THE FIRST AGITATION.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVI, Issue 3366, 12 March 1915, Page 4

THE FIRST AGITATION.

QUESTION OF SITE

THREE YEARS TO DECIDE

For many, many years the old ferry at (he Puke served—and adequately—the necessities of persons desirous ot crossing the river at that paint. But about seven years prior to now Nether,ton people began to feel that with the growing importance of the district the facilities for crossing the river to reach their market town of Paeroa were, not as good as they should be. The Netherton branch of the Farmers' Union, of which Mr S. J. Lnughlm was then chin man, took the matter up first of all,"and boldly suggested that they should have a bridge. One supposes that the question ot ways and" means was. hardly gone into, thoroughly, but certain it isMhat they were dissatisfied with paying ferry fees, and dissatisfied also with the risk and. inconvenience of crossing the river by means of a punt. The agitation grew in volume —slowly, it is true, but'surely—and after a time it became a fixed idea with all residents, not only of JNetlierton, but ot Paeroa also, that a bridge was an absolute necessity." The two important questions that had to be decided were the site and the cost,, and in the latter case who was going to bear the cost. There were apparently only three possible sites'—one at the end'of the Mill Road, another a little below the Junction,, and a third below the Pake Wharf, where the bridge" now stands. More than one meeting was held to discuss the matter, and some of the discussions were fairly stormy, but eventually the matter was relerred to the County engineer. His decision was that the best site was just below the Junction, and his recommendation being acted on, the land for the connecting roads on each side of the river was obtained. But although the question ot site was apparently settled, that of finance was certainly not.

However, o,n February 3rd, 1910, a deputation consisting of Messrs W. Moore; A. C. H^bbard, and J. Handley waited on the County Council and intimated that Netherton people were prepared to find a third of. the money, up to ,£IOOO, for a bridge provided the Council would find the rest. The Council instructed its engineer (Mr C. Bray) to furnish an estimate of the cost, and Messrs Grace (Chairman), Nathan, and Laughlin were appointed a committee to go into.-the question ot raising the money. At the Council meeting on April Bth the, estimate was.forthcoming. The engineer considered tha,t a suitable bridge could be erected for ,£4859, this including £ 1700 forconnecting roads. It was then decided that if the Paeroa and Netherton people would raise a loan of ,£2OOO the Council would approach Go vernment with a request for a grant for the balance of the money. Two days later the Hon.. R. McKen zie, then a Minister of the Crjwn, was in the district, and on the matter being represented to him, he promised to recommend a subsidy of ,£I2OO.

Towards the end of the same month a public meeting was hell in Paeroa to consider the propos il for Paeroa.,and Netherton to raise a loan of Mr S. J. Laughlm presiding at the meeting. The matter was discussed, and although there was a littte opposition, it was decided on the motion of Messrs J. Nat.hin and H. R. Brunskill that the meeting favoured the proposal. Messrs W. Moore, J. Handley, and CM BrunskV.l were appointed a deputation to wait on the Council and ask that the matter be pushed ahead. ' Matters seemed to be progressing satisfactorily enough, but ,the sitting of the Royal Commission to inquire into the river question diverted for a time the attention of those most interested

On the 7th July the Council received rather a rude awakening. - Two letters were received from Government departments regarding the bridge, the first from the Marine Department, and the other from the Public Works Department. The first letter stated that it was considered advisable to wait for the re port on the rivers by the Royal Commission before proceeding further in the matter. The second letter stated that there was some dispute as to the site, and asked for information as to who the Mill Road site would benefit, and also about other sites. The Council's reply was that it had fixed on the site below the junction, and did not know who the Mill Road site would benefit.

There the matter remained until December Ist, 1910, whe.n (tie Public Works Department wrote that the River Commission had made a definite recom-. mendatiori regarding the site for the bridge—at the Puke—and no authority would be issued for any, other site. The Council accepted the inevitable, and the engineer was instructed to prep ire an estimate of the cost of a bridge at the Puke site*,

Six weeks later Mr bray (the engineer) submitted to the Council his estimate of As the Government was providing" a considerable portion of the money, it was decided to take a poll on the question of raising a loan of .£2500 over a special rating district.

The question of the boundaries of the special'rating district cropped up at the Council's February meeting, when the committee appointed to go into the matter recommended that they should include Netherton, Paeroa, portion of the land towards Komata,and Rotokohu. Subsequently, Rotokohu was excluded, and the other boundaries —those at present in existence—were agreed to.