THE POHANGINA ROAD BOAD

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 126, 21 April 1892, Page 3

THE POHANGINA ROAD BOAD

TO THE EDITOR OF THK STAII. Sie — Will you be good enough to publish the subjoined correspondence for the benefit of your readers in the new district, and oblige. I am, &c, G. R. Lucas. " Sir, — Will you allow me to fjire a little financial information as regards, the Pohangina I?o;id Board about to be formed. Roughly, ifc takes in about 300,000 acres of country; it is subdivided into five (5) wards (and the plan of sub-division ra»y be seen at Mr. Bray's, (the Engineer to the Board, offics at Feilding) ; it consists at present of two wards, the Kuiihine and Pohantrina ; the present or new valuations, of which are £88.928 and £105,198 respectively, or in round numbers, say, £200,000. The whole of the new valuation of the Kiwi tea Road Board is £531,367, so at pres entwehave two members to represent £200,000, and seven (7) members to represent the remaining £331,000. With a valuation of £200,000 to start with, and the rate that is to be struck, viz., a fd- and £ d., being a halfpenny less in the pound than has heretofore been collected, will give us an income of £833 6s. Bd. by rates alone. We shall get a Government subsidy on rates of, say, £150, and shall receive in thirds and forths about £600 per year, making a total income of, s;iy, £1600. Besides this there are now being surveyed within its boundaries four (4) special settlements, containing over 20,000 acres, of which at present we have no valuation, but we can rough ly cal> culate them at another £20,000 of valuation as soon as the survey is finished. So much for income. Now as to ex» penditure. We will have to take over two loans, amounting to £7.400, for which we will Jtarc to pay intercut amounting to £3fO per year for about 2(> years ; our contribution to bridges will be, say, £50; hospital and charitable aid, say another £50 ; or, in round numbers, £500, out of £1600, leavins, say £1100. out of which balance we have to paj a i secretary and engineer, and eyen then I presume we shall baye a little balance left to work upon. Some people object to separation on the score of expense, as our engineer and secretary are paid on the percentage principle. We— that is the two wards going out— pay two- fifths of their screw, thcremaining seven wards paying the remaining three- fifths between them. Again, when first I became a member of the Kiwitea JZoaA Board, its valuation wasJ£l3O,sOs, an J Us income by rates £815 Bs. From other sources it received, say £400 more, or a total of £1,215- It 1S but reasonable to suppose that, if the Eiwitea Road Board could start on a valuation of L 130.505, and an income of L 1.215, the Pohangina Road Board can start on a valuation of £200,* 000 and an income of £1,600. I may say, in conclusion, that within the Pohangina Road Board boundaries there will be no less than seven (7) special settlements. To make roads for these and other settlers is the principal feature of the separation movement. As soon as separation is effected, we shall be enabled to borrow £6,0u0 to make roads, which we shall be able to do without burdening our ratepayers by collecting any special rnte for it While we remain in the Kiwitea "Road Board our borrowing powers are n ;i. Further, I may say that the Po» hangina Road Board offices, if separation be effected, will, as far as my voice goes, if I should be elected a member of that board.be held in Feildins till we can shift into the Pohangina district altoaether. Thanking you in anticipation for publishing this.— O. R. Lucas."

FEILDING J.C. EASTER MEETING. SECOND DAY. (Continued from last issue). 5. Second Handicap Hack Flying Eace, of 20 soys. Nomination, 10s ; acceptance, 10s. Four Furlongs. 52 Mr E. J. Chapman's Slip, 6-10 1 (Johnston) 25 J. Green's Bloomsbury, 6-10 (Hall) 2 135 E. J. Chapman's O'Rourke 6-10 '6 ' (McCormick) A splendid field of eleven faced the starter and were despatched to a pood start, Slip getting the premier position, which she maintained throughout, Bloomsbury two leu^ths away second, and O'lionrke another length away third, "Won easy. The rest well up, Charger last. Also started: Daisy Clipper (49), bister (61), Poynsettia (28), Daphne (15,), Balfour (15), Never lie turn (2), Charger (1), and Unity (4). Totalisator, i'3B6 ; dividend, £6 Us ; time 51 4-5 sec. 6. Shorts Handicap, of 45 soys ; second horse to receive 5 soys from tlie stakes. Nomination, 1 sor ; accept ancc, 1 sow Five Furlongs. 141 Mr E. E. McEea's Torpedo, 8-12 1 (McCormick) 36 Mr W. Kobson's Avis, 8-5 2 (Taniplin) ,18 Mr D. Scully's Ruftis 7-11 o (McKeague) From a good start the horses raced all in a bunch to the straight, when Torpedo shot out. and won easy, with Avis a length "behind and Cretonne on Avis' girth. Strephon (80), Musket (oH), Paradox (18), Phormium Tenax (71), Gun Cotton (12), were the other starters. Totalisatov, £436 ; dividend, .£2 10s : [ time, lm'm Ssec. I At the close of the meeting the handicapper and starter were cheered. The sum of £'2,386 went through the totalisator the second day, making a total of £5084 for both days.