PUBLIC MEETING, LOBURN SCHOOL.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 696, 12 September 1876, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING, LOBURN SCHOOL.

On Thursday evening, 7th inst, a large and influential meeting waa held as above to consider matters relating to the affairs of the road district of Ashley. The chair was occupied by Mr J. A. Cunningham. The meeting was addressed by Messrs S. Barwell, B. Browne, A. H. Cunningham, P. Duncan, George Barwell, D. Brock, and P. Fawcett. During the discussion it was shown that while the district contained 25,000 acres of freehold, representing £50,000, only about £BOOO had been received from Government towards the roads and br'dges of the district; that out of 179 miles of road laid down on the map, only thirty-nine miles had been formed and thirty-four shingled; that over half of the freehold of the district lay to the westward of the Okuku, where scarcely anything had as yet been done, and that it was quite impossible for ordinary traffic to reach many of the sections purchased twelve years ago. The grant for the current year, £I2OO, was deemed most decidedly inadequate, considering that the grant was accompanied with the condition that an approach be made to the Ashley Gorge bridge, involving the expenditure of at least £6OO, leaving £6OO for ordinary purposes, though during the last two years about £12,000 had reached the Government coffers from the district through the Waste Lands Board. Some local matters came in for a share of attention, and it was decided by a very large majority that a resolution which had beer carried unanimously by a former public meeting, be carried out by the Board. The claims of the district for further consideration at the hands of the Government were embodied in a resolution by Mr E. Browne, and seconded by Mr J. A. Cunningham, which was carried enthusiastically.