WAIMATE RURAL HOUSING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21815, 19 November 1940, Page 3

WAIMATE RURAL HOUSING

Applicant Waits On

Council

Decision Unaltered

Mr H. J. C. Harper, as the only applicant for a loan under the rural housing scheme, attended yesterday’s meeting of the Waimate County Council by invitation to, as the chairman (Mr J. Bitchener) put it, raise any points in favour of the scheme which may have escaped the Council’s notice when it decided against its adoption. After Mr Harper had presented a case for the scheme, and members of the Council had expressed an opinion, the original decision not to adopt the scheme was left unaltered. “I have come here at your invitation, and I am quite in the dark,” Mr Harper said when asked by the chairman to give reasons why the Council’s decision should be changed. “I did not come here to make an explanation, but thought that you had something to say to me.” The chairman contended that such was not the case. “We thought we would give you an opportunity to state your case,” he said. “You have been the only person who has made an application under the Act. We know that a number of applications would be made if the Council adopted the scheme.” Mr Harper: I am not optimistic enough to think that a lone ratepayer could come here and swing the opinion of the Council. Mr Harper maintained that if the Council agreed that more housing was needed in rural districts, it had the Act. The Act was not complete and not entirely foolproof, but it was in existence. If the Council did not think more rural housing was required, it simply had to turn down the opportunity to adopt the Act. The point was that the Government had passed the Act, and it would not alter it for the Council. He produced a letter from the State Advances Corporation which explained the Act and mentioned that it had been adopted by 75 counties and that loans to the value of £589,250 were on issue. If the Council failed to adopt the Act, farmers wanting to build would lose a Government subsidy of 10 per cent. Mr H. M. Whatman said the Council had to take certain responsibilities under the Act, and the first was to strike a rate. The Council would have to say who could have a loan and who could not, and he would not like that responsibility. The half per cent allowed would not cover administrative costs, ,and the additional cost would fall on ratepayers as a whole. Mr R. Sinclair said he thought the scheme had been a genuine attempt to solve the rural housing problem. Some county houses were absolutely deplorable. He had found that out as a In some instances, the Commission Lad member of an Adjustment Commission, ruled that a loan for a new hou.-e should be the first charge on the land. “I do not know of ope single where we gave that right in which people were able to raise the necessary finance.” he said. Mr W. Lindsay said the amounut allowed for supervision was not cnout h and ratepayers would have u> contribute to the cost of the houses. He maintained that money could be maintained through the ordinary channels as cheaply as it could be obtained through the rural housing scheme. Mr Harper said Mr Lindsay had implied that a rate would be struck as security for a house on the speaker’s property. That was not the case. Mr Lindsay: I said at the beginning that there was no personal implication. Hakataramea Station The engineer (Mr W. P. Black) said that, with Mr A. N. Hayes, ae had made an inspection of the proposed road deviation near the Hakataramea Downs Station. A certain amount cf drift material could be expected at one point, but the station manager had given an undertaking to have it removed without any cost to the Council. Some 20 to 25 chains of road would have to be formed, and the cost, including the removal of the bridge to a new site, would not exceed £lOO. The owners of the station, the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, wrote offering the land free, together with £lOO, which could be allocated towards the cost of transferring the land and building the bridge. The chairman: It is to my knowledge only the second time in the history of the county in which a private contribution has been offered towards the cost of a bridge. The other - ase was also in the Hakataramea riding, and occurred more than 30 years ago. The company’s offer was accepted. Gorse on Roadsides At its previous meeting the Council decided to ask ratepayers responsible for gorse on roadsides to forward explanations as to why the work had not been done before legal action was taken. The chairman said replies had been received from all but three ratepayers. Those who had replied were to be given a further period of three months to have the work done. The finance committee had decided that that was the only way out of the difficulty at the present time, because labour was increasingly difficult to get. Mr A. S. Elworthy said he had noticed that the Levels County Council had cleaned gorse off a roadside. Mr Lindsay: Is that the piece of road we pay for? Mr Elworthy: Yes. Mr Lindsay: Is that charged to maintenance? Is the clearing of gorse in the Levels County being charged to Waimate? It was decided to investigate the position. Earlier in the meeting, Mr Sinclair remarked that the Council would have to put its own house in order by clearing gorse from a reserve in his riding. The chairman reported that as no advice had been received from the Public Works Department, the committee appointed to consider compensation claims in connection with the Morven drainage scheme had been unable to meet. The committee consisted of the Waihao riding members and himself. The statement presented by the chairman of the finance committee (Mr H. J. Stowell) showed a debit balance at the bank of £12,822/12/9, compared with £12,783/9/5 at the same period last year. Receipts since the previous meeting amounted to £1359/7/6 and the accounts presented that date totalled £2640/15/-. The Lower Waihao water race account had a credit of £52/1/8, compared with £270/8/9 at the .same time last year. Those present were: Messrs J. Bitchener (chairman), A. S. Elworthy, H. M. Whatman, R. Sinclair, H. B. S. Johnstone, H. J. Stowell, W. Lindsay and A. N. Hayes. WOMEN’S BOWLING The following will represent the Waimate Club in the second round ot the Ferguson Cup competition against Temuka on Thursday: Mesdames Bray, Stevens, Richards, Reeve (s); Mesdames Runciman. Wilson, Travers, Lewis (s); Mesdames Winning, Dicki son, Healey, Kirk (s); Mesdames Black, Morrison, Turnbull, Paterson (s). Emergencies: Mesdames Barnard and Palmer.