MINISTERIAL VISIT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 209, 5 April 1913, Page 3

MINISTERIAL VISIT.

TIIK Pll>-:.\l!J.:i> _\X|j MP. I'JtASEi;, ■.<OITXAKK Tl) Ni'W PLYMOUTH. The Prime .Minister. JJuii. W. I<\ Massey,! and the Hon. Minister of Public Works, Jloii. W. Eraser, motored yesterday fronj Opunake to New Plymouth, receiving deputations at U.-iholu. Newali road, Warda, Oka to mid Oaknra. At (lie Pungarchri School the Ministerial party were presented will) limupiets. The Hahotu. PiuigrireUu and Newall Road, school children had a holiday granted them at the request of tlic Premier. The principal matters brought under the notice of the Ministers were .die*Opu-.nake-Moturoa railway and the .W,u'st Coast settlement leases, but some raiding matters also were'introduced. The Minister of Public Works promised to consider ; the Pariliaka Road Hoard's request (preferred by .Mr. P. Wilcox) for grants up to £7OOO for the Wiremu road, but said there was no hope of such a large amount being forthcoming. He promised to place £3OO on the Estimate for metalling Carrington road between bewail and Puniho roads, the settlers to provide' £4OO. There is already £IOO provided on the Estimates;, and unspent;

LOCAL DEPUTATIONS. , VETERANS'PENSIONS. Within half an hour of their arrival in New Plymouth, the Prime Minister (Mr. W. F. Massey) and his colleaguej the Minister of Public Works (Mr. W. Eraser) were besieged by deputations. The first to obtain the Ministerial ear were the representatives of the Taranaki .branch of the Royal Veterans' Association, who confined themselves in the main to the subject of the veterans' pensions. In introducing the deputation, Colonel J. Ellis thanked Mr. Massey for what the Government had already done in helping those of the veterans who were in need. They wanted, however, 'something 'more than that. They desired that a pension should be granted for services rendered. They had no kttia of asking for charitable aid irom-tjyr Government. Incidentally, the could not understand why the' Department lhad not replied to 'the seVeral letters they had written- in regard to certain matters.

Mr. Massey: I wish ywu would give me the dates of those letters, for I will enquire into them. , ; . Mr. W. Humphries followed, pointing out that thrift; were 1215 members in the local association, and of these only 43 were in the -receipt of a pension. Many of thfcse pensioners were over eighty viavs of age, and in the natural order of things they would not draw their ju'iision for very long. The Act might he made a little-more elastic. lie cited the case of one veteran who was stone-blind, and who was debarred from having a military pension because his wife had an income of £IOO. Lieutenant R. Wells asked that all should be treated alike. Main- of them had been through the whole of the war, and because they had been careful and saved a little for their failing years, they were now disqualified from receiving the pension. The Prime Minister himself had once said: "Let every veteran who can produce a Xew Zealand Wav medal have a pension." That was what, affirmed the speaker, they were now asking for.

Colonel Ellis cited instances of men who. although they had risked their lives in hospital, boating and garrison service at the time of the wiU'. were not entitled under the Act to a New Zealand War medal, simply because they had not actually been under fire.

In reply, Mr. Massey said that, while he freely admitted that thp Act was not perfect, still it was a start—the first attempt to recognise the services of the veterans. It was their first duty to make provision for necessitous eases. The difficulty with the flovernment was that they did not know what it was going to cost at the end of the financial vear, hut the Mini-d."i- h;'.' 1 lvm.ihh' "s----lima ted it at £20.0110. ft was quite impossible to say what he could do. but if the finances would permit, their request would be We assured them that he would do all that lay in his power for the veteran 5 ;. CHAMBER OP COMMERCE MATTERS. OPUXAKE RAILWAY. The Chamber of Commerce laid several matters before the Ministers. The president (Mr. Johns) said that previous deputations that dav had to a very large extent cut the ground from under their feet with regard to the Opunake railway, which was the first question he wished to refer to. The Chamber felt that this was the most important thing the people had in view in New Plymouth, and possibly the whole of Western Taranaki. at the present time. He would content himself, however, with merely intimating that the Western Railway League had the Chamber's hearty support in its representations. E KAiLWAY. Touching on other matters, he said the Chamber fully supported the advances being made for a bridge across tile Alokau river, to replace the ferry, and, passing on, referred to the fcitrat-ford-Ongaruhc railway. Mr. Johns urged that every effort should be made to push on the work at the Stratford end. They received with alarm the suggestion of northern members that men .-diould be taken oil' fnuu this end and put on to the northern em!. A work of that magnitude could be best served by being proceeded with simultaneously at both ends. They trusted, when the new vote was made, that Taranaki would receive its fair share of the expenditure at this end. OPENING UP THE Olll'RA.

On behalf of the Chamber, .Mr. W. 11. L'enu brought under the notice of the Minister the request of Oh lira settlers for assistance in getting the road open from the coast to Mungaroa. it was a distance of about forty miles from Mungaroa to the coast, and that was the shortest road for the Ohura settlers. The road was opened, about, twenty miles as a dray road, and about lil'teen miles as a bridle track. The settlers desired this latter portion lo he converted iuio a dray road. A block of ii(l,(t00. acres ,\'ns going to be oiiein d along the road. Mr. Penu also referred to the necessity of metalling tin' unmetalled portion of (be main road between New I'lyinotit'ii and Auckland. THE MINISTER'S REPLY.

lit'lilyinj.', }h\ I'Vascr hrsf touched iilKin tin: Stratford-()n;.',aniho raihvsiy. Men wen. l not, lie said. liein<; Liken from one oad and put, on at. (lie other. There were .Ll)l),()(in on Hip KsMmaies for (lie railway last year, and up to within two and a' half 'months of .March 111 last £72.1111(1 had been h peiit on it. In all, the sum o.r .ei(!(i.(l()l) had bc.-n cither spent, authorised or let in contracts in connection with the railwav. It could li'.vdly be said, then, that'he had not endeavored to carry nut the wishes of Parliament. The Stral fori! < i!i;::>.ru!ie railway, as a ma {lev of fact, had had it Mian was the case of any oilier railway in iJie„.Uoj)!i])io'i. .'iiti-jjee. hail, been doii" to Tar'ana'ki' in this matter, the vote having beeii over-spent by several thousands.

MOKAU RIVER. I On behalf of the Awakino County 'Council, Mr. Leech, who was iniroiluecd by Mr. C. K. Wilson, M.l'., approached tin" Minister in support of a resolution passed at the first meeting of Council, protesting against the proposed new ferry service, and asking for adequate means of crossing the river. They had put up with an old-fashioned punt for about twenty years, and the proposed steam punt would not improve matters or ease the s-ttlers of the loss they incurred on account of the punt. The claims of the district "warranted the construction of a bridge. The Mokau river was the one bar to communication between the two important-provinces. They would merely like an assurance that the niatter would be authorised as soon as. the money market eased. The (iovern..nioiit still 'had large unimproved holdings in the: county, which would be very .much iuto'elised in value upon the advent of a bridge.

"Mr. Battley supported the deputation, pointing to the fact that it would open a lot of.new country between the West Coast and; To Kjuiti, The speaker also touched necessity of properly improving the road over Mount Messenger. He hoped "that the road would be given consideration-'tfswell as the bridge. As regards the brrftge, the deputation was favorable to a toll-gate being erected on the structure, the fees received to reimburse the Government in respect to the interest on the loan. The settlers would like the centre span of ,the. structure to be so constructed as of the passage of steamers trading with the coal mines. '.'.' '

Mr. C. K. Wilson, M.P., also ..strewed, the matter. At present all the fat 'stock' on the >Awakino side of the Mokau had. to swim the river in order to e'e-me to Waitara. The punt, knocked the cattle about so much that the .SfettteTs pre-, ferred to swim them across. The main arterial road would,, with the erection of the bridge, be invariable* the King Country generally. ,<■'(■• >., . In reply Mr. out that it was not a question of providing the interest, but the .capital. Where was the money to come from?. It was quite impossible to say wliat the bridge was gqingi to cost, because My. Murray (the tiovernment Roads Engineer) had told him 'that they had been boring and boring, and had not yet struck the bottom of the river. He was very doubtful next year of being able to provide large sums for roads and bridges. Was the deputation prepared, if he cancelled the tenders for the new ferry,, to put up with the old punt until such time as the bridge was erected? - Mr. Leech replied that they would be content to put up a cheaply constructed punt on the lines of the present one until-the bridge was erected. Mr. Murray, district roads engineer, pointed out that the proposed new punt would provide a much quicker and safer service than the present once. The Minister offered,to ask Cabinet to cancel the tenders and put a small punt on to keep up the communication until the money, was available for a bridge. He did not beleve in punts, but bridges. The deputation acquiesced in this, and withdrew, after thanking the Minister for a straight-out reply.

CIVIC WELCOME. J KAWAKOA PABK. |" ' • The Prime Minister and his confrere J reached Xew Plymouth shortly before I live o'clock, having called at the oil { wells en route. Before proceeding to his )'F:ulf|iiartor? | at the White Haft Hotel. Mr. Mnssey 1 was mot at Kawaroa Park by the Mayor (Mr. G. W. {Browne) and Borough > Councilliors and accorded a civic welcome. After heartily welcoming the. Prime Minister on this his first visit to Xew ) Plymouth since he assumed control of the Government, Mr. Browne referred to the position of the Council in regard to Kawaroa Park. Some months ago, he said, the Land Board passed'a roso-, lution recommending the Minister to > vest the reserve in the Council, hut for some reason this had not been acted.; upon, lieiiia turned down hy the 'Department. When the Council took possession of the Park some 10 years afropaying an annual rental of £2 10s —it was practically valueless. Tt was simply an unsightly sand dune. Since then the i Council had improved it out of sight. I having planted and fenced it. erected J baths, a hand rotunda, and constructed I a carriage drive. The reserve was a very popular seaside resort, but the sea was encroaching on the western portion, and at one point had eaten into within )20 feet of the railway line. The Council was anxious to have the land vested under its control so that money might be expended in protecting it from further encroachment. The Government possessed large areas of land in the province and the Council asked that, a reserve be provided out of these and handed over to the Land Board, on the tin-' derstandhi" that Kawaroa Park was vested in the Borough of New Plymouth. Tn the course of a sympathetic replv, Mr. Massey rrave his assurance that the reserve would be handed over to the ) Borough at the first opportunity. The I matter would be included in the "WiishI iiig-uo" Bill of next session.