RELIEF SOUGHT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19886, 14 March 1939, Page 2

RELIEF SOUGHT

k SETTLERS AT OPOUTAMA P REQUEST TO MINISTER 1 FLOOD DAMAGE TO LAND r (Special to tho Herald.) J WAIROA, this day. The question of granting some relief i to settlers in the Opouuima district whose properties were severely damaged by floods in February and April : of last year was raised by a deputa--3 lion representing the Wairoa County L ] Council which waited on the Minister ; iof Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, in Wairoa. ' The chairman of the council, Mr. A. ' T. Carroll, told the Minister that the ratepayers in that district were asking I: the council for relief from rating on account of severe property and stock ;'losses suffered. At present the council : jihad no power to grant any relief by ; remitting rates. The position in the Opoutama dis- : trict was on a par with that of the ■ settlers in the Esk Valley. The Hawke's- Bay County Council had appointed a committee to go into the ! question of granting relief to settlers 1 and to take the question up with the Government, and the Wairoa County 1 Co'yhqfU [requested that when the case 1 pi the Esk Valley settlers was being ' dealt with, tfhe same consideration be granted to the settlers at Opoutama. i Remission of Rates The council also asked that statutory authority be given to grant the remissions of rates in whole or in part in cases of disasters of this kind. Mr. Carroll added that a number of the farms were unproductive, and the damage was a little more intense than J what it appeared to be. He expressed appreciation„of the assistance given to the settlers by the Government immediately after the disasters. ! Reference to the plight of the OpouI tama settlers was made also by Mr. '■ IE. L. Cullen, M.P., in introducing the '■deputation. They had, he said, suf- • l'ered severely, and some of them had • practically gone right out. ' • Messrs. D. H. Withers and P.' J ' O'Rane, on behalf of the Farmers' ' j Union, supported the appeal. , I The Minister stated that he had ! i visited the district some time ago, and " '■ he realised that the settlers had suffered very considerably. The Govern--1 ment did its best at the time to ' relieve those who had suffered, but it 1 was impossible to remedy the position ; in one swoop. The question was a 3 very big one, but he would go into it with the Minister of Finance.