Patea Deputation to Premier.

Patea Mail, 25 January 1882, Page 3

Patea Deputation to Premier.

During the Premier’s short stay in Patea yesterday afternoon, in bis capacity as Minister of Public Works, a local deputation headed by the Mayor (Mr Sherwood) had an interesting interview with the honorable gentleman, in the Farmers’ Club. The deputation was got up rather hurriedly. Two townsmen called on the Mayor in the morning, and expressed a desire that the Premier should receive some local mark of consideration on his first official visit to the district, and that the interests of the district should he' properly brought under his, .notice,., The Mayov said he would send found Jnyitations at once, through the Town Clerk. Some members of the Borough Council met later, and, arranged a programme, requesting the Mayor to be spokesman. A numerous deputation mustered in the afternoon, and was received by the Premier at the close of the previous interview with the Farmers’ Club, Besides members of the Borough Council, there were present Messrs Tennent, Barker, Bright, Norman, and others. The , Premier: I believe I we have met; before, Mr Sherwood. The Mayors Yes, I believe so. We have waited on you now as a deputation to represent the necessity of prosecuting the railway to completion, opening the, back ebuntry for settlement, and proceeding with the harbor works.. As regards the railway, it is open to Waverley, and an independent piece has been completed at the port of Patea ; and from the end of that completed section up to near Manutahi a considerable amount of work has been done in small contracts and by unemployed. It appears to us that it is urgently necessary that the railway should be completed as speedily as possible to Manutahi; and we wish to say that the bulk of the work appears to be already done, and that a very large expenditure already incurred is lying unused and is not reproductive. The scarcity of metal in this country, and its inferior quality, cause a great difficulty in keeping up the county- roads. Until the railway is opened, settlers will find it impossible, with an ordinary county rate, and even \yith a subsidy, to keep the roads , in passable condition. The extra traffic caused by the construction of the railway cuts up thejjrbad seriously,j‘and?jthat causes! an additional difficulty in ‘ keeping the road open under present circumstances. We are given to understand that plans are ready for the contraction from Waverley to Patea. .We, .would urge the desirability of openingjhe line in sections, as they are completed from time to time, because every two or three miles of county road 'saved> is an*-immediate gain, by taking off the heavy traffic. I presume. the deputation need not say anything as to the importance of the further section from Manutahi to Hawera, as that short link will complete 1 the line from Foxton to New Plymouth, and render it, as we believe, one of the best paying lines in the colony. Premier: I think I can give you a tolerably satisfactory answer on this railway question. With regard to the section from Waverley to Patea, the plans are complete now, and directions have been given to advertise at once for,tenders for the work. After a good deal of consideration, it has been decided not to let the work in two sections, but let it in one contract, but with the condition that the first three or four miles of .it, which is over comparatively 1 easy country, inky be pushed on to completion as quickly as possible. The second portion/- nearer to Patea, includes some "very heavy work, which cannot be completed soon ; and I have been-'discussing with ’the'Engineer-in-Chief, and also with Major Atkinson, the advisableness l bf i opening' the first four miles as soon-as finished. Although that point is some little distance. , pff\ the.,, paaiiiroad* I (think probably it would be advantageous to do that. That will .shorten the distance. I expect every day to see the advertisement calling for tenders. With regard to the section to Manutahi,-F have no. doubt that will be finished as soon as the other one from Waverley is. .To work the Patea-to-Manutahi section by itself/ before the line is open from Waverley, would cost more than the revenue to be derived.. Short sections are'always worked at very great disadvantage, but I hope this will be ready to open to’Manutahi Hy the time the

other section is opened .from Waverley. The survey of the Manutahi-to'-Hawera section is being prosecuted ; and no time shall be lost in completing it( I cannot make any specific promise as to the time at which that will be completed, but the advantage of completing that remaining section is so obvious, that. I think you may depend on that in itself for inducing the Government to push it on. There is no vote for that at present. Mr Barker ; I suppose we could, depend on the Government obtaining a vote for it. Premier : I cannot make any promise with regard to next session ; but the fact that this is a very short link which would -connect the whole of the country beyond Hawera with,; Foxton, Wanganui,, : and Patea, should be sufficient in itself to ensure that the Governriient will complete that link as soon as possible. Mayor : The next question is the ad-, visableness of opening the back country. You will observe oh the map that the occupied area on the coast is comparatively narrow, ■ Here the Government have several hundred thousand. acres of land within the confiscated line, and other blocks beyond that line. The country immediately behind Patea borough is an unoccupied and unsurveyed blank. There is a reserve of about ten thousand- acres—a University it has been called, I believe it was set aside in 1870 or ’7l, but nothing has been done with it. We have petitioned the Government on this matter of opening the back country, and especially about dealing with the University reserve. The general - character of the country through here is reported’ to be very broken. It.is broken, but;it is good land ; and What appears to us to give rise to the impression that it is inferior is that going in from fine open country the back appears in comparison to be very broken. It is, ho we veiy well capable of settlement, and would be taken up if opened for settlement. We have suggested that, previous to sale, this back country should be opened by roads, because persons wishing to see it can hardly form any impression as to what it is like by going now into the dense bush. Further inland, the land is better. W« We wish to ask the Government to dis pdse of the 1 teii ; thousand acrfes, either by selling in moderately-sized areas, or by very long leases, because short leases would not induce persons to go into bush land. The Kaitangiwhenua block of about 124,000 acres would, we believe, be speedily settled if roads were made ; and we are told that a very good road can be got along this road 1 from the port up-to: Nicholson’s farm, and- by a bridge across the Whenuakura to roads already made on the other side, and to tracks which can be used. 'i

Premier: What about the-Tiver 1 Could you not get to the land that way ? ~ , j Mayor : Yes, to some.of the land'.; but; tins Kaitangiwhenua country, could.not be tapped by the Patea river. What is. immediately required is the formation of a small piece of road towards the Whenuakura river and a bridge over that rivet to connect with roads. already used-,on .the other side. By connecting, these roads,on each side the Whenuakura river, there would be direct access to the. port from all that,back country, tapping the back of the Momahaki and the Kaitangiwhenua blocks. '

: Premier : Cannot the County Council manage that ? Mayor : There is no : . county road up there.. The boundary lies between two Road Boards.

[ Mr Barker : The Road Boards have not natural boundaries here as they . have in the South. ~

; Mayor : The road would give access to all this property of the Government. The only way now is by going a long way round. As a first step, this bridge should bc.constru'cted, and /by carrying on a piece of road, that large extent of country would be brought within 'easy reach of the port, and would be enhanced in value very materially. AB fo .the ten thousand acres of reserve, we have suggested that further, powers should ;be sought from the Legislature for dealing with that land.! /

I Premier : What is the. distance from the town ?

i Mayor : About six miles in a straight line, and about eight by road. There is also the Opaku black, and: we believe there is a sum of money available for making a road there. ; We wish to impress on you the desirability of having the back country prospected for settlement, and suitable sites selected for towns at different intervals.

: Premier : It has , got the character of being very rough and broken.

Mayor ; Some of it. is rough. A ridge runs along the coast. The general (character is rough, but it is very good land jin comparison with what is called good 'land in other places. -

I Premier :As to this question of the land, I cannot speak so definitely as I can of ;the railway, the land being in Mr Rolles : ‘ton’s department. I am aware he has (done a good deal in pushing roads through (the bush country on the Waimate Plains land at the back of Hawera. I will pro raise to call bis. attention to this matter, and tell him what you say. I will also draw his attention to this small piece of road which Mr Sherwood says will open a considerable amount of country ; also to the Opaku block ; and I think from what yon know of him, you may depend he will not lose any opportunity of doing what (you want, if he fairly can. With regard ito the University reserve, lam afraid that [is not quite so easy for the 1 Government to jdeal with. It is hot in their hancls altogether to deal with. I will bring before the Government your representation that jit is a large block in the immediate vicinity of the town, and is being done nothing with. Mr Aitcliison ; There is this to be considered in regard to the roughness of the country. ■ We have all noticed how (different the country; looks,after the bush is cleared. Some pieces of the . country about here looked very rough indeed before clearing : the ravines looked tremendous. But now that the fire and cattle have cleared away the scrub, the rough pieces turn out to be good grazing land. An effect like that would probably be visible in the back country. Mayor : Many years ago a large areia of this bush land was bought for about 6s per acre. The owner of, .the property did not see it for years. That same land is cleared now, and the owner would not take £l7 an acre for it. To ray knowledge that was reported by the Govern-ment-'surveyors asiuSeless land", i. ' Other remarks were made at length on the harbor works (to be reported later), and- the Premier, was thanked, for . his courtesy.