HAMPERING SETTLEMENT

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3187, 12 August 1930, Page 6

HAMPERING SETTLEMENT

ROADING PROBLEM. County- Council on Mon-before-.it, for.about an hour, solution of .a problem affecting S&oading and closer settlement a mile fiTjb r two from ; Leamington toward Roto- €~.' (O-Rangi. • . Representations were again made in connection with, the desire of certain settlers near the Reynolds settlement at RotO-o-Rangi to have a road line bounding their properties amended so as-to avoid taking the best part of their properties, which is principally swamp or drained-swamp land. ,Mr D. J. Lundoh, solicitor for some of the parties,- wrote setting out the position as affecting them, and-indi-cated that he would personally .attend the meeting to further the project. The half-chain road has four of the sub-divisions fronting it, but as a : full-width road runs along the back of the whole four farms the narrow road is not necessary. The engineer explained that the Council had agreed to take the land from A to B (on the map), and would • have to fence one side about 90 chains. there w as a half-chain road •%’Jbut dedication of sub-divisions could |sf:hot be given unless the Council aethe half-chain road. As an PSalternative the Council preferred a Kg&new line that would give a road a full Kii-chaih wide. It would cut off about 4£ .what is Nelson’s land, close homestead. was mentioned that the Crown. Bptseif had caused much of the trouble MPpibugh providing only a half-chain BplslcL when cutting up the Reynolds Bjlegtb-te for closet settlement. No priindividual would have been perPsshjited tk> cut up land with only a road. ■ suggested that if the settlers to the Council’s new road he paid for, of course, in the |jf~|jreual.way) the Council would be willto consent to dedication of the tpHialf-chain road, Which would never be AVAII <vlvpQ vn

o> _ Messrs C. Taylor, D. J. Lundon, and p£H. P. Nelson attended as a deputation |p : to more fully explain the position. -. Mr Lundon said if they could not J-v reach agreement the settlers’ negoti- ! ations with the Crown Lands Departp';. ment would be nullified, and the settlers would thus be put to considerable £. expense. Mr Nelson’s position was I %_ difficult, as he had so little dry land, ®?fand 91 acres of this were wanted for roadway. That was worth a good more to him than the half-chain |?Sstrip along the narrow roadway. ifec 1 To Mr Lundon, the engineer exSlfplained that to take the roadway Sflthrough Baker’s would not give the psCouncil a decent alignment. Nelson-differed with the engito -the amount of land that I* would- be cut off by the road-line tra&#Verslhg his paddock at an angle. He yvisaid Hhere would be only about an ' acre affected, while the engineer said > : the area would be more like 4£ acres. , Mr Nelson said he would like to re- • r -tain his mature plantation if at all possible. I; While Messrs Nelson and Lundon withdrew to confer on some points raised, Mr Taylor set out the general position as at present as it concerned other landowners in the locality. The negotiations for disposal of the estate to the Crown for closer settlement hinged on a satisfactory agreement with the.. Council. ! Mr Taylor said the Council had the property-owners in a position likened to a cleft'stick. The parties had endeavoured to meet the Council’s desires, but they had failed. He suggested, that the Council withdraw its claims, and thus assist, closer settlement and the progress of the district. The chairman said the Council had no desire to hamper progress, but in the public interest it must adopt an attitude that would ensure having a - ; satisfactory road. He suggested that .matters Mr Nelson should gwe”i;he Council an undertaking to sell the land needed for the road at a later date. The proposed road would link with Shakespeare Street, and would become a main Leamington and Cambridge. Ultimately the parties undertook to sell to the Council, at £35 per acre, the area in Baker’s farm required for the roadway, and not more than one acre of Mr Nelson’s land at the corner, this to be paid for at the rate of £7O per acre; this offer to be contingent on the Council's facilitating the landowners’ negotiations with the Crown for sale for sub-division. Mr Nelson gave a personal undertaking to ratify in writing the terms of this agreement.