THE MINISTER FOR LANDS AT HAMILTON.

Waikato Argus, Volume X, Issue 888, 25 February 1901, Page 2

THE MINISTER FOR LANDS AT HAMILTON.

Hon. T. Y. Duncan, Minister for Lands, arrived in Hamilton by train from Rotorua on Saturday, and left by the next train for Te Aroha. The Minister was accompanied by Hon. Jas. McGowan, Minister for Justice, Metsra W. H. Herries, Member for Bay of Plenty, and Jackson Palmer, Member for Ohinomuri, and Messrs Barron, Mueller and Hnrsthouse, of the Lands Department. Notwithstanding: the extremely short notice of the visit the party were met at the railway .station by the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr George Edeeoumbe, Crs. Young. Bond, Dyer and Manning, and Mr C.J. W. Barton, representing the Borough Coune.il, and Messrs J. Barugh, President, and Sturges, from the Waikato Farmers' Club.

As the party had not lunched they proceeded to the Hamilton Hotel, where in the few minutes after lunch before proceeding to the train, deputations were received. They were introduced by Mr Berries, the first consisting of Messrs Burugli and Sturges, of the Waikato Farmer-.' Club.

The first matter introduced by Mr Barngh was a request for an amendment to the Adulteration of Manures Act, which, as it stood at present, was not much use There were several matters he could point out that needed amendment, but one was that in sending manures for analysis it was necessary to give the vendor from whom the manure was obtained, and this, it was thought, was liable to do away with the value of the analysis. Mr Duncan said that they could rely on it there was no collusion between the analyst mid the vendor, and ii they had any doubts the} could send the samples to the Department of Agriculture, at Wellington. Later on Mr Barngh had a private conversation with Mr Duncan, and pointed out other matters in the Act and Mr Duncan asked him to' put them iu writing ami he would attend to them.

Mr Barugh next asked Mr Duncan if he would get the Government to priut a pamphlet on the " Adu'teratiou of Manures," which Mr Pond had promised to write for the Farmers' Clnh if the Government would print it. Mr HallJones had .said that the Government would have to the article first, but Mr Barugh pointed out that Mr Pond did not care to go to the trouble to prepare the article and then not to have it printed. Mr Duncan said he could make no promise as to priutiug it until he had seen it.

Mr Sturgcs pointed out that a pood deal of dissatisfaction existed over the testing of milk, and lie asked that some provision ho made for the apparatus used to bear a Government stamp that it was correct, which at present they had no guarantee of ; and also that creamery managers who carry out testa should pass an examination as to their competence. If these things wen- done it would give more confidence between the farmers and purchasers.

Mr Duncan said that he was anxious to do everything that would put the dairying industry on a good fooling, and ho thought the suggestions good ones, and would see what could be done to carry them out. Mr George Edgccumbe, Mayor of Hamilton, next introduced the question of the traffic bridge across the Waikato River at Hamilton, tie said a report had been furnished by the Department on the bridge, and the recommendation was that it would be better to build a new bridge at a cost of £3OOO or £4OOO than repair the present structure. The bridge had been erected by the Government a»d maintained by the surrounding bodies, who during the past 10 years had contributed £'.ooo for maintenance. He pointed th in out a-* when th'' matter had been brought before Mr Hall-Jones he inferred that the bridge had been DPgiccted, but the truth was it had lived itr, day. What they wislicd to know was what the Government it.ten led to do. Mr Duncan asked what the local bodies intended to do. As in the first place the bridge had coat them nothing he thought they should be in a good position now. The Mayor said he was afraid this was not so, in fact they were not so well off

The Minister said lie thought il would 1)C fair it' each of the three loud bodies contributed a quarter of the cost and !he Government the other quarter.

The Mayor suggested that the Government give £ fur£. He wan afraid the local bodies would not be satisfied with Ihe other proposal. Mr Duncan said he would see what they could do, but he could not promise more than a quarter, and if they would accept that he would see that the amount was put on the estimates. Mr Edgecuinbe then a&ked the Minister to have the standard survey of the borough carried out. He pointed out that whereas the main street on the plans was shown as straight on the ground it had a decided angle in it, and trouble was now arising as to buddings encroaching on the street. Mr Duncan asked Mr Mueller if there were any similar cases '.'

Mr Mueller explained that in most case 3 where these surveys had been made the local bodies had contiUnited towards the cost, ar.d in this case an offer had been mule to do the .vork if the Uorough

would contribute towards the cost, which would be from i - 150 to D-'OO. It was outside the general r.'lef, but the Uorough had a good clai.n for the Government to do the work, as there was no doubt it was wrong in the first place, and. further, the whins of the town were lost, lie would suegest if the work were undertaken that the whole town should be done and not only the main street. The Mayor pointed out, in reply to Mr Duncan, that the whole of the

trouble had arisen owing to the error in the original laying-out of tlio town, and uonsequsntly the Government had a right to 101 tify it. Mr Duncan asked : Would the Council be satisfied ii' the work were done for the main street '.' Mr KJgeoiinitilH replied : Yes, if it were found} that tint was the only error ; but it there were other mistakes they would expect them all | ut right. There being no further time, the deputation thanked the Minister anil vvithdiew. Ti|c Ministerial party proceeded to the station and left, lor To Aroln hy train.