ROTORUA AGAINST WHAKATANE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 18, 10 November 1950, Page 3

ROTORUA AGAINST WHAKATANE

“I am instructed to state that under no consideration will the Rotorua Borough Council agreed to be rated for harbour works at Whakatane. My council will use every means known to it to oppose any attempt to bring the borough into a rating area for a harbour at Whakatane. The expenditure of such a large sum is of no interest whatever to this area when a first class deep-water port can be made available at Tauranga at a fraction of the cost.” This was the opening statement of the Mayor of Rotorua, Mr A. F. Moncur, in his evidence before the Bay of Plenty Harbour Committee of Inquiry. “Considerable benefit would accrue to the people in this district by the installation og a deep-water port at Tauranga which is a reasonably good port at present,” added witness. “What area would this proposed port service? Taupo is 100 miles by road from Tauranga. Assuming that we accept this township as the most distant point to be serviced, the area this port would serve could be assumed to be all the area to the north of the Waikato River in a westerly direction to where the river joins the Rotorua-Auckland main highway at Pairere. From here to Tauranga via Matamata is about 45 miles over an excellent road.

“The same road, over the Kaimai Hills, would serve the Putaruru area, the distance being about the same. Rotorua requires a new main highway via Te Matai. Much of this road is already permanently sealed and when completed, will bring Rotorua within 40 miles of Tauranga. All of this vast area is confined mainly to dairy production and grazing. Vast Possibilities “From Taupo in a north-easterly direction to Te Whaiti in the Urewera country and from there to Te Teko and bgack to Taupo on the Rotorua-Taupo highway, is almost exclusively timber country, including 300,000 acres of State-owned exotic forest and a large area of milling indigenous forest. “There is not any other district in New Zealand which offers the possibilities of rapid development as does the Rotorua-Taupo area. In one district alone, taking a large triangle from Rotorua along the main highway to Taupo as far as the Waikato River bridge and from there to Atiamuri, then back to Rotorua, contains an area of undeveloped country on which 3000 settlers could be established on farms of an average size of 150 acres. “Further than that, there is the huge Kaharoa district which will one day be extensively farmed. All of this land is either dairying or sheep country, so, added to the present productive capacity, the possibiyities for the future are very bright indeed. Prospects For Imports

“What are the prospects for imports? Matamata has a population of 2000 and Putaruru, a population of 1200 people. Tokoroa is a rapidly growing township. Rotorua’s population at present is more than 10,000 and if the present * growth continues it will be a city within 20 years. These places will be points of distribution for incoming goods to smaller countries with a population of many thousands of people in the aggregate. “This district in the future could use not less than 250,000 tons of fertiliser a year. Good arterial roads to the port for this back loading are essential. “I lived in the Whakatane district for 15 years,” Mr Moncur stated. “The harbour question was extensively discussed by the Whakatane Borough Council during the eight years I was a member of that body and it has been hotly debated on many an occasion.”