SETTLERS STILL NOT SATISFIED WITH BOUNDARY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 1, 29 September 1948, Page 5

SETTLERS STILL NOT SATISFIED WITH BOUNDARY

Very Disappointed & Very Surprised Dissatisfaction and disappointment with the, Local Government Commission’s recent finding on the adjustment of the boundary between the Opotiki and Whakatane Counties was expressed at the Whakatane County ' Council’s meeting yesterday by Mr T. W. Burke, representing the Wainui-Waing-arara Settlers’ Association. “We are very disappointed and very surprised at the Commission’s findings,” he said. Evidently, he went on, the - Commission had not apparently given much weight to the settlers’ unanimous request for transfer from the Opotiki to the Whakatane County. He stressed the point that Whakatane was their shopping centre. The Commission’s report seemed to suggest that the Whakatane County favoured the inclusion of the Ohope area more than Wainui. That, he thought, was not so. Moreover, the Commission thought the proposed wharf would be solely for Whakatane’s benefit. That was not altogether right. Jt would be of great benefit to the settlers themselves. Those impressions should, he thought, be corrected. In answer to Mr'Burke’s question as to how the Commission’s decision affected the Council’s attitude to the Wainui deviation, the chairman, Mr J. L. Burnett, said that was unaltered, and the Council would continue to push for the deviation as hard as it could. However, £he invariable answer was shortage of men and shortage of material. When asked if the Council thought the boundary question could be reopened, the chairman replied that that would require a completely new angle of evidence which he did not think was , available.

Before leaving the meeting, Mr Burke thanked the Council for its keen and continued interest in the settlers’ problems.