COUNTY BOUNDARIES.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 135, 26 July 1876, Page 2

COUNTY BOUNDARIES.

(TO THIS KDITOR OK Till? PATEA MAIL. Sir, — The meeting re .education, &c.,came.off This evening, Mr G. S. Bridge in ihl chair. A resolution was .passed,' to’ the olivet that no steps shoubl be taken at •present to obtain- -an alteration, -in,-.the,., boundaries of the educationalVHslrict.' The question oi! proposed county boundaries was then discussed (a,copy of the proposed Counties Bill having been .kindly lent by the editor of the Patea Mail), wlien it, was determined to call a meeting (which: is advertised in another ; column, of/thispaper) to test the feeling of thVscttl&rs as! to the proposed-"boundaries of the Countyof Patent It behoves every person residing between the Whcnnaknm and Waiiolara rivers to be present.at..theiitceting : a^oVe-.. mentioned, as the question, to 'be,decided upon is simp'ly this—Shall 11 we, .by taking mo action, allow our district to, become (as proposed by the Counties- Act): a portion of the Paten County, or shall wo, petition .the Assembly to alter the, boundary to the ■AYhcimakunv river, thus attaching us to the Wanganui County ? The feeling ap- ; pears pretty general 'hero that'the Government have hit upon a very good boundary line at this end of the Patea Comity, but a little timidity is felt at the proposed expenditure upon the experiment of trying to ..make, the Patea river into a, harbour. The Wairori district will, even if the thing succeeds, reap only a, small benefit, it any, after the railway is completed-, fro.nf deepening the channel of. the Patea river, and if the. county is to be taxed for the construction ol: harbour works at all, the Wanganui river would be preferred by ■'most!*- Ou the other hand, if.the proposed expenditure upon the Patea river is- to come from some other source than coii'iity taxes or ; rates, then the . only existing reason for preferring to join the Wanganui County would be blotted out. But there are many reasons for preferring the Patea County. First of all, with the exception of there being no harbour —a want the completion of the railway would efface—the Patea County is the finest, and promises to bo the most permanently prosperous and wealthy ;of , any of the proposed counties. Secondly, lire main roads from Waitotarato Stony River being nearly all flat formation, ■ the maintenance of them is likely to cost very much loss per mile than the road from Waligachu, which is mostly side cuttings. Thirdly,-it would probably bo very difficult to persuade any p'erson with' the usual amount of brains, tobo constantly wasting his time by going down to Wanganui to sit in the County. Council, which was proved by the difficulty found in getting wardens to represent us in the late WanganuiWaitotara Highway Board, which hol’d its meetings in Wanganui ;'whereas the Patea Council could be attended witli so little loss of-tiiuo.that.no difficulty need be anticipated in cur' securing suitable representatives to attend there. Again, the nearer wo get to the seat of local government the-better that body is likely to,look after usj' a negative proof of which we havo had in the neglect of the Wellington ilffoyincial Government, which, owing let -'■out*'remoteness, has been in the habit ref ignoring our existence for years,-.except ns regards taxing us. I could give;more reasons for our .remaining with Paten,’ rather than petitioning to he attached to ■ Wanganui, hut am. afraid of making my letter too long,'.and will conclude by veuliiring an opinion that if the on-.; difficulty, vh;., the proposed river expenditure,■ Were'"-exp 1 ail km 1 away, .t-1 itV“i uhnffi tants -of this district would almost unanimously approve or'the'boundaries as proposed by the Government, the,only likely opponents to it being two or three Happy-individuals. who make it a point of opposing everything, and who consequently arc uo,t worth consulting. . ~ ‘ ■ I am, Ac., , A •; V : " ’ ' ' SETTLER. Waverley, July 22, 187