The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1913. TE AWAMUTU BOROUGH.

Waipa Post, Volume V, Issue 226, 4 July 1913, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1913. TE AWAMUTU BOROUGH.

THE time is fast approaching when the Te Awamutu Town District will have obtained the necessary population to enable it to be constituted a Borough. Of recent years the town has made rapid advancement, and what a few years ago was a mere village has now developed into a-busy commercial centre, and at the same rate of progress will, at a very early date, deyelop into a borough of no mean importance when ranked'amongst the inland towns of the Dominion. There are three causes which are mainly responsible for this undoubted advancement —climate, soil, and location. Ideally situated, with an extensive back country, all of which is rapidly being developed, and with a climate which is not surpassed in any other part, little wonder is it that Te Awamutu should come to the fore as a commercial centre. The opening up of adjacent agricultural lands which had hitherto been closed to settlement has clone much to promote the town, and it is beyond dispute that when all the back country is fully developed the commerce of Te Awamutu will show much greater advancement. With this fact before them it is little wonder that ratepayers should so constantly raise the enquiry " why not constitute the Te Awamutu town district a borough." To do this certain requirementsof law require to be complied with, and the Chamber of Commerce recently approached the Town Board with the request that a trial census of the resident population within the town district boundaries be taken, it being the first requirement of law that there be 1000 people resident within the area. The Board, evidently as the result of a calculation made, came to the conclusion that a trial census was not warranted. The Board is undoubtedly in a position .to best judge this question, for in its possession are records which will make possible the " trial count." Assuming that the Board made very careful calculations before arriving at a decision not to comply with the request, the matter must of necessity stand in abeyance, for it will be impossible to proceed with the formation of the borough until such time as there are 1,000 residents The official census of 1906 shows the population at that time to be 379; in April, 1911, it is set out as 645, an increase during the five years of 266. Assuming" that in the past two and a half years Te Awamutu has advanced at the same rate as in the live years covered by the census returns, the population at date would be in the vicinity of 800. But Te Awamutu's progress within the last two years has been most marked, and far in excess of any former period, and if the numbers are short of 1000 they will certainly not be very far short. Having regard to this fact—and there are many who throw question upon the Board's decision we certainly lean to the belief that the trial census should have been taken, as the question is of sufficient importance to warrant any decision being based upon facts and not merely upon ..onjecture. It is to be hoped that this question will

be pursued further, and that im-

mediately proof is obtained that the number of residents exceeds I the required 1000 steps will be i taken to bring about the estabj lishment of the Te Awamutu ; borough.