WAIHI BEACH ROAD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4615, 17 October 1923, Page 3

WAIHI BEACH ROAD.

repair and upkeep. CONFERENCE at waihi. A conference between representatiyes of the Ohinemuri County Council .' and settlers on the Waihi Beach Road ; to consider the question of creating a Special' rating area to assist in repairing the road was held in the ' Waihi Borough Council Chambers on . ' /Thursday afternoon, the Mayor (Mr "x H. Wallnutt) presiding. The County was represented by .Messrs A, Robinson (chairman), H,<M. Corbett, P. Corbett, and S. H. ' ’.Morgan, and the settlers by Messrs *jj. S- 'Wells, J. Goodwin, G. A. Nesbit, 'tW. Darlington, and Woolford. Others • in, attendance were, Messrs E. Morgan Pnd,C. Butcher (Waihi Borough Coun- ’ cil), the county engineer (Mr RShaw), and the Waihi borough .foreman (Mr J. E. Slevin). . alternative proposals. •in ’ introducing the matter the ' chairman said that the desire was to - come to some definite settlement on ; the .question of. putting the beach road -i in, order and maintaining it. The A road has been vested , in the Waihi Coifncilj but the greater part ■of it was-within the Ohinemuri Coun- ? ty boundaries. ’lts repair and upkeep was not a parochial, question, but one ’ in which all adjacent districts were ' interested, in that the road gave ac- - cess to a resort to be widely used, par- • tieularly during tlje holiday season. Already the Waihi Council had commenced workion the road, and as the cost would prove considerable, assistance’was' wanted. The first point was as to whether the settlers would be prepared to allow themselves to be order to raise a special loan to hblp to put the road in order. ' - Other alternatives were: (1) To hand over the road .to the County Council, in which case a Government subsidy could be obtained on expenditure on the road, together, with a subsidy from ' the t Waihi- -Borough Council; (2) to ask for . a variation of the award made thirteen years ago, when the- road was vested in ..the Borougn Council and the County Council was called upon to contribute only 10 per cent, towards upkeep up to a total of £so' jfer annum; (3) to establish a toll-gate and levy charges on vehicles; or (4) ask the Government .to set up a commission to allocate the, proportion Of charges to be levied on the local - bodies interested in the road, which would include Piako, Hamilton, Ohinemuri, and the ; Paeroa Council. In the latter case it would be neces- . sary to take a tally of the vehicular traffic to determine the proportions to be; paid. The speaker went on to . say that the Waihi Council intended to push forward the scheme, and gave it as; his opinion that the reserve would become the most Important and popular health' resort in the Auck- ' land province. He had every reason to anticipate ; that the Ohinemuri Council would assist as far as .possible,, as residents in th at district., and particularly Paeroa, freely used the road, and .were-regular-visitors to the beach. The estimate.prepared by the foreman of works for the putting of the road into order from the Waihi Cemetery to Hedge’s farm was approximately £lOOO- Mr Wallnutt coneluded by inviting the opinion of those present on the proposals mentioned. ATTITUDE OF SETTLERS. Mr--P. Corbett said that as a result of informal’;’ inquiries made by him some 1 three months ago he had then concluded that the settlers on the beach road viewed the loan proposal favourably, but that later consultations'- gave him the impression that they would not support a special rating area. He was not now inclined to think that 25 per cent, of them would vote for a loan. Mr Wells said the if' the County. Council would spend the rates collected from settlers in the locality on the road, then they might be. inclined to consider the raising of a loan. Mr Robinson pointed out that the rates in that' section of the county, assuming, all, were- collected, onlyamounted to. £147-per annum,-and of ‘this-a fair proportion was absorbed in ■administrative costs. In nis part of ' the county farmers owning 100 acres of land had-to pay between £3O and )*~£4o yearly -in rates. “CAN’T TRUST WAIHI COUNCIL.” ■Mr- Robinson asked if the settlers would agree to raise a loan of £7OO to £BOO towards having the road put in order if the Waihi Borough Council would'undertake the responsibility of ■ its subsequent maintenance. Mr Goodwin: We can’t trust the Borough Council. - It may-say one thing to-day and another Jo-morrow. ' Mr Robinson: That’s not ’a nice •thing to say about your Mayor. I '.‘think if he gives his undertaking he • will carry it out. , . Mr Goodwin : I.was not speaking of ■?Mr Wallnutt. He’s only there for two i years. Mr Robinson went on to advocate the creation of a rating area, and to this Mr Goodwin said he r would not -be inclined to support the raising by -the settlers of £Boo' out of £lOOO for road work when the road was to be used mainly by others than the settlers. The Mayor agreed that Mr Goodwin's remarks concerning the Waihi Council were unfortunate, and Went -.on to say .that there had been many .■ complaints from settlers who used the road more frequently than did that gentleman. The idea had been to meet, the settlers and endeavour to overcome the difficulty. As to the 95 per cent, of users mentioned by Mr Goodwin, he would point out that they onlv used the road during the holiday -season when it was in summer condi- - tion, not through its worst ,time in the winter, and all the year round, as did the settlers. Thus they could not be said to represent 95 ver cent of ‘ the users. A MORE HOPEFUL OUTLOOK. ™ ’After some further discussion Mr Robinsojn. said he believed that he could manage to get the County Coun- * cil to go to the length of expending 6o per cent, of the general rates collected on the beach road if the settlers on their part would favourably

consider the question of a loan. Messrs Wells and Goodwin thought that in such circumstances the settlers would probably agree to a special rating area, the latter asking how much it was expected the settlers should raise. After Mr Robinson had pointed out that a £lOOO loan would mem a rate of Id in the £, a £7OO loan %d, and £6OO about 9-16 d, the settlers agreed to convene an early meeting to discuss the proposal, at the same time expressing hope that it would be agreed to, subject to the loan being for not more than £7OO. The meeting was then fixed for next Saturday week at midday at McCall’s corner, the Mayor of Walhi and Messrs P. Corbett (Waihi riding) and H. M. Corbett (Waitekauri riding) undertaking to attend and speak on the matter.—Telegraph.