PUBLIC WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1921, Page 4

PUBLIC WORKS.

THE MINISTER IN TARANAKI, IN NEW PLYMOUTH TO DAY. VISIT TO MOKAU DISTRICT’. The Minister of Public Works (the Hon. J. G. Coates), who left Wellington yesterday morning by the express, arrived at New Plymouth last night about 11.30 p.m., motoring through from Stratford, where he detrained to meet a deputation of local bodies. The Minister’s day will commence at nine o’clock this morning, when be will inspect the Government buildings. Hq will then visit Pukekura Park, afterwards going through the grounds of “Brooklands” and “Maranui.” Deputations will occupy the Minister from 10 a.m. till noon, the subjects to be brought before the Minister including the Stratford railway, the Opunake railway, metalling Mt. Messenger, bridging the Mokau, opening thei Mt. Egmont quarry, and better. Government buildings at New Plymouth. These matlers will be placed before Mr. Coates by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, and there will be other deputations from the Taranaki County Council and the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Co. In the afternoon the Minister will be taken to the mountain, calling at ‘‘Hapurunui” en route. To-morrow the Minister proceeds to the Mokau district, and Monday will also be spent in the Waitomo electoral*, Mr. Coates proceeding to Auckland on Tuesday, via Te Kuiti The question of putting before the Minister the needs of the district waa discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the Clifton County Council. Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., who waited on the Council, said that this opportunity of placing the needs of North Taranaki before the Minister was too important to be allowed to pass. He pointed out that as probably the most urgent needs of the district were roads and postal and telephonic communication, it waa particularly fortunate that Mr. Coates, was Minister of Public Works and also Postmaster-General. The need of a more efficient and up-to-date post office at Waitara had long been felt, Mr. Jennings said, and in the Minister’s tour was an opportunity to place the matter ■before him. Members of the Council referred to the extremely, inadequate telephone service in North Taranaki, and urged that this master should be placed before the Minister as especially important. Negotiations had been made for the installation of telephones and deposits had been paid by many settlers in the district, and there the matter had ended.. Other important works, as the proposed bridge over the Mokau river and the urgently needed improvement of the road over Mount Messenger, were matters that the Council decided to place before the Minister. To-morrow, members of the Clifton Council, including the chairman, will meet Mr. Coates at Urenui, and other members will join the party at the Okau junction.