, etc., in the district than in any other part of the Colony. »' . . Mr McCardle was strongly of the opinion ' that if the Government did not do something for the settlers in the, Forty-mile Bush, they would be the heaviest-taxed ratepayers in New Zealand. Mr Ballance said the Government had no money for repairing, the road. The local bodies, he said, would have to do it,; and the sooner they faced it the better. Mr Reese said that the deputation would be thoroughly satisfied if the Government would put the road in repair and then hand it over to them. . ’ . • After some further conversation, Mr Richardson said he could not promise anything definite at present, * but' the matter would be considered. The Government would probably do. something definite as soon as the station at Mangahao was completed. . Mr McCardle next brought under the notice of the Minister for Public Works the disability which travellers labored under in being charged an extra five miles for the Rimutaka incline. He was inclined to think that the settlers should be released from the charge. He pointed out that the line was one of the best paying in the Colony, and he felt sure that unless the Government made, some slight concession, both in fares and goods, traffic would inevitably be deviated from Palmerston North and on to the Wellington - Manawatu Company’s line. This extra charge, he said, had long been felt by the Wairarapa people as a burden. The Minister remarked that if they carried the time back a few years they would see how heavy the expenses were then. However, the matteKj^||BiA£ ece fve consideration. Some discussion took place between the Minister of Lands and the deputation, relative to the question of felling timber in the TJpper Wairarapa district. A member of the deputation suggested that special licenses might be issued for felling totara on Government lands adjoining the line, for railway sleepers. Mr Ballance remarked that there was a quantity of suitable timber sprinkled throughout the land selected for special settlements, and he did not consider it fair to handicap small settlers by issuing timberfelling licenses on the lands. He intended making inquiries, and if a suitable timber <sould not be obtained from private sources he should put in force the Forest Regulations. The Minister for Public Workß, in reply to a question, said that the officers of the Railway Department intended to use white pine for railway sleepers in future, where practicable. The subject then dropped. There was another matter which M.r McCardle would like to bring before his attention, and that wao the distance the

railway had been unnecessarily - taken away from the Pahiatua township. _ There was a very strong feeling, he said, in the district over the line not being brought to the town. He was quite certain that the line. could have been brought at, least 50 chains nearer the township without the least danger of floods. . w L. Mr Richardson, in reply, said he would consult with the officers of the department and consider the matter.

Mr Jessen pointed out that there was no facility at the Mauriceville station lor sending cattle away.' ’ . The Minister understood that the timber was on the ground for the purpose of providing some • convenience for cattle. The deputation then withdrew.