PIAKO RIVER WHARVES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5217, 16 December 1927, Page 3

PIAKO RIVER WHARVES.

ACQUISITION BY COUNTY. BOUGHT FOR A SHILLING. For many years, negotiations have been proceeding between the Lands Drainage Department and the Hauraki Plains County Council -'with reference to the wharves on the Piako River and the Waitakaruru Stream, which were erected for the development of the district.

The department desired to sell the wharves for some thousands of pounds, but the council contended that the price should be a nominal one and offered one shilling. This offer the Lands Department has agrded to accept under certain conditions enumerated in a draft agreement which was submitted to the council at its monthly meeting yesterday. In a covering letter attention was drawn to the fact that while the access roads led to the water’s edge in most cases, there was a doubt in t'he case of the Mangawhcro wharf and Johnstone’s wharf. The draft agreement of sale and purchase stated that the Minister of Lands, acting under section I's of the Hauraki Plains Act, 1926, had agreed to sell for one shilling the wharves at Patetonga, Mangawhero, Kaihere, Kerepeehi, Puhanga, Johnstone’s, Ngatea Paul’s , Horahia, Rawerawe, Hopai Pipiroa, Kopuarahi, Shelly Beach’ and Waitakaruru, together with all piers, landing stages, steps, and buildings erected thereon and all improvements and additions thereto.

The Minister will grant an easement over the beds of the rivers to enable the council to maintain or extend the structures, and will grant a right-of-way over any Crown land from a public road. The land taken by proclamation adjoining Johnstone’s wharf will be vested in the county as far as the Minister is iible, but the right is reserved to widen the Piako River at this point and to deposit spoil on the portion of the area not used as a road’. The depot wharf at Kerepeehi shall reinain the property of the Lands Department. All structures shall be handed over in the same condition- as they are now, and the Minister'shall not be liable for any future repairs.

Any additions rendered necessary to Johnstone’s wharf on ac ,ount of river Improvements shall be made by the county at its own expense, and the Minister shall not be liable to contribute thereto. Servants of the department may have free use of) the wharves, but they will not be encumbered unnecessarily. In the event of a river board being formed for any district or area wherein any of the Wharves are situated, the county will hand over the wharves .and the control of lands necessary for their use on payment of reasonable compensation for improvements and capital, expenditure carried out by the county. Clause 11 provides that the county may close any wharf and remove or surrender the structure to the Minister.

No parts of the beds, of the river or the Waitakaruru stream shall be vested in the county. Possession will be given on the payment of the sum of one shilling, and the agreement shall be binding for all time.

The council provisionally accepted the draft agreement, pointing out that its legal position and responsibility .would have to be first ascertained.

It was decided to ask that clause 11 be amended to providd for the council leasing certain- wharves to settlers in lieu of surrendering or dismantling them. Information is to be obtained as to what river improvements are contemplated at Johnstone’s wharf, and what expenditure by the county would be entailed under the provisions of the draft agreement. The clerk was also instructed to ascertain the council’s position' with respect to the administration of wharves.