PAEROA AFFAIRS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4597, 13 August 1923, Page 2

PAEROA AFFAIRS.

DELEGATION TO WELLINGTON. SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS. At the Paeroa Borough Council meeting on Thursday evening last the following report (prepared by His Worship the Mayor) was received concerning the visit of the delegation (The Mayor and Cr. Brenan), to Wellington in conection with Borough matters :— . compliance with the instructions of the last Council meeting, Cr. Brenan and myself proceeded to Wellington last Wednesday evening and returned on Sunday morning. LOANS OBTAINED. “After considerable negotiatipns arrangements. were made with the Bank of New Zealand to hypothecate debentures up to £lo,ooo—£6ooo for, sewerage and £4ooo' for street improvement, works—these debentures to be cancelled pari passu as advances are made by the State Advances Office. This will have the effect of confining our borrowing to the State advances at 4% per cent., except fpr temporary accommodation, which will be at, the most favourable bank rate on the actual amounts expended from day io day. It also saves all brokerage and exchange payments, and in the aggregate represents a saving to the ratepayers of at least £4OOO compared with the proposals which were before the last meeting, and which the Council were inclined t,o accept. DOMAIN LOANS. “Arrangements were also made with the Bank pf New Zealand for a. loan of £lOOO at 5% per cent, for 36% years for domain improvements. We recommend strongly that resolutions be passed to-night to enable the Finance Committee to obtain authorisations for all these proposals, and that definite arrangements be made tp raise the loan money, with power to the committee to raise the domain loan locally at 5%’ per cent, if it is considered desirable to do so. ROAD TO PATETONGA. “In addition t,o the above a number of matters of very great importance were taken up. Representations were strongly made tp the Lands Department in connection with a direct road to Patetonga, and we were informed that the road would be constructed as early as practicable and definitely that it would not be shelved. We regard this matter of utmost importance to our town, and I intend to do my utmost to see the connection established if anything that I can do will help it forward. “A strong petition for this road was forwarded to the Minister for Lands by the Patetonga settlers last month, and the Member for the District is using his best endeavours to assist these joint efforts. “The Under-Secretary- intimate! that a connection was being made by road between Kaihere and Kerepeehi which would enable these settlers to connect with Paeroa, and that this would be completed within a year. This should be of great benefit to the Settlers and to Paeroa business people. CROWN LANDS IN BOROUGH. “Representations were made to the Lands Department in connection with certain Crown lands in the borough, and we asked that a very desirable area should be vested in the borough as an endowment. This must be followed up by a definite application, which we hope may be successful. NEW POST OFFICE. “The question of the proposed new post office was fully gone into with the Postmaster-General, the Undersecretary for Post and Telegraph, and the Public Works Department. We are definitely assured trfat there will be no further undue .delay. By the courtesy of the Postmaster-Gen-eral we were allowed to inspect the plans, and ventured to make some suggestions thereon in the public interest. It is' just possible that a new’ type of building may be decided on, and that Paeroa may have the first of a new type. I expect to be in a position to make a definite statement in reference to the post office in the course of a few days, and have reason to hope that it will be satisfactory to the public. POST OFFICE HOURS. ‘‘Advantage was taken pf the opportunity to again ask for the post office to be open between 7 and 8 o’clock, and we were promised consideration in the spring. We ventured to suggest to the Postmaster-General and the Minister for Public Works thar, temporary use might be made of the old post office for manual training purposes. TRAFFIC BRIDGE. “The matter of the raising of the traffic bridge to make- it safe in time of flood was brought before the Minister for Public Works and the Public Works Department, and we suggested that it might be carried out simultaneously with urgent repairs which we have to undertake almost immediately. We were piomised a reply to this request in the near .future. DAMAGE TO ROADS. “Application was also made to the Public Works Department for some assistance towards the damage done to the streets by the heavy Public Works lorry, and we also requested that lighter vehicles be used. The Department undertook to obtain a report from the resident engineer, and we hope that some relief will be granted to us. HEAVY TRAFFIC. “The resolutions of the recent conference were discussed with the Minister and the Under-Secretary for Public Works. The Minister promised to lopk into the matter, and said that if we had not the power, asked for he was prepared to give us the power to prohibit and regulate as indicated. PAEROA-POKENO RAILWAY. “We again stressed the importance and urgency of the Paeroa-Pokeno line, in view of the possible contract for the .completion of the Waihi-Tau-ranga. line. CORONER. “We made representations to the Justice Department in. reference

the appointment of a coroner at Pae-? roa, and received the definite promise of the Under-Secretary for that he would recommend the Minister to appoint a coroner in Paeroa. “We were unable to see the Min* MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL, ister for Justice and Education, the Hon. C. J, Parr, on account of his illness, and therefore could do nothing more in reference to the manual training school. NEW RAILWAY STATION. “By the courtesy of the Minister of Railways we were shown the various proposals in connection with the new Paeroa railway station, and have to state that so far no proposal has been decided on. We can state, however, that it has been decided that the station yards must be 60 chains long and 5 chains wide, so that a large area, 30 acres of land, is required. No announcement can be made at this stage, but the position .will be closely watched with a view to safeguarding the interests of the town and at the same time rendering every assistance to the Department. We seriously asked for an early decision in view of borough, improvement works, and confidently look for early and considerable developments. HELP OF MEMBER. “We desire to place on record our sincere thanks to Mr Poland for his able and enthusiastic assistance in every matter taken up. We had only started on work when Mr Poland received word of the passing away of his esteemed and aged father, in spite of which Mr Poland continued to give us his help on every question which was of interest to Paeroa.” Cr. Edwards said that the Council wished to record its appreciation of the result of the delegates’ efforts in Wellington. The report presented showed that the visit had been very successful, especially as regards the raising of the loan money. In seconding the resolution Cr. Silcoc k said that the Council’s and ratepayers’ hearty thanks were due :o the Mayor and Cr. Brenan for their ve’\v successful efforts. The amount of loan monies raised was most satisfactory. On the motion of Cr. Edwards, seconded by Cr. Silcock, it was decided to pass'the sum of £2O 19s sd, being-4 the amount, of expenses incurred oy the delegation on its visit to Wellington. The meeting passed the following resolutions:-— “That subject to the consent of the Governor-General-in-Council and the Minister of Finance, a further instalment of £6OOO be raised for sewerage purposes by the issue of debentures having a currency of 36% years and bearing interest at 5% P Gr cent.” “That subject to the consent of the Governor-General-in-Council and the Minister for Finance, a further instalment of £4OOO be raised for street improvement purposes by the issue of debentures having a currency of 36% years and bearing interest at 5% per - cent.” “That subject to the consent of the , Governor-General-in-Council and the Minister of Finance, the Domain Improvement Loan of £lOOO, authorised by ratepayers, be raised by the issue of a debenture having a currency of 36% years and bearing interest at 5% per cent.” . “That the Minister for Finance asked to authorise the Paeroa Borough Council to pay ■ the ordinary' Bank of New Zealand overdraft rate, not exceeding 6% per cent., on advances to be made by the bank on the security of hypothecated loan debentures of: (1) £6OOO for sewerage works; (2) £4OOO for street improvement works.” “That subject to the consent of the Minister of Finance to the payment of 6% per cent, for interest, definite arrangements be made with the Bank of New Zealand for advances up to £6OOO and £4OOO, for sewerage and reading respectively, on the securi -;y of hypothecated debentures.” . , “That application be made forth- .| with to the superintendent of the State advances for the consent of the Governor-General-in-Council and Minister for Finance; as required to give effect to all the previous resolutions.