NAPIER'S RECOVERY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 79, 24 November 1931, Page 5

NAPIER'S RECOVERY

(Press Assn.-

mr. coates's tribute:: POPULATION NOW LARGER THAN BEFORE THE " EARTHQUAKE ; \ "THE COURAGE WE WANT NOW" ^

-By Telegraph^-Copyright)^.

NAPIER, Last night. . Speaking here to-night, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Goates, Minister of Public • Works and leader of the Reform • Party, said that the additional cost ^ to the Government arising out of the* sarthquake last February was £50,-" 000 for restoration work and repairs 1 to roads schools and public buildings, and £150,000 for re-surveys for the. restoration of Land Transfer titles. and records. . The State Fire Office had decided:; to meet all claims for damage dueT to fire in the month of February, - and payment of all claims received. and inquired into had been made. In! all, the total expenditure from thq;; public funds would amount to up4* vvards of £2,250,000. „L The applications received by the* rehabilitation Committee set up under! the Hawkes Bay Earthquake Aet, totalled approximately 12,000 to date,! the amount of assitance appl:ed for; being about £2,000,000. The commitL tee, which had a diffieult task in deal--'ng with many compjicated applicationswas working expeditiously as poss-. ible. The committee held the view' that the re-erecton of buildings! should be the first consideration and*. therefore it had concentrated its ef-! forts on applications for that purpose.. The most recent figures indicated that the loans granted would total" £383,560, and the grants £11,660", making a total of £395,220, Mr. Coates continued. Where assistance was' given by way of stock-in-trade and"" •quipment, the terms had been made exeeptionally easy. The loans forthe most part were free of interest. up to five years, and in special cases," loans had been made quite free of* nterest, the principal being repaid; )y easy annual instalments, each case being strictly treated on its. merits. In addition to the specific provis-* lon mentioned, wide powers had been' conferred on the Governor- General-'n-Council to make regulations pro-, 7iding for many emergency condit-; lons which arose as a consequence of;he earthquake. Mr. Coates said he considered that much had been done and at a time when the Government itself was facng serious financial diificulties, buts more had yet to be done in various iirections before Napier was restor-: 3d to the proud position it held for-. merly. What was being done by the': aovernment and outside organisations iid not represent the sum-total of ali, ;hat had been done in Napier Hastings rnd other parts of the province. The people of Hawkes Bay had set to with* a will to help themselves and with the* assistance of the Government had, .vorked wonders. The fact that the' oopulation was now greater than be-; core the earthquake might well he, "egarded as a remarkahle eircumffance if one did not know the finespirit of the people, their unshakeable confidence in their town and iistrict, and their determination to restore the beauty for which it had)een so renov/ned. "The courage displayed by the peo-' ?le a few months ago," said Mr.Coates, " is the courage we want today, right throughout the country, in meeting problems of a different kind, but nevertheless as serious." Mr. Coates added that the principal payments from the £380,000 voluntary contributations were: food dothing, sustenance, and general relief in Napier, 51,800; in Hastings 28,000; reconstruction of dwellings, Napier, £87,000, Hastings, £33,600 ,i Wairoa and central Hawkes Bay £8,800. The interest earned on the felief fund at the end of September as £7,200