THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1920. PROPOSED OTAKI BOROUGH AREA.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 15 November 1920, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1920. PROPOSED OTAKI BOROUGH AREA.

The boundaries of the proposed borough of Otaki, as amended by the Commissioners appointed to consider rhe matter, have occasioned surprise and disappointment to all reasonableminded persons with a knowledge of the township and district, and the Commissioners cannot be congratulated on the result of their deliberations. As the proposed boundaries now .stand, the area is Htr'c- bigger I than the present town district, arid we lare utterly at a loss to understand why the properties- added have been included, in view of the Commissioners' action in cutting out other properties which, in our opinion, should most certainly hare been included. The most grievous mistake is the exclusion of the whole of the area on the east side of the railway line—a step which we can only ascribe to the ignorance of the Commissioners of the local conditions. Otairi town is & rather peculiar oce. Situated as it is. with the railway ,-tation at one extremity and the beach at the other. the population i- widely spread, and it is impossible to form a borough containing the majority of town resident." without taking in both the beats and j railway settlements. In order to effect I this, it i- neees.-sary to include in the borough a considerable area at yt-Tsi f lanes which would otherwise not be i taken in. The Commission appear- to 1 have considered this point of .piew , with regard to the seaside settlement. » cud have included in the borough area I hundreds of acre* of farm land's. On ; the other hand, however, they have j entirely disregarded this view so far j as the- railway portion of the town is ' concerned. * The portion or" Otaki known as Te MaEuao is uodoubte'iiv j cue of the. finest residential parts, of j the io**-=. beautifully situated.. cls~ in • tie .railway station, and all subdivided | into ssjail sestioiis. It is ako fairlcloseiy psoifjstsd— ~izh 2ioie so tfaaa

tlic seaside resort area which has been / included. Without a doubt To" Manuao i and the area between the Te Koto road » and the railway station will be one of the bc>t and most closely populated parts of the town in the near future: yet the whole of it has been cut out of the proposed borough. The exclusion of the racecourse, too, is inexplicable and unreasonable. Everyone knows thai the traffic on the town roads during race time is exceedingly heavy, aud it was only right and proper that, it should have been included in the borough, and its rates help in some little measure to meet the expenditure occasioned by the traffic. As regards the non-inclusion of considerable areas of farm lands, on the eastern side of the railway line, this was only to be expected.. In our opinion, an error of .judgment was made by the promoters of the borough scheme, in making the eastern boundaries so wide. Had the area over the railway line included only Te Manuao properties, and those in the neighbourhood of Te Koto road and the lower portion of the Rahui road, in all probability little if any j objection would have been taken by ] those concerned; but the proposed inclusion of purely farm lands of con- j siderable extent caused dissatisfac- I tion, which led to organised opposi- , tion, and this has led to the present rather disastrous results. In our criticism of the Commission's finding, we do not for a. moment accuse them of bias or deliberate unfairness. The members of the Commission are men of such standing and integrity that there can be no doubt they acted for what they thought the best for all concerned. If would appear to us that the niethsd of adjusting such matters iis- wrong. Here Commissioners, entirely unbiassed, and competent men in their respective walks of life, are called upon to adjust boundaries of a district which, in all probability, they never saw before. During their very brief visit to Otaki, they were hurriedly taken round in a motor car to view certain lands the inclusion of which in the borough was objected to. Many portions of the proposed borough area they never saw. They were thus entirely ignorant of the local conditions peculiar to the town. and it must Ik- owing to this fact that sueh :i bungle has been made of I liewhole affair. It would appear that the finding of tli" Commission is final—there is no appeal. Thus the best thing. apparently, is to make the best of a bud job. and to leave 710 stone unturned to cany the poll to be held shortly re the formation of the proposed area into a borough. In !ii< near future it should not be a difficult matter to extend the boundaries, to include Te Manuao and other pro perries in the vicinity of Otaki Rail way. The residents in these parts will assuredly ui~ii to participate in c«mi veriienec- such as water supply, liglit ing, drainage, etc.. and should he only too pleased to join the borough on.-, they sec the advantages that will un doubtedly accrue.