ADVANCE EDGECUMBE!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 28, 13 March 1942, Page 5

ADVANCE EDGECUMBE!

A WATER SUPPLY NEXT TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS So Edgeeumbe is to have a -water . supply ! At least the Count}' Clerk lias advertised at some length in the Beacon the momentous i'act that at its next meeting the Whakatane County Council hopes to pass a resolution creating an Edgeeumbe water supply special rating area. In due course Edgeeumbe township will have the waters of the mighty Rangitaiki River "on tap" in every house, not to mention annual water rates lor every householder. Twenty years ago there was no Edgeeumbe. Then all of a sudden it just grew, and is still growing 1 stronglv. - 1 1 Coming of the Railway A generation ago there Avas a lit- , tie school in the \ T icinity of Edge- j cumbe known as ]{i\-erslca. There , were a few homesteads of outback . settlers Avitli not a great deal in the | way of access roads to ciA 7 ilisation (that is, Whakatane). Then came the railway. By 1922 the Public Works train ran along the coast as far as Matata. The great job of building an embankment for the rails across the really swampy Rangitaiki Swamp of 20 years ago Avas put in hand. Where the railway crossed the Rangitaiki it Avas natural that there should be a station. Someone had the bright idea of calling the station "Edgeeumbe" because it is literally in the shadow of the old atol- - So Edgeeumbe toAvnship began to sprout out. Dairy Factory Takes up Residence The dairy factory Avas built by the bridge. It is iioav a very big factory, but it did not have such an imposing collection of buildings when it first took its stand (like Horatius) to guard the bridge. In due course Edgeeumbe accumulated a timber mill Avith a whistle by which residents knoAV when it is lunch time; a pound for stray stock (of course there are none); a fortnightly pig sale Avhich acts as a ciAac send-off to many fat grunters of the Plains; a picture theatre that brings the wild AA-est and the culture (?) of HollyAVOod within easy reach of Rangitaiki's rustic youth and beauty; and of course half a dozen emporiums Avhere you can buy anything from a needle to an anchor. Learning and Uplift So Edgeeumbe flourishes. Its school is a big one. Young Eldgecumbe goes joyfully and in large numbers to> a fine looking school. The learned professions are also represented by a resident minister of the kirk, and a visaing medico. So far Edgeeumbe has not degenerated to the level of having a policeman and a lock-up. Perhaps the raihvay made Edgeeumbe. Anyway the Edgeeumbe Raihvay Station is a rather busy one, Avith a large export of fat pigs, sa\A*n timber, cardboard from Hie Whakatane Paper Mills and so< on. j It receives truck loads of coal, fertilisers and other requirements to keep the Avheels of industry turning on the Plans. May Soon be a Borough Now Edgeeumbe is to have its water supply. A jmternal County Council av ill proA'ide it in return for a rate of moderate size. So : Edgeeumbe is groAving up. Its get- : ting more like London and WJiaka- ; tane every day. ; What next? Why Edgeeumbe will be a Borough by 1950, with a Mayor ; and Council, a toAvn hall and (we fear) a large municipal department and great expectations. Who can tell? -