ROADS IN FITZHERBERT.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 93, 19 November 1879, Page 2

ROADS IN FITZHERBERT.

A meeting of persons Interested m the opening up of Fifczherberfc by roads> was held m the Highways Office, Palmerston, on Saturday.; There were present Messrs, Tanner, A. Stewart, M. Stewart, Coombes, Nevrcombe, Warburton, Engles, Parkes, D. Knight, Frazer, and 0. Waldegrave, together with Messrs. George Bruce, Warden for the District, and James Linton, repyeseufcafcivi m the "County" Gtiun«sl; the former of whom was called, upon to pre--Bide,._;. . . . ~;_'_ In opening the proceedings, Mr. Bettoe'' said that he was the '.convener ofrtlie;in£etingj which had been-called together totgwe expression to their feelings jvifch regard to what they considered their! grievances and necessities m the matter of roads in' the Fifczherberfc district, as' it was well known: that the want of roads was a hindrance and ■bar.rl.er to the progress of settlement.' He need not enlarge upon the necessity of some step being taken .to remedy the -evjl com-,, plained of, and that was .th'e reason they had been called together. He found that there were abou£ 18,000 acres on the South side of the river, and although the land had been open for sals fop more than ten years'^ there w^re not more than eighteen settlers ihere. As most of those present were aware, he had been their representative m the Highway Board for the best part of a year, and notwithstanding he had snepeeded m getting his ward some £260 m debt,' that amount was absolutely nothing m the scale toward remedying the evil cpniplaiued of, t m fact were the whole of the £348. of re- : venue m the Taonui Riding, to be appro-, priated, it would be still totally inadequate, and he could assure the meeting that with the lynxreyed members at the Board with whom .he would have to pope, ,s.uch a cpntingency jvas not likely to happen. That was the state of matters as regarded - th,e Highway Board, and he did n«t hope s for anything better from the County Council; While the Grey Government was m power repeated efforts had been made to dbtain a redemption of the promises \made, but such premises appeared to be like'piercrust — macie only to be broken. When Mr. Mac r andrew visited the district he had been interviewed by Mr' Dalrymple and himself and when appealed to to make good Mt Larnach's pz'omises he declined- to do Bbi' 'The Grey Ministry, notwithstanding the pledges, given, had laid it down as a principle that they would not give the slightest assistance ' m the matter of roads and fridge's to struggling settlers, while (they wiar.e f rifctering away hundiredsof thousands of pounds upon Maories. There was'another Government m office,' and one likely to be m power for lome time, end he thought a bold stroke should bo made to get sqnie redress for their long standing grievances. It was quite evident that they need not expect anything from the local Governing bodies, and consequently he thought that no time shpuld be lost m appealing to th'e Govern- • men!;. The next question was the .manner m which such appeal should be made. His own opinion was that a deputation should be formed to proceed to Wellington to interview the Minister of Public Works, armed with such statistics m support Of their claim, as. would secure at) iinraediate attention. In yiew of such a proposition he had asked • Mr. Hayns, the engineer to the Manawatu Highways Board, to prepare for him an approximate estimate of the cost of the work necessary, and it was as' follows : — . . „- '. ■ APPROXIMATE EBTIMATE TO POltM BOAS FROM MB. DAVID KNIGHT'S, TO JITZHERBERTON, BAY VIVE MJLES IN LENGTH. ' ' \ . § miles — 400 chains, at * £3 per chain, including* culverts and small bridges ... ... ... £1200 1 bridge over Kautarawa stream ... ... ... . 500 £1700 ' FBOir DATID KNIGHT'S TO N-EWJDOMBB'S. 2% miles — 200 chains, at £'d 103. per chain, m- • eluding bridges ... £700 That was the rough estimate made by the Engineer, which it should be understood did not include metalling. He thought the best thing to do would be to discuss the the advisability or otherwise of* appointing & deputation, but of course there wara other matters which would come on m duo course. He would be happy to hear the views of those present. . Mr. Piers Wabbubton cordially approved of the course proposed, and although he might not be able to speak so feelingly as those present, inasmuch as he had a road to his door, yet the interests of Fitzherberfc were his interests, for total absence of all roads m the district affected the value of the land ill the surrounding country. He perfectly agreed with the chairman as to the utter futility of petitions, and although they were not m a position to get many signatures to one, it did not very much matter, as whether a petition had 200 or 2000 names to it the fa.te was the game — received aiid forgotten. He did not think' it of the slightest uee building upon aid from local bodies, but if a* determined deputation were despatched to Wellington who would bring their grievancea prominently before the Government, he felt convinced some redress would be 'obtaiuaci. ITo would therefore move. — v That a deputation bo gent to Wellington to unjp upon the Government the necessity and justice of making roads m. the Fitzherton District." ■ . . The i-esolution was seconded by Mr. D. Knight, nnrl carried., Mr. Linton said that although he was not a resident of Fitzherberfc, he was j,uat a? much ml crested m its progress as any one, and there was no denying the fact that it' had been sadly neglected both by the Government and the various local govern-" ing bodies. He endorsed the statements made by the preceding speakers that it was utterly useless to rely upon either the Highway Board or the County Council for opening up the country, for hoxvever much they might, wish to do f-o, thi-y haJ not the means at command. .As a member of the County Council he felt himself m a somewha 1 " similar position, $o that experienced hv Mr. Bruce m tho Highway Bo&i'd — all the available money for the riding had been exhausted. It was quite evirient.that those districts which were pot»already possessed of county roads need not expect to obtain, them from the Council, for therafies raised were barely able to defray the cost of maintenance. He heartily approved of the deputation to Wellington, and. before sitting down he might say that if the me.afcing thought that he could be anyasßsistan-je as a member of it, he would be moßt ha.ppv to form, one. Whoever might ' be the parties chosen, it wonld be well .to point out forcibly the fact that there were '120,00 acres on one side and "40,000 acres on another at present under survey v>\th a. view of sale, of which the proposed rp;id would be the, natural outlet. He. thoiig'it' that if the daputntion were to go before tht, mini-ter.i — who no doubt were business n^en — and pr,.>ve to them m $ hivine-a manner, t.hnt ths p.rjojv)^ out-lay would beihemeims of. returning m tipble the an\ount m the. shape of- higher prices for the; land, there, could be no doubt of their ultimate sucws.si They; had one great point m their favor m the fact of Mr. Larnauh. having promised JEIOOO/ That .... ... ,_ t ..... »» . >

was an admission that the disfcriot had been neglected, and that the claim was a fair, just and reasonable one. Ha had been a member of many, deputations, and his own •iperierice was that when they s»t about a matter m a determined manner, Buccest, had always crowned their efforts. r Mr. Encheb agreed" with. Mr- Linton that Ihe Government might, nay should give them assistance, apd he was also of opinion that a deputation as suggested would -be-tha.onlyjm.eana of obtaining it. As far back as twelve years froni 7 that tfnie. he" (Mr. Engles) had purchased his land at ■ at Fitzherbert.- At that Jtime-DoefeorFeatber-. ston was Superintendent an^d Sir . William Fitzhjerbert w,as, Commissioner '■ 6t Grown Lands, and -then' it was ' distinctly d eclared that half the purchase ojoney'shonld; be, devoted to the making of poads jn the block. It had been stated m tho "course .of -Jthe djsr : joussion that it contained 18,000 acres, and •uch being the case, it oo.uldnot be denied that according to^ the conditions • of sale th c purehftSOTs of. land were entitled to • fo:'clkira £9000 for the consfcrubtion of roadi; through the block, r. If jve'; understood the estimate aright which had be'oh furnished by the Engineer, the £2,200 was ,pnly .for the forming of the roads, and did not. include the metalling. ' .. ;' . The i Chaihman said the metalling had not been included. , ... ■■*'?• ■ Mr. Engl/BS : -Well, m that; case the formation, would be "of- f little' "or no ' use; ;as as most of the roads would be impassible m the winter- time. He thought as the dis-. trictwas fairly entitled to a sum fully four time's 'as large as the -Engineer's estitna^e; it would be jstbll to put m a claim;, for .'.&" sum sufficient to;.- mafee^: th* metajling^ complete. Mr. Sp^combb suggested that whatever gentleirieo might compose the" deputation, would be.no way backward i'm; laying (the matter before the .G-oyernment. Hundreds, of thousand of 'pounds, has been squandered upon education, but of what earthly- use was it to persons living in 1 the country. :It 1 might- be i all very well for those resident m cities and towns.' but nbsr he fend such as he. without a road avail themselvei of its benefits. - : ■■„ -.:":'. ; ■■ ''■[; -> i T ; ■ T\lr. ABbpiiALp/STRSsrAßitQ^n moved and WiiitAMGdo^ES seconded-— " Thatifl, deputation.co.nsiptingof Messrs". Uruce, Englea^ I/inton j 'Wa^burtoji,. arid Dalrymple, go to l^eliington to urge the claims of the Fitzherberb District on* thi' Q-overnment." '. ; '•'- ■■ "'' : '.'- -"''-' , .-The motion was put t6 the and carried unanimonsly. . ........ ,, ' : : • The Chaibmaw 4 said .that ■matterhaying been sfttiafactorily disposed of, thf re remained two otnbr points to be sfttledibeforp the; meeting seperated. -The first was, —What sum they were^to^ask, for and when it had been obtained, how the amount was to he expended. I' Ab; was well known Kevbevt was, divided into two parts, and there was very little community of interests between them. T>Tow;.jalthdugli \i& himself : was not' intere^teirl m thji proposed ' grant, as the road to his house- Iras by the ri*er, and he did not expect to benefltione penny by it, still he hot Only took a r great d^al of interest m the matter., but-: ha^d made Jiitn.self aca'uainted from th« maps of the Highways Board with; the J topography of the, rlißtrict, there were iS.lft^ acres, of- which 6.205 acres lay between.Mr. David Knight's fnnd the.Gtorgg ; and. li,iSoo between ' Mr. Knieht's and Jaokeytpwn. : Ho should proiiose—whether the- dMtwtatiqn' obt«i\^efl= £1000, or £6000^ or £900Q--to divide it into three parts, allowing one-third -for the ronstrtrction of the road eastward from Mr. Kriighf'sV and two-thirds; westward to - the townshin of 3?itzherbert.. That,.he thought,/was a fair arid equitable division, according-; to acreasre, at the same time if theret were npv gqntlemen preserit}who : porild proopiie i e better plan he shovjld be pleased to hear them, 'but he thought a •sett.lemenfc>srich as "thnt proposed: at; the present would> be , likely to save "ft feeling of. ; discontent^ at a future <ime^ ■ " * :-. ,; Mr. NBWCOM?B:'was of opinion that it would be better to i-'/opnstruc'fc an. equal number qf mil's m eftch part, but as the proposition, did. not awp,ear. "to meet;with genei'al fnypr, he withdrew it; :, ' The Ohairman's suggestion was unani- 1 . mously ndopted. „;: . Mr. Wabbttbtok proposed, and Mr. Lns'ton seconded^that— ; , ■' . ; ; "That the absenfee bwners of land m Fitzherbert be cotpTnunicated with, and re- . quested to give their support to th« objeot: of the deputation." - : A vote of thanks to Mr. LnrroKr-r-the member for.dUtinct;in the County —for his attendance at the meeting and his voluntary offers of assistance; was given, as also, the usual vote of thanks id th^ Chairman,, arid the, meeting then seperated.