AWAKINO COUNTY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 384, 5 August 1911, Page 5

AWAKINO COUNTY.

I SHOULD IT BE OPERATIVE?

The importance of the AwaKino County as a farming district is becoin ing recognised daily more and rnoi'e. With the exception of Southern Awakino, the settlement of the County has only been a matter of seven or eight years. On the whole, fanning has proceeded very satsfactorily, the only drawback being the question of reading, and apparently as things stand to-day in that county a great part of the fault is due to the fact that there is no local body to administer public grants, and the work is therefore being carried out by the Public "Works Department. The want of a local body is due to the fact that the county is an inoperative one. There has been a wrangle for some time in connection with such being the case, and some

are in favour of becoming operative as soon as possible and others are content to do without rating themselves as long as possible. Those in favour of the latter are principally those resident in South?rn Awakinj where they are principally large runholders and

who do not seem to be willing to pay j rates. Its a great pity that such ! is the case, because the Government | do not feel inclined to give assistance i to settlers who will not help themj selves. The Government quite reasonI ably objects to spend a lot of public | money in providing roading facilities j for these owners and adding largely ! to the value of their land, unless the I owners will rate themselves. Some | of the large owners profess indifferI ence as to whether the road is metalled ' or not, even as to whether the Mokau I river is bridged or not, The roads they j consider in their present state are ! good enough to drive their stock over, | and their cattle can swim the river; why then should they submit to a rate on their land? That i 3 the attitude taken up by some of the large owners, who have acquired their land* at extremely low prices and can afford to wait until small settlement forces the subdivision of their holdings. In the meantime they are able to get a good return from grazing", and they know that every year the land is becoming more valuable as small settlement approaches it, and the metalling of the main road must proceed even though slowly whether they contribute or not. This is without doubt a very shortsighted policy; shortsighted because the completion of the road will add very considerably to the value of all the lands within reach of it, and selfish because it is hindering the completion of the road which is necessary for the small settlers. Nevertheless, the Government cannot fairly put off the metalling of the road —Te Kuiti to Awakino—and the bridging of the Mokau indefinitely, because these selfish landowners will not rate themselves. The completion of important main arterial roads is the duty of the Government, and this is a particularly important road, being the only connecting iink between two provinces, the only road between Taranaki and Auckland. It is a national highway as well as a local one, and there is a considerable amouni of small settlement at various points along it or served by it. On these grounds the road ought to be completed as soon as possible. The selfishness of the few should not be made a pretest for the withholding the rights of the many.

There ought to be some scheme devised by the Government to bring these runholders into line with the more progressive settlers who are paying for the maintenance of roads used by all alike. In the northern part of the county matters have been very different. Very little of the land settled in that part exceeds 2000 acre holdings, and the great majority of settlers have been anxious for some time past that something should be done in the shape of making the Awakino County operative. They recognise, and rightly too, that if thsy are to have their road'? put in order, they must be governed by a local body. The question of malein2 the Awakino County an operative one has been discussed by these settlers for same time past. They have now initiated a petition which has been signed almost by every settler in that part asking the Minister of Internal Affairs to have their county declared operative. As the matter stands at present they are unable to do anything and once the proclamation is made the settlers will be able to thrash out the matter of how the county is going to be governed.

There are a large number who think that the Awakino County should be governed by the' settlers in it, and others who are in favour of cutting it up into three parts —one part to go to Kawbia County, another to Waitomo County and another to Clifton County. Dealing with the first proposal, it is really a very questionable matter whether Awakino County should be controlled as it is defined at present. The great drawback is that there is no central position from which to administer. The local body would have to have its headquarters at either Marokopa or Awakino. Both places are situated at the extreme northern and southern portions of the county resfiectively. If, of course, the settlers think that it is best to govern their own affairs, the very first thing that will present itself for a battle will be the question of the headquarters of the county, and as the settlement in both the northern and southern parts are very near equal the proceedings would without doubt be very interesting. There are others who are in favour of dividing the county and put forward the argument that it would be more economical for those in the various parts of the county to join whichever county their community of interest lies, because the tendency of to-day is to make the counties larger instead of smaller. If those who desire to do so will recognise that by doing so they are joining a county fully equipped with staff and plant and the initial expenses over, they will have without doubt an unassailable argument. In the Marokopa and Kiritehere districts the battle, as regards joining the Kawhia County

! have been raging loud and long. The whole outcry has, however, been I without avail owing to the fact of the ; county being inoperative. and no I matter how willing Kavvhia was to I embrace this district within their ; fold, they were powerless to do anything, and so are the settlers. There is nut a-shadow of doubt that there is no community of interest between the Awakino and the Marokopa ends, and that perhaps the best poss.ble solution would be to divide up the county as the settlers best think fit. In the northern part it would be to my mind in the best interests of all to join the Waitomo Countv. The community

of interests of these districts are certainly in the direction of the Main Trunk line. AH mails for the districts go to and from Te Kuiti and that being so the interest is therefore more pronounced. Right up to the boundary of the Awakino and Waitomo Counties the latter county has a dray road, and in the districts on the other side of the line the acknowledged common interest of the surrounding districts settlers should have no hesitation about right thing to do.