THE ‘HUB’

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 13, 2 April 1947, Page 5

THE ‘HUB’

KUTARERE’S DESIGNATION AN INTERESTING SKIT Under the psuedonym ‘PopEye’ a contributor to the Opotiki News has the following interesting and 1 racy commentary to make on Kutarere, its rise and subsequent fall. Here it is:— Kutarere is in the news once again and with a vengeance. Thirty odd years ago Kutarere was considered a thriving and rising village and was known throughout Whakatane and Opotiki districts as “The Hub of the Universe.” At that time the port of Ohiwa was losing interest despite the fact it maintained a public house knoMm •as the Ferry Hotel (the site of which is now well out in the harbour, likewise the old wharf site) ■and therein rests a tale. Kutarere awakened to the fact that quite a •quantity of produce: butter from Chedar Valley, cheese from Waimana, Nukuhou North and Waiotahi was passing her door, and a inward cargo for suppliers •of same. All shipped and transhipped over Ohiwa wharf. It was eventually decided to erect a wharf at Kutarere, with the result that the Whakatane and Opotiki County 'Councils jointly raised a loan for the project with a special rating area, Whakatane taking three-fifths of the responsibility and also being jnainly responsible for the wharf ‘being placed in the wrong position. It was then suggested that the license of the Ferry Hotel should be shifted to the rising township, but the “best laid schemes aft-times gang aglee.” The powers that be had •other nations of the fitness of things and a loophole was found in the law ■and the Ohiwa license was suddenly shifted over Gisborne way and the “Hub” lost her opportunity. After World War I came the slump, two cheese factories and the butter factory went phut, and Kutarere went into premature decay, the wharf included:

Thirty years ago—a lot can happen in that time—nations can rise and nations fall. Now Kutarere is starting to come back into its own. All that’s wanted is a new wharf a half-mile of good road and Hey Presto—the only decent port in the Central and Eastern Bay of Plenty. It is being said that land values are mounting every day! The old •“Hub” is surely on the turn.