THE PUTARURU PRESS. Published Every Thursday. FRIDAY. JANUARY 4. 1924. THE NEW YEAR.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 12, 4 January 1924, Page 2

THE PUTARURU PRESS.

Published Every Thursday. FRIDAY. JANUARY 4. 1924. THE NEW YEAR.

Office - - - Main Street ’Phone 28 - - P.O. Box 44 (Lewis, Portaa and DallimorJ's Buildings.)

THE advent of the year 1924 peer the Upper Waikato, by all portents, now well .set on the road to the big destiny that awaits it. The past year has been a notableone, in that it has marked the disappearance of the final retarding: effects of the slump, prosperity and progress very definitely reasserting themselves again. In this regard the upward tendency of dairy production throughout the district, the inauguration of herd testing, the adoption of the roads-metaliing scheme, and the provision of electricity to the favoured few who as yet may have it are all definite accomplishments indicating quite substantial progress. This has been reflected in the common centre, the town of Putaruru, by increased building and the establishment of further services and businesses, and Putaruru is now a growing centre of no mean proportions. In big things the active ment of the local preliminary contracts for the Arapuni scheme, mainly the formaitbn and metalling of the access road; -ie couraging, while another important project which has made progress during the year is the matter of the provision of public railway facilities for the district by the Putaruru-Taupo Railway Board. Altogether the march forward has been very pronounced. But it is with the new year that we now And ourselves concerned, and happily so, for it dawns-a new year bright with prospect. Firstly, the two aforementioned big projects for which the district has been battling for five years past bid fair to reach consummation in the coming* 12 months. The big contracts for the Arapuni scheme are to be definitely let within the first few months of the year, and as the time allowed for their completion is not particularly long the successful tenderers will doubtless lose no time in starting, so that the end of the year should see this long-anticipated work in full swing. Again, the prospects in the matter of the local railway are that definite arrangements for the public ownership of the line will probably be concluded within the first three months of the, year, which event will also represent the consummation of five or six years of agitation by the district towards an end that should not fail to have very far-reaching results in expansion of the timber-milling industry and settlement. Owing to the increased traffic and the very wet weather the winter of 1923 was the worst on record on the roads in this district, the earth roads cutting up badly and virtually putting j the district “ in the mud ” as far as i traffic was concerned. The new year should brand this as entirely a thing-* of the past, for with the loan for metalling now authorised and money available nothing short of culpable neglect on the part of the county authorities would permit the roads to undergo another winter before being metalled where necessary. Other prospects which the new year holds are the freeholding of the national endowment lands, the exten- < sion of the electricity reticulation lines in the district, and the formation of a town board for Putaruru, but as ! yet these are more or less in ** the lap of the gods,” or in other words, in the lap of the authorities concerned,* whether they be the Government, the Power Board or the ratepayers.