BANQUETTED

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 87, 16 August 1913, Page 5

BANQUETTED

THE HQH. W. FRASER.

AT WHANG AMOMONA. There wore about two hundred ladies and gentlemen present at the ■complimentary banquet tendered in the Public Hall, 'Whangamomona to the Minister of Pub lie Works last night, and the proceedings were enthusiastic throughout. Mr A. Meredith occupied the chair. THE COUNTY COUNCIL. Mr T. Bradley, in proposing the toast of the Whangamomona County Council, said the Council was a muchabused body and by no means lay on a. bed of roses. The present system of Government grants needed amending. One condition with those grants was that the whole' of the money should 1)0 spent in actual work, nothing to he paid for administration. Many settlers in outlying districts had to refuse these grants, because the cost of administration ran up to thirty per cent. The metal put on part of the County roads had vanished as a result'of the Public Works i) partment’s carting. He thought the County was being asked to provide too much of the cost of the repairing work.

hi reply, T\ Tr Meredith said the County was developing and it© greatest need was money. They must have it. and would got it somewhere. As regarded the rate of interest, in view of the high prices obtained for our produce, the people of the colony were more able to pay' more interest than they were eight or ten years ago. They desired to get the produce off the land, and for that purpose they must have money. All those present had had experience of mud, hut he thought those resident in the township had a right to he freed of ifiud. The County was prepared to do the lion's share of repairing the roads damaged by the Department’s traffic, if they received assistance from the Govern merit, as he was sure they would.

Mr McCutchan said lio Jiacl great sympathy for the various Governments of the colony, because no Government could ever design a local body system which would suit all the local bodies. The conditions differed so much in every district that it was very difficult to suit everybody. The whole question of local body administration binged on finance. In the past the Wliaugamomona 'County had : received a fairly liberal- supply of money—not adequate, but fairly'-liberal: Mr McCuthchan then deat in interesting manner with the operations of underwriters on the London money .market. In conclusion'Mr McCuthchan made a few extracts from a humorous “Who’s Who.” .*

P.W.D. Mr Lundon proposed ' : “The Piihlfc ■Works Department,” He said the people in the backblocks were always in dose touch with the Departement, which was closely connected with the work of opening up the country. Mr Murray, replying, said Taranaki had received visits from a large number of Ministers, and good had resulted from every visit. Nature had been very unkind to Taranaki, giving it a very damp climate and. withholding from it one'of the greatest csvsentials for public works—road metal. However, the Department was making headway. No matter how efficient tlie engineers and their staffs were they could do little without money, and he hoped the Minister would he able to get money for them. Tf they got money he was sure greater progress would he made. He (Mr Murray) had been connected with the roads in Taranaki and he hoped ,his connection with the railways would' prove as pleasant..

GUEST OF THE EVENING. Mr Meredith proposed “Our Guest.” He said ho had expected to give Mr Eraser a rough time, but tie had found he had a hard nut to crack. Mr Eraser, replying, said ho was pleased to see so many young people present that evening. The young people were those who were to carry on the work the older generation had started. He hoped that New Zealand would yet ho one of the brightest spots in the great British Empire, and that could only he done by tin development of the land. If his reign of office were long or short he would always use his best endeavours to develop the'country. He had intended to keep off the subject of politics, because lie thought gatherings of the sort were purely social, and care should he taken that nothing should he said which was liable to cause irritation. But Mr McCuthdian had touched on finance, a subject in which lie (the speaker) was particularly interested. It was desired to develop the land, but. by December, 1911, about thirteen millions would have to be borrowed and paid away to repay (-bort-term loans raised by previous Governments. It should not bo supnosed that money would be scarce. He was sure that the British moneylender bad confidence in the colony. Mr Meredith bad said be (The speaker) proved a bard nut to crack. Perhaps Mr Meredith made that remark'because he (Mr Eraser) bad not onid “yes’ to every request made, ft was not bis habit to make promises and not keep them. He always tried fo take a fair view of requests made, but be was always careful not to take i pessimistic view of things. He ex-nm-te-d to have claims for public works totalling two millions, but be could not spend more than six hundred thousand pounds. Further, if all the demands were granted, there would not In' sufficient, labor to do the work. He believed greatly in roads as feeders to rail wavs. He assured those pre

sont that Taranaki would not be worse treated than any other province. He would be back later on a visit, when it would be lound that his promise had been kept. As to mud: Ho was quite horrified when lie saw the amount of mud in the township. Ho hoped that by the time the summer came bo would have made satisfactory arrangements for the repairing of the damaged roads. The requests made to him that day had been of a reasonable character, and be hoped that many of thorn might be satisfactorily dealt with. It was with some difficulty that be had redeemed his promise to visit Whangnmomona. ?<o | man was too old to. learn, and ho i could assure his hearers that his I visit to Whangamomona had taught him something. It was not fair to put people on land and keep them there without roads, even, after the land had been heavily loaded for roads. Some concession should bo made to those who had no access to their holdings, and. who were prepared to rate themselves to provide roads. Local (bodies should he prepared to take up ■the upkeep of side roads when handed over.

LOCAL INTERESTS. Mr W. J. Penn proposed “Lo<’al Interests.” He said a settlement snoh as Whangamomona must always rely to a gerat extent on the farming interests. The fact that a deputation that day had asked that a piece of land he set aside as a recreation ground indicated that the settlement was leaving the township stage and developing into a town. The business of Mr Court, whose name was coupled with the toast, was, he thought, one of the biggest back-country businesses in the colony.

Mr Court, in reply, congratulated Mr Fraser on having the pluck to come to Whangamomona at such a time of the year. He (the speaker) had been splashing about in mud for about seventeen years and was getting quite tired of it. He felt sure that Whangamomona was just on the point of emerging from the mud state. Tbe*district was a difficult 'one to deal with as regards means of transport. About two years ago they had as fine a road as could be desired for the light traffic running over. it. Of course they had been ruined by the Public Wprks Department’s heavy traffic. The railway vyould be a white elephant unless, the main road was made. It was no good having, good side Toads if at the end of them the settler dropped into slough of mud. The charges made on the Public Works Department’s train did not seem very fair to the settler. It cost lls lOd (including 2s 6d wharfage) to get goods from Patea or Moturoa to Mangers Road, and it cost 12s 6d to get those goods over .the last mile and a half to Whangamomona.

' t. : 'PARLIAMENT. Hr A; Coxhead, senr., [proposed ‘‘Parliament.” He dealt. with the progress of means of transport since biro days of his childhood. In those days, ho said, they saw the wheelbarrow {ind the hand-cart, hut, alas, fuey still, in the!saw them in use. He felt sure that if the latest labor-saving machinery was used in the making of railways ms ay more miles would be mado; than' was now :he case.

I 'Mr Hine said: the Minister'for Public- Works was making-thb Deparelment up-to-date and had imported cement-mixers,' steam-navvies, etc. Districts like Whangaraomona should have consideration in the matter of having medical men and trained nurses; and in Parliamente he had always made it a point to impress on the Government the necessity of having nurses in the backblocks. Ho felt quite proud of bringing the Minister to the town at that tirqe of the year, and he was sure good would result from the visit. He thought land settlement .had got too far ahead of ,-oading and he hoped that there v/ould be a check on the placing of rough nish land on the market. There were many large estates nearer the front which could very well be broken np for settlement. People should he given the rough bush land and be allowed to road it themselves, being riven the benefit of the State lending department to help them to make roads. He imped Mr Fraser would come hack to Whangamomona at Christmas to open the new railway station.

OURSELVES. Mr T. Aylward, in proposing “The Settlers,” said they were all sure tho land was good and were equally sure that with good roads the future of the country was assured. Mr Roherton, in reply, said settlers talked about a great many things, including roads—and chiefly roads. Ho I thought the amount spent on public I works by the Government should be increased. Mr Stoekwell also responded. He said the settlers went on the land prepared to undergo certain hardships, but many of the hardships they underwent could be obviated if there was a proper system of reading. The bridle track was a fine means of opening land for settlement, but residence on a bridle track for any length of time was not a help to settlement. The Minister desired to give some remission to those living on bridle tracks, and he fthe speaker) suggested that no rent be charged a' .settler until the road reaches them. GENERAL. “The Press” was proposed by Mr c;. Rishara and “The Ladies” by Mr R. .T. Scott, Mr S. Mills* responding. ATi- Eraser proposed the toast of the chairman, Mr Meredith suitably responding. The chairman .stated that he had received apologies for absence from Messrs Newton King. W. Hathaway, M. P. Kirkwood. .Tosenh MeGluggage, R. Dingle and A. E. Cooping. During the evening so""T we*-.' senal,v Messrs Simpson ayd Dav' and Mr London gave a highly humorous recitation,