COUNTY BOUNDARIES.
STRATFORD AND ELTHAM. SITTING OF COMMISSION. The Commission of Enquiry into the petition of the Finnerty Road settlers to merge into the Eltham County continued its sitting at the Stratford County office yesterday. The case for the petitioners was concluded on Tuesday evening, and yesterday morning Mr. A. Coleman opened the defence on behalf of the Stratford County Council. Mr. Coleman said the petition was to alter boundaries which had been legally established for 25 years. The case, he saidj was the Eltham Council’s case, and they were bound to make out thenclaim. He submitted that the Eltham Council and no one else was the petitioner.
The area in question, said Mr. Coleman, lay equi-distant between Eltham and Stratford, and the bulk of the light traffic went to Eltham. However, the trend of future trade was liable to alter. The Stratford Council had in view improvements to the roads, and where the greatest advantages were offered there the trade would be attracted. He was not out to disparage Eltham, but he was there to point out the pre-emin-ent claims of Stratford, which offered superior facilities in educational and other matters to Eltham. The railway connection with Auckland would have a very important bearing on the future of Stratford. The port of New Plymouth would also have its effect. Manures, etc., would be railed to the nearest station, which was Ngaere, being transported thence over Stratford County roads to the district which wished to merge. The Stratford County had already commenced tar-sealing on the Finnerty Road, and this would be continued. Specific sums of money had for seme time been allocated to the Finnerty Road from loan moneys.
He pointed out that if the petitioners were taken out of the Stratford County they would still be liable to rates on the £90,000 loan, and they would not get a penny expended on their road. It was the duty of the Commission to protect future owners of this land in this respect, the land in the future being still liable for rates on the loan. Should the present owners penalise in perpetuity the future owners of the land ? There was no provision in the Act to allow the Stratford County to allocate any portion of the loan to the Eltham (k»unty for expenditure on the ceded roads. The Eltham Council had made no suggestions regarding the improvement of the Finnerty Road, while the Stratford Council had a definite policy of improvement. Nicholas Benjamin Fryday, a farmer, on the Climie Road, and owner of a section on the Finnerty Road, gave evidence of the history of the formation of the Stratford County boundaries. About 12%. years ago, he took round a petition to merge into the Stratford County. All the settlers south of the Finnerty Road had signed the petition. Charles Penn, clerk of the Stratford County Council, gave evidence concerning the rates on the sections in the disputed area. The amounts spent on roads in this area during the past eleven yeart were £558 on the Ronald Road and £12'76 on the Finnerty Road, a further £1276 having been spent on the Finnerty Road on behalf of the Eltham Council. This expenditure was for maintenance only. The hospital levyon the Stratford County for the last year wfc.s £l9lO, which was borne by the general rate, and a portion of this had to be paid by the Finnerty ’ Road area. The unimproved value of the sections in question was about £37,000.
Asked by Mr. O’Dea how much the Stratford County had spent from tbe special loan on the Finnerty Road, witness said nothing had been spent in the petitioners’ area. The road had not been neglected. The council had to start tar-sealing somewhere, and this was chiefly being done on the main Opunake Road. Mr. J. B. Richards asked witness if there had been any complaint from the Eltham Council regarding the Finnerty Road during the last five years. Witness: No; he remembered none. E. Walter, chairman of the Stratford County Council, said that in about 1916 a deputation from the ratepayers waited on the Stratford Council in reference to the state of the Finnerty Road. Since then they had ’ had only one complaint regarding the road. The road was certainly badly* cut up at that time, but by repairing it the council considered it had met the petitioners’ wishes. The policy of the council at the present time was to do about £90,000 worth of tarsealing by special loan already raised. The main Opunake Road was the first t n ‘he treated, but the Finnerty’ Road would be early on the list for tarring, as it was considered an important road. This concluded the evidence, and the Commission adjourned.
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Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1922, Page 8
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1,026COUNTY BOUNDARIES. Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1922, Page 8
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