TURUA BUILDINGS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4461, 1 September 1922, Page 1

TURUA BUILDINGS.

NEW OFFICES OPENED. ANOTHER STEP TO PROGRESS. The progress of Turua has been advanced another stage with the opening of| a set of offices bearing Ore name of "Turua Buildings." A smoke concert was held on Wednesday evening to celebrate the occasion of the official opening of the offices, about 40 of the local settlers being the guests of the Turua Building Company, which is the controlling bedy of the new building. Mr G. Gray occupied the chair,. Apologies were made on behalf of the following: Messrs R. W. Bagnall, W. G. Hayward, E. N. Miller, W. D. Nicholas, and the manager of the Bank of New Zealand, Thames. The function was a successful and a most, enjoyable one. The musical items, which were of a I’igh. order and enthusiastically received, were contributed by Messrs Cassin, Zeigler, Johnston, Horrocks, Sutton, and Dr. Bathgate. TOAST TO T¥RUA. Mr G. Gray, proposing the toast to Turua, welcomed those who were present. It would give the Building Company pleasure to see the wav they had all rolled up. ‘‘You all know the way Turua has been going ahead lately,” said Mr Gray, "and this building is one of the best and most needful things Turua wanted for a long time. It has three double offices, three single offices, and this board room. It is a big asset to Turua. Turua without a doubt is going ahead by leaps and bounds." Nine years ago, continued Mr Gray, it was a one-man show, but, that man,, Mr K. W. Bagnall, had to be thanked for providing one of the best sections for the township of Turua. There was now a local factory, a new wharf, and better facilities everywlhere. There was only one thing Turua was wanting..at the present time, and. that was a public hall. The present one was far too small for local requirements. Mr R. W. Bagnall bad offered the equivalent to £5OO to start a hall(Applause.) He had also offered a site next to this building site. It was now up to the Turua people to accept Mr Bagnall’s offer and have a large new hall.

Mr J. E. Green, responding, endorsed the remarks of the chairman, that Turua had. gone ahead. This building had filled a. long-ifjelt want. The Town Board had been a great asset to Turua. He would like to see an effort to have good roads, which would be a greater asset to Turua than anything else.

Mr J. T. Davies, also responding, said he found everyone in the district trying to dp what they could for the furtherance of the interests of Turua. He admired the Hauraki Plains Dairy Company in the manner it had battled in the time he had been resident there. It was a pleasure to see the local men handling the business in the manner they had done. He had watched for a long time the member ,5 of; the factory directorate battling along marketing their own produce. It gave to the district experience it did not get otherwise. The Town Board was out to do all it could for the benefit of Turua. Roads required attention. They had in this district —a new district—a lot of young men taking a. big interest in public affairs. T.hat was for the good of tne district. Mr T. Chapman, endorsing the remarks of the other gentlemen in response to the toast, said the building was no doubt a great asset to Turua. The residents should combine to have the new hall built. THE VISITORS. ■Mr D. G .McMiHan, who had the duty; to propose thp toast to the visi--ors, said the toast w.as a most imporant ohe as concerned a new district, which was “advertised better, than through the press, with apologies to the press.’’ Bad news had travelled regarding bad roads, and that news had travelled throughout the Dominion. The object in view was to provide something in keeping with the place, and to let the visitors go away with a better feeling. "If we don’t pull together,” he said, "if we don’t sink our differences, visitors will go away with a bad opinion of the district. Though we might fight across the table about local politics we should sink those differences.” In treating the visitor there was a question which cropped up, and that was roads versus bridges. He regretted that Mr J. C. Miller -was not there so that they might have got some definite scheme regarding roads. He always said "roads before bridges. He stressed the necessity of a public hall to more meet the requirements of th© visitors. With the magnificent gift of Mr Bagnall’s they could put up a hall to meet all requirements and be a credit tc the district. TURUA ON THE MAP. Mr A- G. T. Bryan, responding to the toast to the visitors, said he had never heard of Turua until two and a half years ago, when he was resident in the South. It was then not on the map but it was now more than on the ■iap. It was a. nightmare to some. Turua had needs, and it made no' secret of them., Turua had advanced. He ihad carefully noted points in Mr McMillan’s speech and of Turua’s need for good roads, which he maintained were a necessity. He re-echo-ed Mr McMillans hope that all would pull together in t.he interests of themselves, the district, and the country. This district had been cursed with petty animosities, and local bodies had also been quarrelling. The district had been kept back through it, and the place could not afford to be kept back any longer. If they staited tilieir roading scheme or bridges it would be years before those schemes would be completed. They

should look ahead. If they did that their progress would be sound. He 1 sincerely hoped Mr, McMillan’s advice would be iheeded and all sections of the community would take a bread view of; things. The progress of one part made for the progress of another part. For instance, Paeroa hoped to be a big town. He sincerely hoped it would be a big town—as big as Hamilton—as it would be for the benefit of the town die lived in (Thames). FORTY YEARS AGO. Mr A. E. Dodd, also in response to the visitors, said the first .function lie attended in Turua was a concert 32 years ago. The performers then were, nearly all Bagnalls. He noticed that tlhere were no Bagnalls at that evening’s function. He wished Turua every success. His first impressions of; Turua were 40 years ago, when it was a. fair-sized town, “but,” he said, “you could not go far off the roads, as you would go up to your neck in water.” Between Opani Point and Paeroa was one of the best bushes in the Dominion. They ihad one year cut from it 100,000,000 feet of timber. It had in all yielded 300,000.000 feet, mostly of kahikatea. Most of; the houses at Waihi were of that timber. It was an eyeopener to him to see the development, of the place in the past few years. Once they could go over the Plains in a boat without keeping to the river course. He hoped the progress would continue, as there were thousands of acres of land still to be brought in. LOCAL BODIES. Mr W. Madgwick, while speaking -o the toast of local bodies, said local bodies were often misunderstood. The members did a great, deal of| work and got more kicks than ha’pennies. Mr J. A. Bennett, in response, said the Turua Town Board was only a baby local body, and was criticised all over the country. It was said that it was born five years too soon, but he contended it was born five years too late. If it had been born five years sooner the district may have been in a better position. They had a good lot of men to work with, and would put Turua on the map. They had a great district and the best land in x the Dominion. It would milk a cow to the acre. Those in the district, the local bodies and the public generally, would have to pull together to make a success of the district, “We have local bodies and growling.” A Voice : Turua’s growl.” Mr Bennett continued that they had a water-way and facilities of getting produce away second to none in the Dominion. The Tb#vn Board hlad not much money, but they had dope a little bit already. It had done more more work sinc.e it had come into being than had ever been done on the flat. THE DAIRY COMPANY. Mr A. H. Rogers, also replying, coujd not claim to belong to any local body, except if the local dairy company were classified as sucihj. The members of local bodies were well intentioned men. The remedy was • with the ratepayers if they were dissatisfied, and at stated times they could put other men in. The new building would be a great asset. Th? dairy company had long felt the ne- | cessi.ty ot a place in which to meft. The local factory was under the very nose of the town people, but some of them were possibly not aware of what was going on in their midst. The factory started seven years ago with nine suppliers. The output for the first -season was 79 tons. Now, taking tide butter-fat basis, they had manufactured equivalent to 745 tons of cheese. They could, therefore, claim to be the largest individual factory in the Dominion. A sum of '52,000 had been paid out during the past season.. Taranaki was considered the hopie of dairying, but from figures f|rom Manaia, acre for acre, they could wipe the floor with Taranaki as regards production. Ten years ago this place was a wilderness and Taranaki was at its height of production. It was surprising to find that now the Plains was acre for acre on the same level as Taranaki. Production on tiie Plains was nbw going up by leaps and bounds, and with smaller areas he was convinced that tlhte production could be doubled. There was one ■side of the farming life which was neglected, and that was the social side, and a good town hall would help to do away witlhi the drudgery of life. He deplored the congregating of people in the towns, and one way of overcoming that w.as to make ths farm holdings smaller and encouraging the social side of life and so induce people to settle in the country. Mr J. Mules, also on behalf ofj the local bodies, offered Ills hearty congratulations to the Building Company for erecting such a fine building. THE PRESS.. Mr P. R. Henry, proposing the toast to the Press, said that in a country like this the press was required to bring the productivity of the district before the outside world. Articles which appeared in the local press were copied in other papers. Outsiders were interested, and would make a tour of inspection. Better men were brought in, and they brought better stock. The cheap land was no good to the country, as tihe “cocky” could make his living too easily- With the rise in values the farmer had to make every post a winning post, and where one blade of grass once grew two grew now. He disagreed with Mr McMillan's suggestion that the visitors were of more importance tlhan the papers. Some day there may be a building go up in Turua which would publish its daily “rag.” It may be a one-eyed paper, but it would grow. The two press representatives present responded. ’ THE CONTRACTOR. Mr D. G. McMillan, proposing the toast to the contractor, said the real

promoter of; the building was the contractor, Mr Spencer, who had had the whole scheme laid out while others had been arguing about it. Mr Spencer had made a first-class job ot the work entrusted, to him. Mr Spencer said certainly he had started the scheme, but had it not been for the help of several others it | would never have been carried out. j He trusted that now the building had been erected it would often be used ■ by the various oragnisations an 1 | committees. f Mr Gray .thanked Mr Dodd for the way he had helped the building com- ; mittee. It was only the good grace • of Mr Dodd that the building had ] been erected. ; TURUA AS A PORT. J Mr Dodd, expressing tihanks, said he was surprised to learn that Turua was not on ths map till two and .1 half years ago. It had been on the ■ map. he said, 40 year.s ago, and had been exporting timber 50 years age. J He remembered the time w’h.en ships . of from 600 to 700 tons had come to Turua. One boat.of over 2000 tons I had come to Kopu, and could have ; come to Turua. It came up drawing I over 12ft and had gone but laden, j drawing 13ft 10in. He saw no reason why they should not sihip their pro- } duce direct. Shipping was a tremehd- I ous asset to a place like Turua. ! SPORTS BODIES. ■ Mr A. H. Sutton, speaking to tiretoast of local sporting bodies, said j sports bodies were most valuable ac- , quisitions to a district. The sports ; club in Turua had gone ahead ami | made great strides.. At football Turua , had done well this year, and should j win the cup. Turua. without a little 1 sport was a dead and alive hole at the

best of times. Mr R. McLean, in reply, ■said Turua. was holding its head up well in the sports line. There was one ptiher body he would like to see, and that was a bowling club. Messrs A. P. Gardiner and F. Goodsell also suitably replied. SUNDRY SPEECHES. Mr S. Mercer, replying to the local business men’s toast, said the business men in Turua were sparing n< effort to push the place ahead. Speaki jng of a proposal to issue a paper in : Turua. he said there had been a pro- | posal to start a local paper, issued ' •monthly, but it had lx:en .found that j the cost had been too great. J Mr A.. P. Gardiner, pointing out the I business possibilities of Turua, said . Turua’s main port was Auckland. The i Thames Harbour Scheme would effect i Turua. largely in the .way of rates. I Auckland should be the< main outlet ;i .of the Plains, and Auckland should ,] cater for the Plains trade'. They could | not do better than rely on Auckland, i Mr A. Aberjhaixlt said the local j business men cotild help to push the ’ tesiness along. ! Mr A. Jensen also replied. 1 Mr J. G. Walker proposed the toast I to the ladies, Mr S. S- Murray and I Dr. Bathgate replying. t Mr P. R- Henry wished to make ' special mention of Mr Walker, who j had been one of thie leading men in > the scheme and had been the brains I of the whole affair, i Mr A. H. Sutton proposed a hearty ’ vote oil thanks to Mr Zeigler .for offi- ‘ .elating at the piano. j Dr. Bathgate proposed the toast to , the hosts, the Turua Building Comi pany. Mr Gray, responding, .said the . company’s sole aim was not profit, | but to provide the necessarj' facilities.