A Thriving District.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 3

A Thriving District.

RECORD OF PROGRESS. A record of achievement and progress unsurpassed by any other county in New Zealand can be claimed by the Ashburton County Council during the first fifty years of its existence/and on all sides is to be seen evidence of judicious control and expenditure of the ratepayers' money collected during that period, until in this, its jubilee year, it is in a healthy condition governing a prosperous, fertile county abounding with wealth that only solid toil and careful, profitable cultivation of the natural resources at our disposal can produce. From its constitution in 1877, the County Council has guided the destiny of the district, comprising an area of 246,459 square miles and valued at £12,558,840, in a most praiseworthy manner, and the resourcefulness and foresight of members who have represented the ratepayers on that body since its inception has been singularly a matter for congratulation. The same may be said of the Ashburton Borough Council, which was constituted in 1878 and has established a record of usefulness of which any town may well be proud. The men who have comprised the Council from time to time, in addition to those who occupied the Mayoral chair, have displayed wonderful administrative ability, examples of which are to be seen in the general lay-out of the town and suburbs, in addition to the valuable assets which have been retained in the nature of reserves, squares, the Domain, and latterly the installation of modern conveniences such as high pressure water and sewerage. Prior to the establishment of a Power Board and the supply of power from Lake Coleridge, the electricity for local requirements was generated by the municipality. The stable financial position in which the borough finds itself to-day is due to the vigilance and control exercised over local affairs by the City Fathers. The borough will celebrate its jubilee next year, but just what form the function will take has yet to be decided. In keeping with the rapid growth of the district over the past half-century, a policy of progress and .service, two vitally important factors in the advancement of any thriving community, has been well maintained by the various local bodies controlling the affairs of Ashburton town and county during the past twelve months, the extension of local industries, building-opera-tions, road construction, electric power and telephone facilities, to say nothing of private enterprise, being some of the visible signs of the progress which has been made..