MATAMATA COUNTY.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15999, 30 May 1924, Page 8

MATAMATA COUNTY.

A COMPREHENSIVE LOAN.

Ordinary business was transacted by the Matamata County Council in conjunction with its statutory annual meeting yesterday. All the members were present, Cr. J. W. Anderson, the chairman, presiding. Loan of £200,000. In accordance with notice given at the previous meeting, it was decided to submit to a poll of the ratepayers this winter a loan proposal for about £200,000, the exact amount to be determined by the engineer, and to cover the full needs of the county m main highway construction, metalling of main county roads, provision of machinery, and renewal of the county bridges in concrete as becomes necessary. The clerk and the engineer were instructed to circularise each ratepayer on the subject, after which a ratepayers' meeting should be held to hear the proposals fully explained verbally. It was stated thit the loan would involve a special rate of about Id in the £ over the whole county. The following were added to the list of county main roads for inclusion in the loan .proposals:—Putaruru-Wao-tu; Okoroire-W'aiomo Junction; Peria Road from Matamata to Gunn's Road; Station Road from Matamata to Maitai Road; Richmond Downs Road from Matamata to Gunn's Road: two miles of Buckland Road and one and a half miles of the Okunui Springs Road. Rates. It was resolved that the general rate in each riding for the current financial year should be the same as last year, except that in the Tokoroa Riding there should be a reduction from lid to Id. Arrangements we're made to institute a system of suing for outstanding rates in cases where defaulters refused to make any appreciable effort to pay. Raising Loan Money. The Council's letter to the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. J. G. Coates, suggesting the pooling of local body loan requirements and the raising of a comprehensive loan on the London market to cover them, owins to the difficulty of getting adequate sums of money on New Zealand for local bodies' share of main highway expenditure, etc, was the subject of a number of replies. The Minister replied that he had noted the difficulty the council was experiencing in raising loan moneys, but the letter was one for the Main Highways Board, to which it had been referred. The board chairman, Mr F. W. Furkert, wrote that the matter would come before the board on May 29, when the question of the powers of local authorities to raise loan moneys for expenditure on main highways would ne considered. The chairman of the No. 2 Highways Council, Mr A. J. Baker, advised that Mr Furkert had written as follows: — "It is very satisfactory to note that the Matamata county is taking a live interest in the matter of its main highways. Unfortunately, here is no provision in the .Main Highways Act enabling local bodies to raise loan moneys to be expended on main highways. This question's, however, the subject of a letter from the Counties' Association, which will receive consideration at the next board meeting. The question of purchasing machinery and bitumen outfits, etc., is also one which will receive the attention of the board at its next meeting on May 29." Natives' Rates.

On behalf of a joint committe-' elected in May of last year by the Waitomo County Council, ..he Te KuUi Borough Council, the Te Kuiti Chamber of Commerce, the secretary of the committee advised that a conference would be held at Te Kuiti on June 10 to evolve some scheme 'o meet the unsatisfactory condition that obtains at the present time regarding the collection of rates on native lands. The committee submitted a petition asking for power to register unpaid rates against native land. The coum.i! signed the petition and appointed its chairman a delegate to the conference. Waharoa Cemetery. On the recommendation of the Waharoa Progress League, the members of the Waharoa Domain Board were appointed the local cemetery trustees. General. The Auckland Lands and SurveyOffice submitted approval of a plan showing land being.given by Messrs A. A. McGowan and W. H. Bennett, Puketurua for widening to a chain the present half-chain road from Piikctururu factory to the Arapuni access road nea Mr Petersen's farm.

The engincer-in-charge at Arapuni, Mr T. Rabone, advised that the question of declaring the triangular piece of road at the junction of the old and new roads at Arapuni a road reserve to make the junction less acute wouli not be decided until it was known whether the contractors would require this land for other purposes. Two firms who had received a letter of complaint from the council regarding objectionable roadside advertisements erected by them, without permission, advised they were sending representatives to remove the signs. it was resolved that the -iext meeting of the council be held on July 4