A YEAR'S RETROSPECTION

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4795, 5 January 1925, Page 1

A YEAR'S RETROSPECTION

PROGRESS OF THE PLAINS.

FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE.

Now Uiat Uie year 1924 lias closed a review of the progress, of the Hauraiii Plains during tiiat period will be interesting and beneficial, for though row farmers can look back upon a prosperous year, it has been one of steady progress for the district as a whole, ‘iiad one in which the faith and optimism of .the settler has been demonstrated despite the serious setbacks experienced during the winter. Certainly, if a district does not progress it goes back, and there is ample scope for progress on the Plains; but it would have been natural to expect that during the dark days of the past winter, when the incessant r.ain was enough to damp the spirits of the most optimistic and every settler had more than enough of his own affairs to worry about, they would not give much attention to matters affecting the common weal. Results, however, have proved that this has not been so. and. the year has a record of many things attempted and a big proportion accomplished. Of those proposals still in the air the delay can more often be attributable to causes beyond local control than to lack cf enthusiasm.

Duiing the year the district again experienced an .abnormal rainfall, causing a succession of floods and materially affecting the prosperity of the settlers. Had it not been for this, the progress of the district would have been more marked. But some good has resulted even from the flooding, for there is no doubt that of late years many aspects of the drainage question had not received the attention deserved, and the flooding was the spur required to stimulate that interest. . Lands Department drains and stop-banks in the lower* reaches of the river have received more attention this year; a comprehensive scheme has been undertaken by the settlers in the Horahiar-Opou area; a drainage board has been formed to take over control of a large. area from the Government, and settlers have recommenced to give more attention- to their internal drainage. So it is unlikely that the district will be as unprepared as it was during the past t'vo winters should another winter in the near future prove to be abnormally- wet. It is realised that proper attention must be given to the drainage question at the right time of the year if efficiency is to be secured. The past winter has had an effect on the method of farming, serious consideration having been given to cropping where possible, and more precautions will doubtlessly be taken thife summer to ensure an adequate supply of feed for the coming winter. So far the summer season has been a very good one, and feed is now plentiful. Most of the dairy factories on the Plains report a substantial increase in the amount of their output, and, what is more gratifying, an improvement in the quality. This is no doubt attributable to the luxuriant growth of pasture and the absence of supplementary crops that might taint the milk. Owing to the wetness of the spring the planting qf these crops could not be undertaken, but, as it has turned out, no shortage was felt. PUBLIC WORKS. The wet weather has also delayed the prosecution of the various reading schemes and comparatively little progress, can be reported. A small amount of metalling has been done on Wilson’s Road, and also, on the main road between the Puke bridge and Wilson’s Road, through Netherton township, on the Netherton-Turua road near Carters Corner, on .the Ngatiapua East Road, and on the Mi-randa-Waitakaruru road by the County Council, and on the road across the Kreepeehi block and the road to Kaihere by the Lands Drainage Depart-! meat. The Turua southern’ area and the Turua Town Board’s bituminous reading schemes are now well under way, and proposals for other works are in view.

Bridging matters have advanced little during the year, action in that direction having been unduly delayed by the tendency of the council to waste its energies on trivialities and negleai important problems. The provision of a ferry over the Piako River at Pipiroa in. the. near future is very probable.

Very little has been heard during the .year of the proposed water supply scheme for the district around Waitakaruru, Pipiroa, and Ngatea, the matter being hung up by Government departments. PUBLIC MOVEMENTS.

A definite advance has been made in connection with the proposal to establish a maternity and casualty hospital at Kerepeehi in that the land has been secured.

During the year a branch of the Royal N.Z. Society for the Health of Women and Children was foi'med at Ngatea, and later at Kerepeehi, the Plvnket nurse attending weekly at both places. At Patetonga a working' arrangement was arrived at in regard to the district nurse maintained there by the Thames Hospital Board. First Aid classes were conducted in Turua during the winter months, some twelve persons securing St. John’s Ambulance Association certificates. ' The establishment of a school dental clinic at the Ngatea District High School, to treat the school children of the whole of the Plains is now assured, and should be in operation at the commencement of the next school

year. The number of church buildings on (Continued on Page 4.)