KARITANE AFFAIRS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23110, 9 February 1937, Page 12

KARITANE AFFAIRS

;o rut EDITOR Sir,—Kindly allow me space to enlighten the secretary of the Karitane Amenities Society as to the ownership of the children’s playground at Karitane, as he terms it. On two occasions complaints have been made to the Waikouaiti County Council concerning the erection of an ice cream stall on the roadway. If the secretary of the

Amenities Society will take his mind back to 1926 he will, no doubt, remember that the land adjoining the Karitane foreshore was declared in the Native Land Court to be a Native reserve. In other words, it is private property, set aside for a Native cemetery reserve. I have a plan of the foreshore, and there is po public roadway where the stall is situated. I am one of the members of the. committee controlling the Native reserve, and am also the owner of the ice cream stall. It appears to me that the secretary of the Amenities Society entertains some little grudge when he alludes to the stall as being a shed. I hope for my own benefit that the public considers it a little better than a' shed. The building is absolutely new; the ice cream and milk are kept in a frigidaire, and an electric cistern supplies the hot water which is necessary for glasses and utensils. The health inspector visited the stall early in January, and the conditions were quite satisfactory. A refreshment stall has long been needed at Karitane, and the many visitors here consider it a great asset. The secretary of the Amenities Society seems to be very worried about the stall being on a roadway. Could he not worry himself a little more and do something about the conveniences on the Native reserve, which were erected without authority from the committee of the reserve, and are at times in a disgusting state? Of course, the public is expected to put up with this sort of thing and not complain. I think it would be in the' interest of all if the secretary of the Amenities Society called a meeting to which the committee controlling the Native reserve might be invited in order to thrash the matter out to the satisfaction of the public in general.—l am, etc., G. Matthews. Karitane, February 7.