OTOROHANGA.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 480, 6 July 1912, Page 5

OTOROHANGA.

Own Correspondent,

The ordinary meeting of the Otorohanga Town Board Was held in the council's office on July 3rd, 1912. Present—Messrs T. G. Hosking, chairman, W. Vicary, C. Elliott, Jno. Ormsby and P. Gardiner. Proposed by Messrs Ormsby and Vicary that a general rate of lsd in the £ on the capital value be levied for the ensuing year.

Messrs Hosking and the town clerk were appointed to secure a suitable piece of ground for a night soil depot. Proposed by Messrs Gardiner and Elliott that the ground around the town pump be metalled and that the works committee be empowered to get the work done. A letter was received from the chairman of the school committee asking the board to inspect the school house according.to the Public Health Act.—lt was decided to get the inppector to report. Mr F. Mace wrote that the board's contractor had injured his fence and asking for it to be mended. —Letter to be fo-warded to the contractor.

The manager of the Bank of New Zealand wrote that the Government had lodged the loan money to the board's credit.

The .town clerk informed the board that he had written to the Justice Department asking when the new courthouse was to. be commenced and had received a reply saying that plans were being prepared and that the matter of a new police station had been referred to the Police Department.

The v Health Department wrote that certain buildings on a section held in trust by the Maniapoto Land Board were unfit for habitation.—The council decided to give the owners notice to remove the buildings. The Waitomo County Council wrote that they had no funds available to assist the Otorohanga Board with the Kakamutu boundary road.—lt was decided to let the matter stand over until the summer and to make a fresh application for the county council to do their half.

Mr A. Cook was granted a building permit to put an addition to his workshop. Mr L. Reynolds was granted a building permit to erect a 30 by 12 workshop. Mr L. Moffatt was granted a building permit to erect a shop and dwelling in the main street. The above permits were granted, although in one case the building had already been commenced and the council would like applicants to know that in future they must have their permit before they commenced building.

Footpaths for Children Refused.— Mr Vicary asked that the works committee be allowed to expend up to £2O of the money allocated for the street to form and metal a footpath from the school up to the corner at Maniapoto street and past the Anglican Church. He stated he had ridden over the road and it was in a very bad state right from one side to the other. The whole road was bad, but he did not propose to touch tha road itself only to form a footpath. Mr Elliott, in seconding, said that about fifty school children had to wade through this mud on their way to school and that meant they had to sit with wet feet all day. Also he had noticed ladies crawling through fences into private property to escape the mud. He thought it was very urgent to have a footpath. Mr Ormsbv thought it was not advisable to do the work at present, but to wait until better weather and thought it would be wasting the money as people would only ride over the footpath, but suggested putting in a culvert near Mace's corner. He moved as an amendment, that the formation be held over until the fine weather sets in and a general grade is taken but that a culvert be put in. Mr Gardiner seconded the amendment, which was carried with the chairman's casting vote. On Mr Vicary's proposal it was decided to expend about £5 in filling up the worst holes in Main street in front of the creamery. Private Crossings, and Culverts. — The engineer wrote suggesting that people wanting cart entrances over footpaths be made to put in culverts 12 inches wide and to lay a bed of vlime atone on r tbe footpath and cover with shingle at a cost of about £2 10s. -rThe legal and finance committee ate I to draft a by-law to that effect.

The work of stripping the quarry at which the borough stone cruaher ia erected is proceeding, the spoil being utilised to form up footpaths in the side streets. The approach to the quarry is getting'- rather heavy for carting purposes, and pumice is being used to prevent the spot becoming a quagmire. .

In pursuance of his intention to go in for dairying on a large scale Mr W. Gadsby held a clearing sale of stock at Te Kuiti on Wednesday last. Some very fine stock—both sheep and cattle —were penned and good prices were realised for most of the lines offered. Notwithstanding the bad state of the roads a good number of settlers from outback attended with the obiect of securing well bred animals.

In connection with the project to establish a hospital at Te Kuiti it has been decided to hold a plain and fancy dress ball under the auspices of the Northern Union Football League on August Ist. The president of the league, Mr J. B. Young, is making an active canvass in aid of the project, and the support already promised ia of a highly encouraging nature. Arrangements have been made with Mr Dunne, representative of Messrs Hayward, lessees of the Town Hall, to have the hall free of charge for the function. Mr Dunn has also generously offered to devote 10 per cent, of the takings at the picture show on the following night to the hospital fund.

A further change in the ranks of the district road engineers is understood to be pending. It i'b stated that Mr Williams, of Te Kuiti, is to be moved to Hamilton; Mr Burd going from the Waikato centre to Tauranga. Mr Donaldson, of Tauranga, is to be transferred to Te Kuiti. The business of the Te Kuiti Cooperative dairy factory is being rapidly extended and the prospects for the coming season are of the brightest Already supplies are promised from over two thousand cows and a considerable addition to this number is expected. A meeting is to be held at Tau Rauamoa on Saturday, July 13th, at which Mr Boddie, chairman of directors, will attend, to discuss the arranging for supplies from that district being sent to Te Kuiti. Bush falling in the district is now in full swing and a considerable area is to be felled this season, notwithstanding the failure to get good burns last summer. Already areas aggregating about two thousand acres have been commenced in the Rangitoto district, and a similar quantity in the Hauturu and Waitomo districts while in other localities an equal activity is being shown. At the Te Kuiti school on Thursday afternoon, the four prizes awarded by the. Rev R. B. Gosnell to the writers of he best essays on "Empire Day," were distributed. Mr Gosnell presented the books, and in the course of his remarks he pointed out to the children the value of reading good literature, mentioning at the same time a few of the well known authors whose books Bhould be read by all. The successful pupils were: Standard 7, Nellie Gillanders and Elsie Mabbett; Standard 6, Harris Handley; Standard 5, George Osborne. At the conclusion, Mr Power thanked Mr Gosnell on behalf of the teachers and scholars for the kindly interest he had taken in the children in helping *o make Empire Day a memorable event. The annual inspection of the Te Kuiti public school has just been concluded, Mr Plummer being the inspector. The usual mid-winter holidays, which were held over pending the inspection will be taken next week.

It will be seen by advertisement in another column that a meeting of the Auckland Land Board is to be held at Te Kuiti on Thursday, July 11th. Settlers throughout the district should note the fact with a view to placing before the board: matters in which they may be interested,