Meeting of Settlers at Bunnythorpe.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 32, 6 July 1885, Page 2

Meeting of Settlers at Bunnythorpe.

Pursuant to announcement a meeting of residents in the' Bunny thorpe District, took place on Saturday evening in the Manchester ScliQolhouae, opposite the Bunnytliorpe railway station. About, live aiicl twenty settlers were presentj atid a greater number would doubtless have attended but for the almokt impassible state of the roads, which rendered travelling by night dangerous, if not altogether impracticable. All present seemed to take an earnest and practical interest in the matters brought before them, and.the proceedings were characterised- by a spirit ot unanimity and a desire to cooperate in the general interest, which; spoke well for the class ot settlers located in Bunnythorpe,, and which might be imitated with advantage by older and more favourably circumstanced communities, who have not the 4isadvantages to contend with that now .tax* the' energies aud resources of the settlers of Bunnythorpe. . Mr Nan nested occupied the chair; and; opeheil the pioceediags by reading the advertisement in the Standard : — ' - .-'• . -' : '- .. ; . '.-., ■■$'■■ A meeting of ratepayers will be* heldin the Manchester Schoolhouse, Bunnythorpe, on Saturday, the 4th in5t.,.at.6.30 p.m., to consider the question of road communicationy andto devise'/abme practical means by which to obtain an amelioration of the existing state of things in that respect. Signed, G.S|A:ldriqh.', N.B. — The attendance of all ;thp )wjs-- \ tiers in the districts pa^cda^ ;re- ' quested in order to fully discuss and ventilate the very important matters tor. which the meeting is specially ■ convened and to lend weight and influence to any resolutions passed or represetitations that may be made thereat. By request he also -subsequently read the following letter which had been published :—^ . ■ " , Shyv-Will you kindly assist Bunnythorpe through your columns in procuring an outlet from the place; A ' short time ago you alluded to a piece of road ■ belonging to the Manawatu Road Board, near Fitzherbert and the Manawatu River , ifit was completed it would benefit the l ( Manawatu ratepayers. Nqw, sir, there is) : -as mile and half of- road between Trondi jeim and Bunnythorpe pn'the south side of the railway.; which is scarcely recog? nisecl by a Road Board, This piece of road would benefit Manchester ratepayers but they are r told.it belongs to the Manawatti Road B*oard and therefore \ nothing can be done in the matter. The same , road was gazetted a-inain toad, and culverts were put in about the time the railway was being made v Two^ or three years ago, a culvert burst there- which has never been replaced. , Several, Ipersons have met Hvith accidents there, ".'aid have been thrown off arid: horses stubk in a creek with four or five feet of so!ft mud and water.- A friend of mine the other day : narrowly escaped..' His ahorse fell with him in the hole and he barely..es.caped with his life having the horse lon top of him. My. friend ..thinks, he has a; claim on the Manawatu Road 'Board. Tlui" road from Bunnythorpe : to : Rangitikei line for two miles is simply mud. The Manawatu Road Board it late jthis season, id it had hot time.ito set before . the bad weather set in. The road : from Bunriythorpe 'to Palmerston via Te'rrace/End, railway line ; cannot be used from here for the want of bridges.,^lt : will; be years before there ,is ; a- metalled ; rodd made at tlie rate 1 it is dawdled over, ,pnly ' £50 spent last season at thb Pal-' inerston end of it. It is much needed that the settlers should be able to get to the railway station and children ;to the school, which lias been neglected. ' v „. The Bunnythoi-pe, settlers; are about to call a meeting; of 'the ratepayers to consider what is to be done.- There is a talk of trying to get Bunnythorpe*. a separate ward in the Road Board or Boards so as to get the rates and interest of -the :place" represented. For years past Bunny thorpe has been drained of .its rates and privileges, asif trying to stifle it. jNow, sir, there -are a good few people living around Bunnythbrpe and in these; days when. right and justice are supposed jtajbe ' available we should try 'f or ours. • Tjbe Manawatu County Council or Road Boafcl^ during its existence, has/spent butjlittle money near the railway station.— ou airij. ; &C, BUNNyTHORfcE. -- 1 P.5.7-:TJie piece- of road^ from iTiondjeiin to" Bunnythorpe ia hot formed. IPerliapg some of our representatives can give us some information-; to lay " before : a meeting of ratepayers. \'" v '~ The Chairman then called upon) Mr Aldrich to explain to" 'the meeting ' the nature of the matters to be brought, be- 2 fore them. ... , • Mr_ Aldrich said he himself was, comparatively speaking' a new settler in i the • district, and he thought it might be better for some older resident to initiate the proceedings, and to .suggest what course bught to be. taken in ; order to set roads. The absolute want of ■an outlet trom Bunnythorpe in any ■:directionu ■ was'- .:th^Vvvsji4iU9in^'grievance under which their district ! laboured.,: O.wing to the impassable -a'Tid dahorerons state ot the roads in the cjistiictia number.; :of narrow iiescapes Had taken place, in v some cases ' nearly involving loss of Jife., He hoped some decesive steps would be taken that evenibg which would result ; in outlets „of sppae provided for ''the settlerslof Bunnythorpe, which now they had a|bsolutely none. "He would lika to hekr an expression of^opinion from the oldjer settlers as to what sliouldvbe done undjsr the circumstances..; j;-:Vj I Mr Hussell said that to Illustrate the dangerous condition of the roads, he mighf state that a photographer, whp had, been travelling through the , Sistnct £ takiijsr pictures, landscape views, &c, had had-, a very narrow escape witb/hisiiorse an'd trap. Had his instrument been injuired when tho trap capsized, he expressed his., firni intention^of^Bning the Eoad Boarfl 'for damages. . It was a great drawback to the district, that at present ;there\was practically;^ speaking np from r , Bunhythpr^ either to. Pat;;mmfstdn,''''tl^e../intervemp'g.- xd&o : ;3h, 1»oth directions being aßsoltitely uripassable for wheeled traffic, and in many places a ' horse could scarcely get;along. w He hoped something: would be done at the present meeting to inspire their road, cornmunication'and give them an; OutldtV '■'. ' / .Mr Bbddy : Mr" Chairman,' how long is our warden in the Manchestor Road Board to hold office ? t '-\> '< The Chairman : Till next March, % believe. . ' ■ .Mr Boddy went on to express his opinion thac Bunnythorpe would be in the mud till then, and would never x b& out of it, so long as the present waY-d«n: (Mr Bailey) continued to represent the'm. He did not wish to speak, disrespectifdlly^ of Mr Bailey, but the sooner theygbt, shut of him the better. Those were' his ; ■sentiments, * and they might analyse them and do as they liked with them. r '-' Mr Jeffreys said t e had got hjs horse badly lamed \vhjen going to JPeilding. «He'j proceeded to give a graphio description; of how 1 he jumped into the water nearly to his middle, to avoid getting entangled with the struggling .animal: v : Mr Boddy said they wanted to devise some means to get out of the mud'; Th«y all knew what the position was, ; and they were met together to inspire it if • possible. They had blamed their warden enough. He quite believed, he was anhonestj good . man, but iioi'the man they wanted for that p6sitibri»; Still he was' quite free to admit that their . i«rai?den might have done . more jot them if they had . watched him pore/ Tiheir r present object was to get out of tbemiid ; and have outlets ; and how were; they, .going to do it ? That was the questions He could not hold Mr Bailey responsible for all that, they; were now suffering from. Their member, Mr Macafthur,

■was equally responsible, and" perhapt -more to be blamed. He thought it wai a pity Mr Bailey had not been specially invited to attend that meeting. No doubt, however, he must have seen a notice of it in the papers, though unfortunately there had been an error in tha published date. Mr Jackson said there had been a great many accidents in a small creek in front of Mr Hussell's place, on the railway line. He did not think the expense of making it safe for a horse would be very great- A couple of men could do a good deal to improye it in two or three days. The Chairman said the object of the meeting was to devise means for the improvement of the whole of the roadf not simply to make one spot passable. A desultory conversation ensued. One person present said he had been informed that the Boad Board oould be sued for damages. .: . Another person pointed out that suing and recovering damages from the Boad Board would not assist them to get a road. What they want«d was a bona fide outlet both in the direction of Feilding arid Palmerston. Some of the residents pf Bunnythorpe did business with Feilding, and some with Palmerston, and if the district was to be opened up and to prosper there must the traffic accomodation between both centres. Mr Aldrich suggested the advisability of writing to the '.Minister of Public "Works. Another settler inquired was the <oroua County still in existence ? Could they not get Bunny thorpe made into a riding by itself ? Mr Aldrich : Why not refuse to pay our rates? We have been paying ratei for years, and are still isolated for want of proper road communication. Another settler remarked that they had a warden, but not a representative, except in name only, Mr Bailey was ai i good as a representative. He would like to know what was done with all the . moidsy that was s taken out of Bnnny* thorpo in the form of rates? If they could get np imprpveuient until next March when an election for wardens takes place, they should try and get it done 'then..; . ' Mr Scheidt remarked that the strange part - of ; /the- y matter was that although no roads were being made with \ tloie rates drawn out of their district, 'their ward was injdebtt, at least so it appeared. "A portion of the district was in the Manawatu Boad District, in which Mr Edwards: .was then: representative, so that in that respect Mr Bailey was blameless, and could not be rightly held responsible. Mr Dixon thought Mr Bailey might have been, there that evening. Mr Edwards had not taken any notice of the meeting either. He suggested a memorial ,to the Minister of Public Works praying that the roads to Palmerston and Feilding be placed in a passible state for traffic with as "little delay 'as possible. The • road.down the railway line 'was useless oh occasions of floods. Mr Boddy ; What we want is to be recognised. We want all our roads made passable. They had been in the mud long enough.. ■'.-. ...- » ' Mr Scheidt suggested that Bunnythorpe be constituted a separate ward, .'either -in the v Manawatu or - Manchester ' Boad District. At present the railway Une'was the division between the two road districts The new ward might extend for say two miles on each side of the railway line. . Mr Dixon : Are we sufficiently strong to undertake such a responsibility. Mr Soh'eidt.thought they were, and Mr Aldrich thought so too. They would get; more settlers • into the ward, and would extend 3 miles towards Palmerston on the railway line. The Chairman thought Bunnythorpe was a regular " gold mine " in contributing a considerable, yearly revenue, and haying no expenditure within itself. He questioned if they would let it go. ■r« A ft . er _ some -disc»Bsion ifrwas proposed by Mr Scheidt and seconded by Mr Attach—That steps , be taken forthwith to form the Bunnythorpe district into a r separate Ward in the Manobestej Boad t Vntoict, the boundaries Jto -be Jto Mr Peck's corner on; the east, Millson'g Line on the, south, the Orpua/ river on and the Feilding >nd Ashurst Line in the norths . ■ ' r /This! was put to the mfie'ting . 'and declared carried (unanimously. Considerable, discussion then took Pj^v^^tiuHher stepsdtcwas de. sirable,totake,.afld ; whether a memorial to-theMimster of Public Works would produce any^atisfactory effect* Fjirially. uit was mbyedbvMr 'Dixbii, sccon^edby Mr Bassett-^-That. in the'present impassible condition of the main roads from BunnyWPS kto Palmerston andtfFeaaing. a memorial be. addressed to the Minister of Publio Works setting forth tha disadvantages under which, the settlers labour through having no outlets and .petitioning him. t.o place the roads from Bunnythorpe to. the Bangitikei Line and alon<» the\Bailyay;iine to Feilding in a pas* • sable state df repair as soon as possible. Carried unanimously- - Itwas fnrther Vespived that the present meeting bind itself to act in unison at the next election of wardens to take j pfece ; in: March;riext to secure^he turn of a better representative in the Manchester Roadißoard. Y° tes of thanks to the representatives 'of J;he press who were in attendance to report the proceedings, and to the chair•man, brought the meeting to abioae?