FAIRLIE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20670, 8 March 1937, Page 5

FAIRLIE

VISIT OF HIGHWAYS BOARD LOW COUNTY RATES During the meeting of the Main Highways Board with members cf the Mackenzie County Council on Saturday, Mr W. Morrison, the representative on the Board for the North Island Counties, stated that on looking up “The Local Bodies’ Hand Book’’ he found that his county was one of the lowest rated in the North Island and was only a quarter of the size of the Mackenzie County. Yet the Mackenzie rates were no greater than his rates, and that evidently spoke volumes for the Council’s control. Members of the Board arrived at Fairlie at 11 a.m., and after meeting members of the Mackenzie County Council, proceeded to the Mermitage. A welcome was extended by Mr C. J. Talbot, chairman of the Council, and also the representative of the South Island Counties on the Board. Other members of the Council present were Messrs P. Kidd, A. P. Campbell and W. R. Davison and D. Jeune (county engineer). After apologising for the absence of other members of the Council, Mr Talbot thanked the Board for past favours, particularly the means for carrying out the reconstruction work from Takapo to Pukaki, and its early consideration of the new bridges required at Albury. While the Council was not asking for any immediate tar-sealing work, he hoped the Board would bear the matter in mind, and when finance and traffic warranted it, that such work in the county would be undertaken. At the present time the Council would be grateful if the strip through the Albury township could be sealed.

Mention of the hairpin bend on the Cave hill was made by Mr Talbot, and he said the Council was prepared to do the work required if the Board approved. There was also the question of widening the corners on the Rocky Cutting above Kimbell. With regard

to bridges, there were, in addition to those at Albury, three others required: at Raincliff, Burke's Pass and Bracken’s on the Burke's Pass-Albury highway. Mr A. J. Baker thanked the Council for its welcome, and . said the Board took particular pleasure in visiting the county through knowing Mr Talbot, whose opinion on all county matters was so valued. Every county, he said, was a piece in the gigantic organisation for the upkeep of the nation’s roads, and the Highways Board was perhaps the main adviser and controller. A great amount of reading work had been carried out in the Canterbury province of late, and the prospects were that an even greater amount would be done in the future. The people of the Mackenzie County should be proud of their great district, of its wide open spaces, its lakes and its inspiring mountains which engendered a broadmindedness and tolerant attitude in the minds of its people. Points to be Conceded With reference to the points raised by the Council, Mr Baker said he felt sure he could agree on behalf of the Board that the sealing work through Albury would be done in this year’s programme of work from Pleasant Point to Sutherlands. The Board would be happy to consider proposals for the various smaller works enumerated. As far as the extra highways went, that was purely a matter of national finance and was dealt with by the district councils.

Mr W. Morrison said he would like to pay a tribute to the county chairman (Mr C. J. Talbot) who, apart from being chairman of the county, was chairman of the Counties’ Association and a member of the Highways B .rd, a distinction which had not so far been held by any other county man. Mr W. N. Wynyard also expressed his appreciation of Mr Talbot’s v—k, which was so valued on the Highways Board.

Mr T. A. Barrow stated that as it was probably his last opportunity of expressing himself in public as a member of the Board, he would like to pay a tribute to the standard of public life in New Zealand as was shown by the county representatives on the Main Highways Board. “It says much for the public life of New Zealand,” he said, "when matters can be considered from a broad national point of view, even though some of them might belong to the locality from which members come.” When It was remembered that the Board's expenditure was over £3,000.000 and over half of that was for construction and reconstruction, the Board had to consider each and every request in the light of national importance. The impartiality shown by the non-Govemment members on the Board was an example to be upheld.

When replying, Mr Talbot sai' the Board was fortunate in having Mr Knapp as secretary and Mr Albertson as engineer; both were outstanding men whose ability was unquestioned. The public little realised the amount of work that was put in by

them, and the district officers, and local body officers generally. PERSONAL Mr David Barnes, M.P., was elected president of the Fairlie branch of the Labour Party at the annual meeting on Saturdayn ight.

Mi E. Cholertno, optical specialist, managing director ot Procter's, the opticians, Christchurch, will be visiting Fairlie, personally, and may be consulted on all defects of eyesight at the Gladstone Hotel on Monday and Tueslay. 11th and 12th January, from 9 i.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can non be made by ringing the Gladstone Hotel, Fairlie 'phone &