MR. GIBBS AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 146, 12 June 1876, Page 2

MR. GIBBS AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

(C OMMU NIO ATED.) A meeting . of the electors, was held ip. the. school-room; Lower Takaka, on the 3rd inst. f Mr A. Bow in tbe chair. Mr Gibbs, M.H.R , said that, in accordance with hit usual custom, he had invited the electors to meet him for the purpose of ascertaining from them the mo«t urgent r*qui re merits of. the district, and to elicit their opinion on the Local Government Bill, as he felt that it wan to. some extent the duty of a representative to vote in accordance with the ■ wishes of his constituents. '* ] ■ Mr J. Cann said that he should be glad to' have an opportunity of discussing the Bill' ' with his neighbors, but as yet they had hot seen it, and were dependent for information upon the newspaper reports wh'ch were frequently contradictory. What they wanted was tbe Bill itself. Mr Gibbs admitted the difficulty of pronouncing upon the merits of the Bill without having seen it, and promised, oh his arrival at Wellington to endeavor to obtain copies of it, and to forward them for circulation in the district Mr A. M'Donald thought it would be better to appoint some person with whom Mr Gibbs should place him«elf in communication, and sut.ge-<ted the appointment of Mr A. Row, which was -seconded by Mr Reilly and agreed to. Mr W. Page thought that the most urgent requirement ofthe district was the completion of the road over the tidal creeks from the Waitapu bridge to .the wharfi He said thatthe Government had recognised the necessity of this important work, and had authorised the expenditure of £500 upon it. He a'so. thought that it was highly important that, the i new road from Riwaka to Takaka shouldbe' completed as soon as po* si ble: Mr J. Reilly was ,of option that they would gain very little by calling meetings to .tudy the Local Government Bill, as by the time the meetings were held it would' pro-! bably have become law. He thought they would do far bfttsr by keeping their repr*?-; sentatlve acquainted with their wants He • agreed with Mr Page that the most import ant work was the road over the tidal creeks, but thought that the nezt in importance was the erection of two horse bridges over the Takaka * river, one at Waitapu, and the other at Payne's Pall, these boing the two principal ■ thoroughfares over that large and. frequently dangerous river. The absence of bridges had led to the loss of many valuable lives, and • many other travellers had had very narrow escapes in crossing the river at these place 1. He therefore proposed that •Mr Gibbs be requeated to urge upon the Government the necessity of the bridges and to endeavor to. obtain funds for their erection. This was seconded by Mr Sparrow, and carried unanimously. * . The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman; . *...*■