LOOKING BACK ON 1970, A YEAR OF PROGRESS

Taupo Times, Volume 20, Issue 3, 14 January 1971, Page 1

LOOKING BACK ON 1970, A YEAR OF PROGRESS

The year 1970 was one of progress for Taupo and district. It started with a New Year's Honour for Mr J. W. Birnie, and ended with a trebled population due to the influx of holiday makers.

It was a good newsy year, one of progress and incident, controversy and highlight. We looked back through our files and found that these were some of our headlines: JANUARY * Mr J. W. Birnie awarded MBE in the New Year's honours list. * Power boat speed section winner Panic Mouse disqualified after rounding a marker buoy on the wrong side. ' * Taupo contractor has narrow escape in a tractor accident. Claims safety frame saved his life. * Taupo birth rate in 1969, at 433, was 35 more than the 1968 figure. But death and marriage figures had . declined. * NZ Electricity Department trying to raise the level of Lake Taupo for holiday - makers. * January busy month for Taupo Fire Brigade which answered 19 fire calls in 19 days.

* Nine thousand acres of crown land in several land developments around the north and northwestern lakeshore to become part of lakeshore reserve concept. * Residents turned out in force for the Centennial parade. Participation ranged from marching girls to Ministry of Works' minia.ture steam-bore. Organisers praised. FEBRUARY * Visit by new Minister for Tourism, Mr Walker, to inspect the facilities offered at the Wairakei Tourist Resort. * Mr A. Donaldson appointed building inspector for the Taupo borough. * Search for minerals by Fletcher Timber Company. Boom in sulphur prospecting with discovery of deposits at Lake Rotokawa. * Possibility of helicopter use in fighting forest fires "with water filled buckets clipped underneath. * Power shut off in time as a fire blazed under 33,000 volt lines.

* Driver Electrical Ltd. suceessful tenderer for Tourist Hotel Corporatioq contract for work on Wairakei Hotel. * Moderate wind damage to several areas of Taupo, including Fletcher Timber Mill, Taupo Gliding Club, Waitahanui Motel and at Acacia Bay. * One million dollars to be spent on doubling production of Fletcher's particle board plant in Taupo. * Mt View primary school empty, unused and a possible target for vandals because of indecision on opening date. * Waipahihi Botanical Reserve considered one of Taupo's most attractive' assets. * International golf course opens at Wairakei with an exhibition match between four of New Zealand's top amateur golfers. * Spa Hotel hit by three strokes of bad luck in three weeks. •-The loss of $7000 of prime liquor stock. •— A fire in the thermal area. •— A flash flood. MARCH * Mr J. W. Birnie, MBE, ac-° cepts cheque for $20,000 ' from Auckland Building Society to help finance the building of the Taupo Hospital. ' Evaluation of the Wairakei golf course. * $7000 jewellery theft from Adams Jewellers, Taupo. * Use of helicopter and bucket for fire fighting purposes successfully test-

ed. First of its kind in the use in the world. • Huka Falls footbridge revealed unsafe when inspected by Ministry of Works engineers. To be replaced. * February driest on record. Advice sought on drought relief as no rain for 10 weeks. * Tenders called for the erection of the Taupo Golf Club's new clubhouse. Construction expected to start in May. * Sharon Thomason placed second in Miss Geyserland contest. * Miss A. Dent awarded BEM for her work in radio communications on Lake Taupo. * Reconstruction of the Wharewaka Point highway completed at a cost of $350,000. * Sudden death of Brigadier G. H. Clifton, DSO and two bars. Burial with military honours at Taupo. * Prince Charles and Princess Anne enjoy trip and fish- . ing on the Lake. APRIL * Sharon Thomason chosen as finalist to represent New Zealand at the Miss International Contest at Expo 70. * No indication on when Huka Falls footbridge to be replaced. Tourists complain, saying they get a better view from the right bank. * Mr J. M. Stanley accepts nomination for borough council seat left vacant by the death of Brigadier Clifton. *

* Manslaughter charge against a Turangi man arising from an incident at the Wairakei Hotel where a man died, was dismissed in the Taupo Court. * Young Taupo man killed in hunting accident in the Hatepe-Hinemaimai area, south of Taupo. * By-pass route around Taupo a necessity, according to Mrs Rona Stevenson, M.P. for Taupo. * Mr O. F. Delany to oppose Mr J. M. Stanley in the borough council by-elec-tion. * Lake pollution not yet a problem, but of particular concern is the high concentration of weed growth near Two Mile Bay. * New authority proposed to administer Lake Taupo's lakeside reserves. Legislation being prepared to establish a body with statutory powers and appropriation. • Another Taupo deerstalker killed in hunting accident between Taupo and Waiouru. Third fatal accident of that kind in two weeks. * Taupo shoppers can get certain foodstuffs cheaper than they could three years ago.

CONTINUED ON PAGES 4 AND 5.

MASSIVE INCREASE IN BOROUGH RATES

April died away quietly but the fifth month, May, began with a thump as the borough council increased its rates for the next financial year. * Maori weaving seems to be fastest growing hobby in Taupo based on numbers attending lessons at the Taupo Youth Club. * Taupo Cosmopolitan Club opened after receiving final approval from the Licensing Commission. * Proposals for a $2 million tourist hotel complex at Three Mile Bay; announcement by Promotional Services Ltd, of Taupo. 'MA¥ .1 * After remaining stable for two - years Taupo rates took a rnassive 12 per cent jump. Increased revenue required .to ruif,^ council's operations nearly all stem from ""'Increased costs of materials and labour. But the rates have increased 50 per cent in the last four years.

* Taupo borough owes over $2 million for loans, over $1 million of it on electricity undertakings. * Two companies seeking additional hotel licence for Taupo approved by Licensing Control Commission four years ago — Promotional Services Ltd and Ngauruhoe Devejopment Co. Ltd. * Five men marooned in the Western Bays area of Lake Taupo when strong, gusty winds forced their craft ashore. * Detective Sergeant T.J. Cullen, from Lower Hutt, appointed officer-in-charge of Taupo CIB. * Taupo to be smallest town in New Zealand with privately-owned computer service. * Taupo county rates up another six per cent. * Taupo Chamber of Commerce supports by-pass proposals. * By-pass route was to cross hot thermal country; new route being considered. * The Mayor, Mr J. E. Story, said railway link to

Taupo would be reality before by-pass. * Work began on the first stage of the A.C. Baths lido pool. JUNE * Massive simulated emergency exercise planned at Taupo airport to test emergency facilities in Taupo. * Simulated emergency aircrash staged. Considered satisfactory and a good test for the co-ordination of the various civil defence groups in Taupo. * Serious shortage of reasonably priced rental housing concerns Chamber of Commerce executive. Difficult to attract workers to Taupo because of the lack of accommodation. * Taupo Post Office, Courthouse and Memorial Hall daubed with signs and slogans by Auckland and Hamilton students returning from All Black farewell in Wellington. * Mrs Wilma Sutherland crowned Mrs T aupo, 1970. * Boost to economic potential of Taupo with

proposed railway link to Rotorua; but main use for timber and sulphur. * Man dies in a light aircraft crash at Opepe, east of Taupo. There is one survivor. * Over two-thirds of towns motor vehicles not relicensed with only seven days till deadline. * Assimilation of land in Boot Hill area of Taupo for educational purposes would suit borough and county town planning committees. * Taupo manufacturer patents new fire fighting invention - a large fibreglass bucket carried beneath helicopter. JULY * Rise in influenza cases to almost epidemic proportions. * Taupo airport runway needs expansion before installation of night flying facilities for commercial aircraft. * Further delay in Taupo Intermediate School building programme possibly means

two or three 1971 Form 1 classes may have to remain at their contributing primary schools. • Taupo schools experiencing staffing difficulties through large classes and the loss of trained teachers to other occupations. * Only part of the herds, billeted in Hawke's Bay from drought-stricken farms in the Taupo area, returned.

* Danger to children reduced by shifting speed limit signs at Control Gate Bridge. * Taupo County Council accused by Maori leader of deliberately breaching Treaty of Waitangi by moves to reclaim 400 acres of Maori land around the lake as payment for overdue land rates. * Taupo Hospital ready in one year, Mr J. W. Birnie, MBE, Taupo representative of the Waikato Hospital Board, told during inspection on the site. * Moves to split Mangakino Town Committee from the Taupo County Council are imminent as interests mount in a union with Matamata. Committee says Taupo only interested in Mangakino for what it can get out of the area. * Firearms instruction course ' held for Taupo Scout Group by Taupo branch of Deerstalkers' Association. * Lakeside reserve for Waitahanui disallowed by the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board because

of objections to the designation of the land. * Confirmation of the1 National Road Board's 1970 allocations of $162,000 to the borough and $346,100 to the county. AUGUST * Justices of the Peace to sit in Taupo Traffic Court, for the first time on September 22, to deal with minor cases. * Row between Mangakino Town Committee and Taupo County Council persists. Being described as a family squabble. * Mangakino Town Committee member, Mr Hendry, considers himself to be treated poorly by the county council. Has not received a reply, from either the committee or the council, to his resignation five weeks ago. * Lack of liaison between government departments appears to be the major cause of delay in construction of new footbridge across Huka Falls.

* Heaviest fall of rain for year — 1.36 inches in 24 hours — but no serious flooding. * Taupo Intermediate School's extra classrooms approved. * Taupo's population increased by 1491, to 9480, from the 1966 census figures of 7989, according to the Abstract of Statistics. The 15 per cent

growth rate one of New Zealand's biggest. * Lieutenant Colonel C. M. r Dixon, of Taupo, appointed deputy director of - y works at Defence Head- j auarters, Wellington. * Public meeting agrees to the recommendation of steering committee to in- . vestigate the feasibility of establishing a museum in Taupo. * Pensioner flats to open on Sunday after delay of six „ - months due to problems, including difficulty of obtaining labour. "V * Large group of education authorities from various parts of the world visited Taupo schools and many tourist attractions and farms. * Need for more professional services, night entertainment, and better tourist, cultural, business and youth facilities, according ^ to survey by seventh form students of» Taupo-nui-a- * fTia College. * Coin - operated petrol pumps at several service

HOVERCRAFT SERVICE PROPOSED

stations probable within next month. * First-ever passenger Hovercraft service may be tried on Lake Taupo during holidays. * Complaints about time delay in waiting for telephone operators to answer by Taupo businessmen. * Only two food premises showed 100 per cent compliance with food premises hygiene regulations in a recent check. Greatest majority of faults lay in maintenance of hygiene, rather than equipment or fittings. * Separate government department to control management and researqh into fishing on Lake Taupo. SEPTEMBER * Taupo faced danger from air pollution from smoke stacks of four timber mills situated on the town's perimeter. Many visitors considered this shocking in a "tourist and conservation conscious town." * Taupo Ross Shield rugby team was co-winner of the Shield, with Napier and Hastings. But it won the Ron Pierce Trophy for the most sportsmanlike qualities. * Two applications for the additional licence for another hotel for Taupo, both costing over $1 million, were heard by the Licensing Control Commission. * Concern was expressed by the Mayor, Mr J. E. Story, the past president of the Taupo Chamber of Commerce, Mr H. R. Lewis, and the current president, Mr E; J. Crisp, over the Government decision to award part of the Kaingaroa Forest contract to a Napier firm, Carter Consolidated Ltd. A firm that would be developing industry in Taupo had been passed over. * The Taupo Regional Museum Council held its first meeting to discuss administration details. * Senior Sergeant R. Moncur of Taupo and his three sons were rescued from heavy surf at Maketu by the Maketu Surf Lifesaving Club. * The Post Office go-slow ended with little serious effect on Taupo businessmen and residents. * Beer was rationed at the Lake Hotel because of a seven-day ban on overtime at N.Z. Breweries Ltd. * The Editor of the Taupo Times for 12 years, Mr L. B. Atkinson, left to assume a position as sub-editor on the Levin Chronicle. * After receiving only $2100 from local subscriptions in its current public loan issue the Taupo Borough Council decided to borrow $335,000 from a finance company. * Taupo primary schools need relieving teachers on a long rather than short term basis. * Preliminary signs are that °ne of the most successful clubs to be formed in Taupo in recent years is the Taupo Bridge Club. * Efforts by the new president, Mrs F. B. Dawson, to increase the membership of the Taupo-Turangi branch of the Prisoners' Aid and Rehabilitation Society have been an unqualified success. * A Taupo firm, John Groome and Associates, have established a forestry project in West Irian for the United Nations. Shipping difficulties are the only bar to complete success. * A bill empowering the Taupo County Council to remit or postpone rates under certain circumstances, will be presented to the current Parliamentary session by the M.P. for * Taupo, Mrs Rona Stevenson. * Parents of dozens of children attending Taupo Primary School would be shocked if they were to see the conditions under which the children were taught. * Pensioners may soon be able to buy their weekly supply of meat in special packs priced within the , range of their budgets. * A film of oil which appeared on faupo's harbour

from a storm-water drain after a rainfall caused concern among Taupo and visiting boat owners. * Efforts are being made to establish a play centre at Nukuhau because of the lack of pre-school facilities there. * A helicopter was used to install seven large copper cold water tanks at the Wairakei Hotel. * Tariff charges for Taupo are unlikely to be changed for a considerable time, according to the Municipal

Electricity Department engineer, Mr K. G. Stewart. * A sub-committee to investigate possible sites for future secondary schools in Taupo was formed by the Taupo-nui-a-Tia College Board of Governors. * Taupo's automatic telephone exchange should now be operational in 1975. * A 12V2-ton 40 foot concrete launch is being built by hand by Mr K. (Snow) Thimbleby in his front yard, using only hand tools and a home-built arc welder. OCTOBER * Two sections needed for the borough council' s sewage treatment plant will be purchased from the Rickit estate for $25,000. * Maori will be taught as an option to French at the Taupo-nui-a-Tia College in 1971. * Boat ramps were smashed and lakeside properties hammered with pumice stones and water when strong westerly winds whipped across Lake Taupo onto the exposed shores of Waitahanui • Birth figures in Taupo during September declined, from 45 in 1969 to 24 in 1970. During the same period deaths rose

from three to five and marriages from three to eight. * One of the men responsible for developing the Waitahanui River, eight miles south of Taupo, as an accessible fishing ground, and an extremely skilled fjisherman, Mr J. G. Williams, expressed disappointment in fishermen's lack of sportsmanship. * The occupation group of the Taupo branch of the Intellectually Handicapped Children Society moved into new premises in Oruanui Street, Taupo. * September's weather was dull, very wet and mild. It was the fifth month in succession in which sunshine hours were below average. * Lake Taupo, whipped to a frenzy by strong winds, wreaked havoc on the foreshore adjacent to several luxury Taupo motels during the weekend. * An application by Trailways Motels to erect a 60 unit motel with restaurant and conference facilities on a site opposite the Wairakei Hotel, was approved

by the Taupo County Council. * The A.C. Baths lido pool is expected to open next week. * The Taupo Free Kindergarten has a waiting list of 80, and the Hinemoa Kindergarten is similarly placed. * The Taupo Water Safety Committee folded due to lack of support. • A 15-year-old girl, Diane Webber, was gagged by a man who robbed the shop she was working in. . * Plans are well in hand for a sponsored week-long 100 mile walkathon from Taupo to Napier in January, 1971, to raise funds for the Napier YMCA. * Taupo College was closed while 30 teachers, including the headmaster, Mr F. N. Tritt, attended a meeting in Rotorua called by the Post-Primary Teachers' Association, to hear reports on salary negotiations. • An outbreak of canine distemper in Hawke's Bay may have originated in Taupo. * The new lido pool at the A.C. Baths was opened to the public for the first time last weekend. * Accommodation in Taupo was almost fully booked for Labour Weekend. • The Taupo Urban Fire Authority has no objectiorf to women volunteer firefighters.

* Taupo needs attractions and facilities on a large scale to attract and hold the modern, sophisticated overseas traveller. * First-class facilities could attract large national conferences. There will soon be a shortage of business for all Taupo hotels and motels as the increasing number of motels could outweigh the demands of the tourist trade. — remarks by Mr D. H. Burke, president of the Taupo Acommodation Association. * Reports that Lake Rotoaira, 36 miles south of Taupo, had been sold to the Government, were described as absolutely without truth, by Mr Hepi Te Heu Heu, a spokesman for the Maori owners. * A bomb warning at the Taupo Post Office was a hoax. The building was evacuated while a thorough search was carried out by the police and P.O. officials. NOVEMBER * Future maintenance and control of the Mangakino water supply was formally taken over by the Taupo County Council. * Local bodies discussed petrol tax. * The Canadian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Mr J. A. Dougan, and his wife caught 15 trout during a fishing trip on Lake Taupo. * Mrs Rona Stevenson, M.P. for Taupo, has no intention of yielding to a call by the Taupo Electoral Branch of the N.Z. Social Credit Political League to resign her seat in Parliament. * The Taupo Borough Council supported the proposed levying of a petrol tax in Taupo. * A group of irate Heu Heu retailers plan a meeting of interested persons to discuss ways of improving customers' facilities in the street. * The first radio-controlled aircraft pylon racing championship in New Zealand was held at Centennial Park, Taupo. * The estimated cost for the

replacement of the Huka Falls footbridge is $8500. * The Taupo Civil Defence Organisation needs at least another 100 members to become fully operational. * An hydraulic portable spreading ram was donated to the fire brigade by the Taupo Lions Club. Cost — $250. * October was the sixth successive month of below average sunshine. * A Hastings architect, Mr J. Scott, has been commissioned by the Taupo Regional Museum Council to prepare preliminary sketches for the proposed museum. * Valuable historical material at present stored in a Taupo bank, will go to the museum when it is opened. • A special hotel premises licence has been granted to the Ngauruhoe Development Company to establish a hotel with separate accommodation and bar facilities in Taupo. * Over $350,000 is expected to be spent by the National Roads Board on roads in the Taupo County next financial year. * An estimate of $93,330 is to be spent on the basic road requirements in the Taupo Borough. * Over 80 participants have nominated for the TaupoNapier walkathon in January, 1971. * Interested parties inspected the proposed Taupo Regional Museum site. * A plan for the future development of a civic centre was released by the Taupo Borough CounciL * Taupo could be a convention centre capable of handling international conferences of up to 2000

people by the end of 1972, said Mr R. C. Hayward at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. * A water supply for the Tuhara area would cost in the vicinity of $153,000, the Taupo County Council was told. • Telegrams of protest were sent to the Prime Minister, Sir Keith Holyoake, and the M.P. for Taupo, Mrs Rona Stevenson, the N.Z. Counties Association and the chairman of N.Z. Federated Farmers, by the Taupo County Council on the proposed collection and distribution of the petrol tax. DECEMBER * Taupo ratepayers have only one more week to pay their rates before the imposition of penalties. The sum of $118,143 was outstanding. • The Univac Computer Bureau has had a new computer, Litton EBS 1241, which cheated while playing noughts and crosses with a reporter. * Twenty Heu Heu retailers agreed to open two nights in the Christmas week and

not to open on New Year's Eve. * Water restrictions imposed in Taupo last month were the result of the flagrant waste by many householders during summer months. * Bookings for Christmas dinner at most licensed hotels and motels in Taupo are heavy, and accommodation, although not fully taxed, could be at a premium. * The Taupo Golf Club's new clubhouse to be officially opened by the Mayor, Mr J. E. Story. * Malcom Gibson 1970 dux of Taupo-nui-a-Tia College. * Most Taupo retailers will observe two pre-Christmas late nights rather than opening late on Christmas and New Year's Eve. * November was a very mild month with barometer readings high, rainfall low and sunshine hours below average. * Taupo Golf Club's new clubhouse opening function was attended by more than 500 members and guests of the club. * Recent acquisitions of land around Lake Taupo have added 1311 acres of reserves to the lakeshore reserve scheme.

* The Rev. B. P. Williams was guest speaker at the Taupo-nui-a-Tia College break-up ceremony. * A Taupo invention for fire fighting with a helicopter carrying a large fibre-glass bucket, had its first real test in helping to fight a large grassland blaze south of Taupo. * Some Taupo retailers liable for prosecution if they open on the Saturday and Monday mornings of the Christmas and New Year weekends. * Taupo centre of the worst forest fire in New Zealand 24 years ago is now well into another dangerous fire season. * Taupo's Mayor, Mr J. E. Story, was asked to refrain " from interjecting or leave the chamber at a sitting of the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board. * The Moonraker International Tourist Hotel company is arranging for a poll to be taken to determine the people's wishes with regard to a hotel in the Wharewaka area. * Taupo's holiday programme will be the longest and most comprehensive in the country. * The Taupo Intermediate

School breakup ceremony marked the passing-out of the first full time foundation pupils. * From April 1, 1971, Taupo ratepayers will be required to pay a portion of their rates every two months, instead of the usual one annual payment. * An Auckland group hopes to stage a three-day peacerock festival at Aratiatia, six miles north of Taupo, during the Auckland Anniversary weekend, January 30-February 1, 1971. * Organisers of the Rothmans power boat race on Lake Taupo on January 2 have already received 39 firm entries and are expecting another 30 before the closing date. * A survey revealed that the majority of Taupo retailers considered the first of the pre-Christmas late shopping nights, Monday, was not worthwhile. * Town's population trebled by holiday influx. * Acacia Bay water supply switched on. • Special authority planned to assure the preservation of Lake Taupo lakeshore reserves. * Over 70 entries for sponsored power boat races on January 2.