OTOROHANGA-KAWHIA MAILS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 453, 3 April 1912, Page 5

OTOROHANGA-KAWHIA MAILS.

MEETING OF DELEGATES

Own Correspondent

At the invitation of the Otorohanga Town Board a number of delegates arrived from Kawhia on Saturday afternoon to discuss matters of mutual interest. The Otorobanga people laid themselves out to give their visitors a good time. They met them at Te Rau-a-Moa and drove them to Otorobanga during the afternoon, where a short public meeting was held. In the evening the visitors from Kawhia and Messrs Scholes, Berry, Mora and N. C. Matthew from Te Kuiti, were tendered a banquet. On Sunday they were driven to Waitomo to see tbe Caves and surrounding country, and on Monday morning they left for Te Rau-a-Moa to catch the coach for Kawhia. The proceedings passed off very pleasantly, and no doubt will do much to increase the good feeling that exists with our neighbours, and will give them an idea of the immense possibilities for the future of Otorohanga.

THE MEETING. Mr J. Ormsby, chairman of the Otorohanga Town Board, presided at the meeting, and stated that the delegates from Kawhia came in response to an invitation to discuss the matter of having a mail service between the two places, and also to discuss other matters of mutual interest. On behalf of the residents he extended to them a hearty welcome. The primary matter was to exchange ideas with a view to possibly coming to a mutual arrangement on a business basis and arriving at a definite result. It was the height of their ambition to be a sort of a centre. He looked upon a connection between Otorohanga and Kawhia as a most natural thing. In former days the natives or the two places were allied more so that any other centre. Of course the matter could not be looked upon from a matter of sentiment only; but from a business and £ s. d. view point. Therefore, taking a primary object, the mail service we have, have it in black and white. The distance from Otorohanga and to Kawhia is so many miles shorter than the present service, consequently in the way of passenger traffic and transit the nearer you are to a point the better it is, and he presumed that is a natural conclusion they must come to in this instance. They find upon making enquiries they are at present about seven miles nearer than Te Awamutu, and when a new deviation is opened up they will be still nearer. It is not, continued Mr Ormsby, that I have any desire to rob Te Awamutu of any of its rights, but I consider we have a shorter and better graded route. It is not only that it will be a saving of time, but it will be a great saving in expense also. I have no doubt that with the district and town progressing for a little longer as at present we shall have just as much chance of getting the Main Trunk train to pull up here for a minute or two as other towns have, and when a second express is put on we ought to have a better chance. I am merely mentioning these points as it were for us to discuss and to see if there is really an advantage to make this town a junction for Kawhia. I think it advisable for the King Country mail of Kawhia to junction with the Main Trunk at the King Country town of Otorohanga. In this connection I would like something definite to be decided upon for the Kawhia delegates to take back with them to discuss with their Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Hosking said to bring matters to a head he would move the following resolution: —"That the time has arrived for the. Kawhia and Otorohanga towsnhips to co-operate, with a view of shortening the passenger and mail service from Kawhia to the Main Trunk line, and also with a view of conveniencing the travelling public in order that it may be diverted and tap the Main Trunk at Otorohanga instead of Te Awamutu as at present." In seconding the motion, Mr J. A. Ormsby, junr., said he would, in the first place like to express personally his welcome to their friends, the Kawhia delegates. No doubt before they were gathered together some of them were at a as to what the meeting was for, but they all understood the position now. He said he had personal experience of this route, and had no hesitation in saying it was much shorter than the present route and a very much better grade. The question of the mail service was one of vital importance, but to bis mind it was getting the thin edge of the wedge in, and that in moving for this mail service they were looking to the future when they can agitate for the railvvay. Therefore he thought the question of the mail route a matter of great importance. At present the mail is discharged from a town in the Waikato district. If it was discharged from Otorohanga the King Country would get the credit for all the mail that went through, and that would not be a disadvantage, and there would be the greater convenience to the public. The public was a very important factor in the advancement of the district. By making modes of transit easier and more direct they have a means of bringing people from all parts of the Dominion. He thought if they got the mail service it would be a great asset. There were scores I of people who, if they could get a better and more convenient route, would go to Kawhia as a health resort. There are hot spring there and also the seaside. Coming to the question of the railway, Mr Ormsby said that when they had this achievement and established the railway, look what a saving in freight for goods and stock there would be, and Kawhia would get a freezing works going. Then there was coal bearing country right through from Otorohanga to Kawhia; in fact, the railway would be passing over a I bed of coal most of the way. They had these things in their favour, and if they were unanimous he had no doubt they would be successful in the matter.

Mr Buckeridge, one of the Kawhia delegates, said there were some points he knew the Kawhia people want enlightenment upon. From his experience in coming over this time he should certainly say this route was an improvement, and there would be onlyone change on the route. They should like to know how the travelling to Auckland would suit them, and if Otonrohanga people could inform them i what Kawhia's prospects would be in ! that direction. j The chairman : Perhaps it would bo as well for me to state what I think is the position. You will get your letters by the same trains just as expeditiously as you do at present, and probablv an hour or so sooner. At present Te Awamutu has the advantage of the Main Trunk train stopping for three minutes, but we have the trains connecting so that people can catch the train at either Te Awamutu or Frankton on the one side or Te Kuiti on the other. We are looking forward to the express stopning here, and if this should come about we have the advantage of passengers being landed in the middle of the town. Mr Arthur Ormsby : You will get your mail service if you tender low enough. Your route is short and the road well graded. The Government study £s.d. as well as we do. Send in a low tender and I am sure you will get it. I think the railway the most important thing we can discuss here. It will travel over a bed of coal and will pay from the start, and there will be hundreds of pounds every year in tourist traffic. Mr Randal, Kawhia, said they had a trial run when coming through to Otorohanga, and the Tu Awamutu coach had been trying to beat them. From Te Rau-a-Moa they had travelled I very leisurely and had been admiring the country. He had just received a telegram saying the other coach had arrived at Pirongia at 2.20, and that meant they still had nine miles to go. At present they were sending in cream form Te Rau-a-Moa, and the carter said he was doing a big business in carting goods and passengers into Otorohanga. Mr Hosking said the amount being paid for taking the mail from Te Awamutu to Kawhia was £270, and if it goes by the suggested route it ought to be a saving of about £45. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. The meeting then adjourned to the banquet, at which there were the following visitors present:—Messrs J. Morris, Oparau, vice-president Kawhia Chamber of Commerce; Robertson, Awaroa; Haylock, Marokopa; Schnackenberg, Kawhia; Jonathan, Kawhia; Buckeridga, Aotea Harbour; Randall, Te Rau-a-Moa; Scholes, Berry and Mora, Waitomo County; and N. C. Matthew, King Country Chronicle. (Owing to lack of space, the report of the banquet will appear in our next issue.)