FAIRLIE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20532, 25 September 1936, Page 6

FAIRLIE

WORK TO START ON ASKIN’S ROAD VALUE AS A STOCK ROUTE In this year’s Public Works grants the Mackenzie County Council received £225 on a £ for £ basis for work on Askin's road in the Albury riding. A start will be made on the road at an early date and the county engineer (Mr D. Jeune) will complete the surveys this week. On Tuesday with Mr P. Kidd, an Albury member of the Council, he inspected some six miles of the Opawa river bed to find suitable shingle. That difficulty was solved through the courtesy of Mr W. Higgs, who has given the Council permission to cross his property. Askin’s road serves nine properties of a freehold value of £30,000 and a leasehold value of £12,000, and the land is chiefly used for wheatgrowing. The road which is 153 chains long and connects the Mount Nessing and Rocky Gully roads, is therefore an outlet for a considerable quantity of grain and is used by threshing mills. One of the coming important functions of the road, however, is that it will be a stock route for the large mob of sheep travelling from the back country. By connecting with Cave along back routes, it will keep the stock off the highways. For that purpose, a bridge will ultimately be erected across the Rocky Gully stream.

The Council’s crushing plant will be .shifted to the area shortly, and the Mount Nessing and other roads will be shingled in conjunction with the forming of Askin’s road. Mr Jeune stated yesterday that he was at present completing plans and specifications for the expenditure on the grant. Considering the importance of the road, especially as a future stock route, he said it was unfortunate that the grant was only £ for £, because a £2 for £1 subsidy was justified. PUKAKI HIGHWAY NEW GRADER ARRIVES A new grader supplied by the Public Works Department left Fairlie yesterday to work on the Pukaki-Hermitage highway which has been maintained by the Government since its formation. The grader which is one of the first of some 30 similar machines ordered by the Public Works Department for road work, took two days to travel from Christchurch where it was assembled. The machine is of the same make but it is a lighter type than the Dieselengined grader purchased by the Council this year. A number of men and a grader are permanently employed on the highway, and because of occasional scouring on unbridged portions of the road, which is some 37 miles long niaintalnance has to be done all the year round. With a snow-plough attachment, the new grader will be a great improvement on the old machine for clearing the road of the winter snowfalls. VALEDICTORY MR A. W. ROBINSON ENTERTAINED Mr A. W. Robinson who left Fairlie yesterday to take up a position in Geraldine, was entertained at a smoke concert by the Aorangi Football Club on Wednesday night. On behalf of the club, the president, Mr W. McNarry, presented Mr Robinson with a smokers’ companion set, and regretted his departure because of the great assistance her had given Rugby football in the district as secretary of the Aorangi Club and a member of the Mackenzie Sup-Union. His keenness and untiring interest would be missed, and it was to be hoped that at Geraldine he would continue to follow the code. Mr W. Bourne on behalf of the Fairlie Athletic and Cycling Club, said Mr Robinson had been chiefly responsible for the club’s inauguration. As handicapper, he had done useful work, and as a token of the esteem in which he was held, the club wished him to accept a small presentation. Other speakers were Messrs Rob. J. Creighton, T. Creighton, T. Hill, L. Loomes, C. Parrant, and A. Carlton. Vocal items were contributed by Messrs T. Creighton and C. Ker. A.C.E. DRAMA Considerable interest has been taken in the course of drama that has just been completed under the direction of Mr G. A. Worthington, 8.A., of the Association for Country Education in the Mackenzie County, and the work that has been done by three of the eight groups which have been operating will be presented in the Aorangi Hall. Fairlie, on Monday and Tuesday. September 28 and 29. The Association’s aim is to encourage participation in dramatic work as a means of creative expression, and has thus concentrated much more upon the individuals who participate in the courses of the Association than upon the provision of “entertainment” for a public. Nevertheless .the standard of perform- 3 has reached a high level, and the interested public in and around Fairlie may anticipate two evenings of good entertainment. | The remaining five groups which, have been rehearsing under Mr Worth- j ingtpn will also present the plays they have been working upon in their own districts, during the coming week.