Ruapehu to tag historic places

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 612, 14 November 1995, Page 7

Ruapehu to tag historic places

Ohakune' s Hapuawhenua Viaduct and Raetihi 's former County Council building in Seddon Street have been proposed for registrat'ion with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. This was the recommendation made by Ruapehu District councillors at their meetingin Taumarunui last Friday and was based on a

report presented by the Council' s civil defence officer, Des Price, who is also the council' s appointed representative on the Wanganui District committee of the NZ Historic Places Trust. In his report Mr Price said it was the view of the Wanganui District Committee that Waimarino should remain, as it does now, within

their area. However, for a number of reasons including distance from Wanganui - much of the Ruapehu district has received only minor attention in terms of identifying and registration of historic buildings and sites. Mr Price has recommended that the entire Ruapehu district be regarded as one unit and join with a

yet-to-be-formed Central North Island District Committee of the NZHPT which would also embrace all of the Taupo District Council' s area of administration. Mr Price reports that the

Ruapehu district is "badly affected by past administered decisions that have divided the district into northern and southem components for the sake of adTurn to Page 12

Ruapehu to tag historic places

From Page 7 ministrative convenience of agencies based outside the district. This has made it extremely difficult for any common district-wide community of interest to make itself heard with one cohesive voice". MrPrice's report however, despite his recommendations that the whole of the Ruapehu district be regarded as a single component, still does not include the Waimarino by stating that: The Trust Board is considering the establishment of a Central North Island District Committee based on all that area of the Ruapehu District Council excluding that area south of Manganui o te Ao River in line with the summit of Mt Ruapehu ... etc". This would have excluded the two structures (the Hapua whenua Viaduct and the former County Council offices in Raetihi) which councillors have recommended should be proposed for registration with the NZHPT. That oversight was corrected when a notice of motion that the Waimarino be included in any future Central North Island District branch of the NZHPT was moved by Cr Bob Peck and agreed by Council. Cr Peck later told the Bulletin that he had been concerned for some time that the Ruapehu District Council was not listed among the 25 other local bodies throughout New Zealand which are members of the NZ Historic Places Trust. "Some of these local bodies are large - such as Auckland and Wellington - but others are small like ourselves or even smaller," he said. Council agreed that corporate membership of the NZHPT was worthwhile and approved the expenditure of $500 per annum subscription.