DISTRICT VOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12587, 18 October 1911, Page 5

DISTRICT VOTES.

.SOMETHING ABOUT THE GRANTS

"MANY I MPORTANT WORKS. (From • our Parliamentary Reporter.) ' WELLINGTON, this day. In the course of an interview to-day ■\jr.;.'W:.D. S. Mac Donald gave tlu Herald representative some interesting infoVfriatiqn respecting a number of t-ht more, important voad votes on the Pub* lie W T orks Estimates. PURCHASE OF. TE PUIA. The , purchase' of the To Piiia town ship from the -natives, Mr Mac Donald states, has been completed, and the same will be proclaimed and handed over to the Hawke's Bay Laud Board for administration. •-•-A Vote of £3000 has been provided 'tp : cover the purchase; whilst a', vote of £250 :is for ' further improvements to the reserve and hostel. ROADS AND BRIDGES. Discussing >, the various roads and votes m (his electorate, Mr MacDonald explained that the £1000 for the Kanakanaia road, £1 for £2, was on arcouht of £3000. This grant, he went on to say, was to provide for tho construction !oh the new road via Waihora. . The . settlers were, raising £9000, which the GoyeVnment was subsidising up to £3p00: The present Katiakan,aia road wbiaM 'be .practically; abandoned, the new oiic being of 1 , better grade, and could he cut right thVough, with bridges that w.buld do away with the risks of slips. As the whole* work, however, was too "rbsil'V, the Waikohu County Council had decicbd to construct a certain amount and admit a certain amount of side cuttingi Tvlje engineer was doubtful of the lattet ;,stjvtldi«g>,:' and ' it Was eventually found l < tliat v i i f was too heavy to maintain. The bulk of the engineer's scheme would no doubt be completed by bridging the doubtful points. The new road would give the sutttete? of Kfifmkanaia a level road' to Te -Kara kit. ■• ' ' '"• A GOOD PROPOSITION. . A sum of. £250 .appeared as the first instalment, a £1 for £1 subsidy on account of £2000 for the Mjatavvai-^Joanui road- This was .for" the construction of a dray road from Matawai to the Moanui block. The settlers were raising £2000, and- were 'pledging their thirds as security, for instance. The Government was finding the balance' of £2000 to complete tho road. -The* Waikohu County Council had given advances against the proposed loan, and had practically,, expended £2000, ami the Government "sifbsidy would now come Ln to finish the work. The settlers further imtowards* Koranga were endeavoring to rsßsewa loan bit the same lines, including the of those of Messrs Douglas Wade, Witters, Carroll, and. Halbert._ „This,-.dir]iculty, howeyeV, 'had; frdrni the /fact.* that the special area included a, portion., of, territory m the Opotiki Couiotyi v Negotiations' were now m progress between th i> Wai kohn and fQ pbtiki; Counties, with a view to an adjustments The settlers

ajgng .this- road* M r ■ ■ MacDonald'- stated, were to be commended for the steps "I'akefn tq;get-^hig'rdad?p«Bhed? oil rapidly. ' "As m many other case's, the settlers were getting very little benefit from their thirds. ' The Matawai-Moanui settlers under their scheme were getting their, road free for ; 14" "years, thus greatly assisting the development of their sections/ The vote for the Armstrong road was to complete the road from Mangatu to the Waipaoa rjver road, known as the Waipapa stock track. •This would en#Ble persons to travel right through to ''■frit) Waipaoa river without having to follow up the river bed of the Waipaoa almost continuously from Whatatutu. MOTU-OPOTIKI COACH ROAD. . A matter of considerable importance wps the revoting, with an additional £100, of the Neill road vote, making a total of £1600. The Work of metalling this, road, .coujd^ be v proceeded with immediately the ,i'qad was dry enough to stand the carting. A sum of £250 was provided for. Oliver road, which, would give Whakarau access to the railway at Rakauroa, Impprtant road works were pending ahead of the M otu railway. For instance, £3000 was to be spent on the Opotiki-Motu road. That, Mr ' MacDonald explained, was for wideriuig the same into a dray road from Papamoa towards Motu. He understood this would ■probably be v carried --out- by the Pdblic "Works Department, and would be put m hand immediately- Another £2000 was included for the.Pakihi road>:.<,This was: f6r "widening from Motu to Whitikau •deviation into a dray road, and would enable the Whitikau settlers to get into pff communication with Motu, besides cutting off six, or: nine miles of the distance iby the present', road: The Minister of Public Works, the member for the. Bay of Plenty explained;, intended t<\ have a ctjach, service running' between Motu and Opotiki as soon- as the" railway reached .Motu. . WAIAPU TRAFFIC BRIDGE. i?erhaps one of the most important votdtf for the Waiapu was one of £500, on ,ac«iuut of £^250, £1 fpr £1 subsidy, for.t,he Waiapu i-iyer traffic. bridge. This structure was to be erected at the Tikitiki crossing,^iieftr.Wai-p-Matatini. He understood the plans were prepared. The Waiapu Comity engineer, Mr O'Ryan, liad this work well m hand. With ' the erection of this ' important structure; the settlers of the Northern Waiapu would find this of great benefit m driving stock to ;i-he. .Tokomar.u , ; w-orks. For years, past the-" Waiapu river has been . claiming its .annual, toll of lives from unfortunate travellers who are compelled to ford this treacherous crossing. The ' Waiapii is' alsdrtii.' be 'bridged at another point, Rotokaut,uku, some miles higher iup. above Kemp's. This structure is «-»n the Tapuwaoroa road, that will eventually cross the hinterland to Te Kalia, !qh the "Hay bf Plentyi side. A vote of ' £200 on account of £800 is made 'for .'this; J'oad. ....... '■ :

To afford the Waioeka settle^ access to .the railway at Matawai a sum of £,^op has beeii. put down to. complete this H" 00 *! 5 wK.ich will -save from 60 to 70 miles : iiy drivipg stock from Gisborne to the Waioeka Valley. / < PREPARING FOR SETTLERS, ..Substantial provision .hnn been njade for- the opening up of the. large area, of Crown land between Matawai and Bay of Plenty, referred v to by Mr Mac- , U^nald ( in a ,recent interview. Surveyors have been wo.rking for some time, drawing up subdivisions and roading schemes This includes the Koranga, Oamaru, ;Taliom, Okahaatua, and Waiawa blocks, comprising 60,000, to. 80,000 acres. ,The vote for this purpose totals £15,000 i

' A -V^ORD TO COUNTY COUNCIILS. Li' conclusion, Mr Mac Donald declared r^h'ftl on the whole the amount granted for the developrn,ent of the district on roads and bridges was satisfactory. ; He hoped that County Councils 1 undertaking the eXpendittiro of. these items would be m a pc'sition to push on with them. Last year a good deal of money had been unexpended through county councils- intimating their intention of undertaking Expenditure, but failing to hurry on with 'the same. If, on finding they were

unable to do the work -with sufficient '; despatch.' they were to notify the- Minister of Public Works the department Avould carry . out the expenditure itselfi' It was very disappointing to a member who endeavored to get very necessary inoncy voted for different works, then only "to find the County Councils were unable to expend tho same during the summer season. He hoped the authorities m his. dietriet would take full'advantage of the' votes this year. '