AMALGAMATION ISSUE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19398, 9 August 1937, Page 6

AMALGAMATION ISSUE

BAY OP PLENTY AREA ONE COUNTY PROPOSED In furtherance ot his scheme for the amalgamation of local bodies the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, met representatives of the Whakatane, Opotiki, Matamata, Rotorua and Tauranga County Councils in Whakatane, where he put before them details of a scheme for the amalgamation of either the whole or portion of their counties into a new Bay of Plenty county. The Minister said that the area of the proposed new county would be approximately 3500 square miles, just a little less than the present Southland county, and the ultimate result would be a county with a population of between 15,000 and 20,000. Mr. Parry considered the rateable value would be between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000. The following local bodies would be entirely m the proposed Bay of Plenty county:—Bay of Plenty electric-power district, Waiotahi drainage district, Kaituna river district, Opotiki hospital district, Whakatane hospital district, and the Whakatane and Opotiki counties. The Whakatane harbour district would be almost entirely in the new county, while portions of the Tauranga county, Rotorua county, Tauranga harbour district, Tauranga electricpower district, East Cape rabbit district and Tauranga hospital district would be included. Generally speaking, said Mr. Parry, the topography of the proposed county was that of a huge basin falling toward the Bay of Plenty interspersed witli ranges running north and south, and with the back country, for example, the Galatea settlement, situated in what was the present southern portion of the Whakatane county. The Minister claimed that with the larger county a stronger staff could be employed at a lower cost. Better county administration would be brought about in that the parochial considerations would tend less to influence general county policy. The question will now be consid- j ered by the local bodies concerned.