LEVELS COUNTY

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 11 June 1924, Page 7 (Supplement)

LEVELS COUNTY

MR ORBELL’S RECORD CHAIRMANSHIP.

.The Levels County which surrounds Timaru, is a compact county, well roaded and bridged, and its affairs have always been well conducted, with Mr C. N. Orbell as chairman of the Council—a position which he has held ever since the county was formed. The first meeting of the Council was held on December 4, 1894, those present being: Messrs C. N. Orbell, Geo. Butler, John Campbell, Jas King, Alex. Mee, Alex. Pringle, and M. Quinn. Mr. A. E. Saunders was the first County Clerk. Mr Orbell was elected chairman at the first meeting. Mr W. Annand was the Council’s first overseer. The capital value of the county in 1894 was £1,529,400, compared with £3,631,844 to-day. The rate in 1894 brought in £4779; to day it brings in £15,635. The total revenue in 1894 was £6268, this year it amounted to £18,459. The expenditure in 1894 totalled £6768, and this year it reached £18,200. The harbour levy paid by the Council in 1894 amounted to £ll9l, compared with £lß9l this year. The hospital levy in 18S was £476 compared with £3031 this year. On public works there was expended in 1894 £2985, compared with £12,300 last year. The county is ivell roaded and bridged and has always been well managed. It has the distinction of being the first county in New Zealand to erect a ferro-conerete bridge. This is the bridge which spans the Opihi river at Arowhenua. The structure has proved entirely successful, and the County Council has come in for a great many complimentary references by reason of its enterprise in this and other directions.

Tirnaru’s First Port.—At a tune when harbour matters are once more prominently oefore the public, it is interesting to recall the fact that the Government denned a port for Timaru very different from the port afterwards made. In 1861 Timaru was made a “port of entry,” that is, a port where foreign-going ships could land or ship goods, under the Customs Act. The Pr-'ts of the port were defined as follows: “i3y a circle one mile in radius, whereof the centre is the centre of the market place.” (The Government’s “market place” is now Alexandra Square). In 1862 the “port of Timaru” was more clearly defined as follows: “The beach at Timaru to the extent of 40 chains measured along the line of the beach in each direction north and south of the small stream or watercourse which crosses the market place of Timaru, shall be deemed and taken to be the legal quay or landing place for the landing and unloading ox goods under the Customs Regulations of 1858.” The instructions to the surveyors who laid out Government town directed them to lay out main streets where gullies gave access to the port. Browne and Mill Streets and Queen Street were laid out accordingly. Heaton Street and North Street ended at steep cliffs, but Browne Street directed to the centre of the 80-chain port, was not far from those,