THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 1, 1909 INOPERATIVE COUNTIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 204, 1 November 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, NOV. 1, 1909 INOPERATIVE COUNTIES.

[ THE ministerial reply to the recent j roads deputation from this district made it plain that in future the county councils are to be invested with a great deal more responsibility than has been the case in the past. In districts already settled where local government has been in operation for many years the alteration in the administration of road grants means little. To the backblock counties, however, the change is of the greatest Importance, inasmuch as the roading of such districts means so much to the settlers that it occupies easily first place among the public requirements. So intimately is the prosperity and progerss of our own district dependent upon its proper roading that settlers are in most cases prepared to make considerable sacrifices in order to obtain emancipation ; from mud and establish proper means of transit, without which the be3t efforts of the most enterprising settlers arc rendered futile. To those districts already within the boundaries of operative counties, the additional responsibility will cause little concern. To our farthest backblocks < Jipwevor, where the inoperative Awakino County ia pitualed the ehan;;. ; mpy easily mean a very seriou- blow* . i to the district, ar i it to be hop'--I immediate «tc-ps will ! r taken to iusv- ' Wher. nrn W

that in some districts the counties were inoperative at once advised the deputation to have local government setup. It will be readily recogonised, j however, that a county situated as is tiic Awakino without even a decent road access to it from the railway or seaport, and without any accessible or recognised centre, the path to efficient local government is not strewn with, roses. Already the settlers of Marokopa and Kiritehere are talking of having their district incorporated with either Kawhia or Waitomo County. The wisdom of such a step is manifest and the sooner the necessary arrangements are taken in band the sooner will the district be r<>aded. Opinion may be divided as to which county tbe settlers should endeavour to connect with. Everything considered the advantages'seem to lie with becoming attached to Waitomo. The districts referred to already draw their stock supplies from the railway to which road access has been made atvarious points from Te Kuiti to Otorohanga, and a mail service from Te Kuiti to Marokopa has been found to be preferable to a service by any ether route. These facts serve to indicate that the connection between Te Kuiti and the Northern, portion of Awakino county is bound to be strengthened both commercially and socially and that it would be in the best interests of the settlers affected to seek to become incorporated with Waitomo. It is to be hoped, moreover, that early action will be taken. The district is one of the best in the country and is capable of vast expansion, but it is in that critical stage when a set back in road formation would mean a serious blow to the prosperity of the settlers as a body. Such a happening is to be avoided at all costs and prompt action is necessary whatever is decided upon.