GISBORNE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 13

GISBORNE.

POVERTY BAY'S CHIEF TOWN. A STORY OF PROGRESS. Gisborne, the chief town, and seaport of Poverty Bay, is prettily situated on tho banks of the Waimatii, Turanganui, and

Taraheru Rivers. 'With itaidelightfnl subtropical climate, its fine stretch of sandy beach, and its smoothly-flowing rivers, it is an exceedingly pleasant residential town. One of the ; features which first im-

press the visitor is the excellent planning of the towii. Many cities and towns m New Zealand—more -particularly tho big centres—suffer .serious inconvenience from narrow streets, but-from this evil Gisborne is-fortunately free, thanks to tho foresight of the • pioneers. ,' It -is a city ol' wide streets, and this is -particularly noticeable to: visitors from Wellington who are accustomed daily to see evidence, of the great handicap which is imposed by narrow thoroughfares/ Gisborne must in the future become a big city, as the back country is more fully settled and developed, and in years to come tho foresight of the early settlers will bo even more appreciated than at present. The ma;n thoroughfares have been named after great statesmen, such as Gladstone, Peel, Pitt, etc. It does, not conic within the province of the. writer of those notes to hazard iin opinion as to whether the condition of tlio streets is such as. to shed lustre bu the fame of the great men they are named alter. But if Gisborne's'roads are not, without blemish, the fact can be attributed to two direct causes: First, the excellent quality of tho land surrounding the'town, and the l'icli papa and limestone formation of" the bock country, means that there is ail absence of good metal. Although this is the cause of much grumbling by the townspeople, vet, looked at in the' right light, it is something to be thankful for. Gisborne is much better off with its indifferent and expensive reads than with the pond roods, which would be a cheaper and le-s perplexing problem if it were 'surrounded' by poor, stony country, S-ecoiul, the town is built upon the deep, loose, sandy formation which encircles the Bay, aiid great quantities of metal are required to obtain anything like a good foundation. The metal which is used on the streets is of inferior quality, and hns (o be brought in on tramlines a distance of 1 hirteeu miles, liravel from tho Napier beach is now being used in laying a carpet of asphalt on the main thoroughfares. There -is good metal on the GisborncOpotiki railway line, and in course of time this may relieve the burden of maintaining the streets in good condition. A great deal of new work is going on in Gisborne at the piesent time. The main streets are being kerbed- and channelled in concrete, greatly enhancing the appearance of the town. The tram lines have been laid in Gladstone Road (the principal business street), and everything is in readiness for tlio inauguration of the scheme at an early date, The cars to be used are the Edison aud Beach storage battery, 110 overhead equipment being necessary. The town has been lighted by electricity- for about twelve months, snd so rapid has been the growth of the system .that it is necessary to largely increase tho plant to copo with it and to

provide tho power for the tram service. At present there are two 150 horse-power Merrilees Bickcrton and Day Diessel engines in the station, and a third is on order. A small benzine set is now being erected as a stand-by in the event of the big engine being delayed in shipping. Practically the whole of tho extensive works now being carried on aro being done by day labour. Tho engineer (Mr. A. J. Paterson, late of the Wellington city engineering staff) is a staunch advo-

-■c-ate of direct control, as the most oxpeditious and economical system of carrying out alk municipal work, and the results so far achieved in Gisborne have earned for him the highest approval of the authorities. The Future of Gisborne. Apart from the great productiveness of the laud immediately surrounding Gisborne, there are reasons which justify the opinion held by many that the town will oiio . day bo a . big city. Chief amongst these reasons is the fact that it will be, and must,- always remain, the distributing centre for great areas of land, far into the back country, which is gradually being developed from year, to year. Converging upon the town are no fewer than eleven valleys, some of them running back for over fifty miles into .magnificent grazing land. The configuration of {his country is such that "all roads lead to Gis-borne"—-and to Gisborne only. _ Even should other towns come into existence near by, the produce from the immense area of country intersected by these valleys must come through Gisborne. The valleys referred to are the Pouawa, Waimata, Kanakanae, Mangatu, Patitutu, Waikohu, Wharekopae, Hangaroa, Ruakitiri, Te Aral, and Mangapaeke and Wharorata. Not ono of theso valleys has yet reached anything like its full capacity of production, and for many years a large, and steady increase in both imports and exports can bo counted upon. At present the freezing, works of Messrs. Nelson Brothers and the ..Gisborne Sheepfarmers' are the chief industries in the town. The population, however,_ is waking up to the fact that there is ample scope and- all facilities for many other industries. A. company is now being formed to start a fellmongery on a largo scale, and some of the more enterprising townspeople are also discussing. tlio question. of forming a local company to establish a woollen mill.