PIPIROA BRIDGE RATE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4884, 30 September 1925, Page 3

PIPIROA BRIDGE RATE.

OPPOSITION FIWM TURUA. ACTIVE STEPS TO' BE TAKEN. After being inactive since January last the Turua Ratepayers’ Associa- - tioD was revived on Monday evening, the cause being the decision of the County Council to apply to the Gov-ernor-General in Council for a warrant under section 119 of the Public Works Act authorising the erection of the Pipiroa bridge. Mr P. R. Henry presided over a representative gathering of ratepayers. In opening .the ■ meeting the president’ said that the association had . been’stated ,to have been defunct, but that was not the case, as though it had been dormant it always had one eye open and. was ready for action whenever necessary. That time had now arrived. The council had defined a rating area for the Pipiroa bridge and had included the Turua riding, despite the fact that it was already paying rates for the Kopu ferry and approach roads and the-Puriri ferry and approach roads. A contibution of £750 had been made by the Thames Borough so th,at the aid of section 119 of the Public Works Act could be evoked and .the Plains rated without a poll of the ratepayers. The settlers .of Turua should petition the Minister for Public Works, praying that the warrant be not issued under the pre,•.sent circumstances. The area, that would derive the benefit of the bridge should bear the cost. It could not be . claimed that the Pipiroa bridge would be of any benefit to Turua. The Ngatea bridge was better situated tor most of the Turua settlers, and it was unlikely that they would use the Pipiroa bridge more than once or twice a'yeaii. it wbuld be an outlet for the Pipiroa and Waitakaruru districts, or else the charges should come on and those districts should pay the cost the whole county for all the bridges. The next best solution, continued Mi* Henry, would be a ferry, as it wbuld be something of a toll-gate in collecting charges from users. It might be possible to make the outsiders pay more than A ferry would serve the district s re'QUirements for the next ten yeais or ■so, and might be a paying proposition, ' whereas it would cost money to maintain and house a bridgekeeper. The rating area defined was most unfair, and he would certainly lodge an objection, as no doubt would a great many others from Turua. The matter was discussed briefly and several points were explained. Opposition to being included in the

rating area was general, and though the desirability of the bridge was little questioned the opinion was expressed that if it was to be at all it should be a charge over the whole county, • as should all the bridges.

Messrs P. R. Henry, J. Mules, and G. Gray were appointed to wait upon the County Cbuncil, and also to be a committee to act in the interests of the ratepayers when necessary. A petition praying that the Turua riding, including that portion of the Kopuarahi riding recently added, be excluded rom the rating anea is to be prepared for presentation to the County Council, and a similar one to the Minister for Public Works.