PAHIATUA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1362, 25 April 1883, Page 2

PAHIATUA.

(from qra own c6be#oni)BNT,J A meeting wasield on,Satufdajr V ;■ . 21st inst,; to "consider thei matter of a V Highway Board and'other' matters fof:. : importance'to ; the;; r !; Messrs Davie, vWhitcombe;;McCardley Ohamier, Maiins, Sedcole, iA. :-W.:' Sedcole, :'Christtenseit ; > Mansen,-Avery,-Ring, Berg/: Moore, ■y' Hall, J. Hall, Hughes, F, -Hughes, -H.; : ; Hughes,' and about ten others. Mr J, M. Davie'was voted to the chwr. Chairman : - : in : * opening touched upon,the impprtanceof a Higb T i way Board, arid hoped'that all present' would not hesitate to give Jheir yiewg on the subject. Mi* Ohamier said the meeting was aware that that they were met •• once mere on the subject of "a | : Highway Board, He was not going to" ask - their opinion ;on the local Board,-; They had already at a previous meeting r expressedtheir approval of one;-He-was sorry the whole thing had not been:; completed already, but he believed that 4 the sole cause of delay was ■ the incompleteness of the roll. He had, however,; brought with him a petition to; the". Council, asking to be constituted .a ;; road district, and intended asking the V settlers to sign it at once so that : the - fact could be publicly.notified before ;■ presentation to the; Council in, accor- '. dance with the Road Boards Act, 1882.,,: The petition was then read and- generally approved of, the boundaries of;;,' the new district agreed upon) and, upon:; ; the motion of Mr Moore seconded ,by \ Mr Whitecombe, signed ; by; ; all the l ' ratepayers present. ,Mr jJMcCardle then roso to explain how,it, was that he had not completed this- nYatfer since ; ; the last meeting of settlers held in Pahiatua three, or four months ago, Ho said that the voting roll contained but very few names of settlers in Pahiatua, that Borne of them appeared ■■. in the Masterton district, and the wbokW was in such confusion that it was xis^M J less for him to act until it had been thoroughly reviewed and rectified. Mr Macquarrie had proposed that a new road district be formed,, which should ' include Alfredton, Eketainma,Pahiatua and extend as far as Mauriceville, He (speaker) being representative of that districthad been requested to lay the matter before the meeting, and get their opinion on it. He was aware already, however r that they were not in favor of a large district, and could not perhaps deny the wisdom of Our decision. Situated as he was, a member and representative of Eketahusa besides Pahiatua, he did not wish to take an active part in leading, so to speak, but, on our arriving at a decision he would be happy to do his utmost to carry out our wishes. He advised those who were not on the roll, to make application to be immediately inserted as soon as the council gave notice that the rolls would be reviewed. Mr Ohamier, seconded by Mr Jacob Mansen, moved.—" That a hiwv be forwarded to the council in ' the name of the Pahiatua settlers on the following matters—lst, Thatreturnßbe sent us, shewing how the sum of £IO,OOO, Government' vote, for roads' in Forty-mile, Bush, had beon spent, and if not all spent how much remained. 2nd; That complaint be ' made of tho incomplete state of the roll, by reason of which settlers,, law- ; ; fully entitled to' a vote, were unable to • exercise that power. 3rd. That a letter be forwarded to the Masterton Highway Board, requesting them to make applications for the 33 per cent;, returns from Government of all De- ' ferred Payment Lands in the District. The motion was put and carried.

Mr McOardle stated that it was his . intention to ask for these returns at the '■ next meeting of Council; that he believed that £2OOO were still available and that £IOOO was due to Pahiatua, Ho also intended urging the Government to commence survey operations in the Pukotoi and Mangahae Blocks, as many people in Masterton were, waiting for an opportunity to settle on deferred payment land. Mr H. Manna wondered if we were ever going to have bridges and culverts on the new road, and Mr Sedcole said he had sent some communications to the Council in respect of our representations, but had received no answer. Mr MoCardle stated that first, in answer to Mr Manns, Mr King had pointed out that bridges were required on the new. road, andsecoud, in reply to Mr Sedcole, there was no clerk ta the County Council at the time referred to, or he would doubtless have received a reply. Certainly he or our other representative Mr Beetham, might have acknowledged them, but no definite .answer bfiing ready at the time, they thought it hardly necessary. Mr Sedcole advised us to corner our member while we had the chance, and moved seconded by Mr Chamier that in future when tenders where invited for w6rk to bo done in that district, plans ancl specificationsbe' deposited for inspection at as well as Eketahuna, as it was fair that Pahiatua settlers should an opportunity of doing work near their homes. It was resolved that the County be asked to do this. The question was then raised as to the manner in which the Council had done the work on the Tiraumea Road, in roply to a request of a former meeting. The meeting was of opinion that the work had b«en< none in a very superficial manner, It then transpired that our local storekeeper was seen going down that road lately in a spring cart, and riding beside him was a certain member of a certain .County Council. Suddenly the cart sank in the mud up to the axles, upon which, itis whigped, ourpostmaster showed strpngsyinptpms of holding a prayer meeting, in which it was evident that County Councillors and such like. would'be/recommended, to special notice.' -"But'.tKat member,, his didn'tjwait to hear/'/Whs-the fog was wholly unable to untarstand/ although it ; was hinted by. some that any member of any kriown Council (perhaps, in; modesty) would" have moved on under the circumstances,The subjectr of roads -being fuHy dis- •' cussed, the next question brought up' • was the' 'school hous : e •,. y residence!' The .was ofl ;, that since there were £2BO/available for a school-house, it addition to Mild a. teaohes|sdence as well.- But it was .that : settlers would .subscribe ' - /

funds if the'amount was'not available! It-was alsoJe'solved to join in with'the other Biisli' (listricta, in requesting theGoyerntiieht-to complete a'telephonic cora'municatibh between/ Woodville and Masterton, *Tho settlerff seemed generally, to think that. ..Pah'i'ataa was rapidly increasing botli'm size and prosperity.. All who liad holdings seeming to be ; perfectly satisfied • with them, and very reluctant to i art. Aft«i l general discussion to'a'late;hour a vote ot thanks terminated the proceedings.'" "•''■'•■" ' -i'■:.■■''■''>'■ Another correspondent in the same district writes as follows;—On Saturday evening last a largely-attended meeting of the settlers of this district was held at; the house of Mr' : 'H; : Manns (Mr Davie in the chair) to consider what further steps should be taken towards forming the district into a Road Board, in pursuance of a resolution passed at a previous meeting, but which, on account of the unsettled state of the county question, had been allowed to remain in abeyance; but now that the County Council had settled down to work it was thought the sooner the matter was settled the better it would be for the district. 1 Mr Chamier laid before the meeting the petition to the County Council, containing the prayer of the settlers, and it was unanimously resolved that it be signed by every settler and landowner in the district; and that it be duly ' advertised, with the proposed boundaries, for one month, according to the requirements of the Act, before presen- • tation to the Council. The state of the roads \ver6' ; then freely commented 'orij and it was 'the general opinion that "thVPuketpi-Faiiiatua road would soon ' bo impassable, and the way the work _ was, done on the. road last December was money thrown away. What is wanted i 3 a man to occasionally look after it and clear away the slips, and the water-course clear. The (ptstion of the school was then discussed, and the thanks of the meeting were unanimously given to Mr McCardle for the liberal manner in which he has come forward and given a site for the,school, and has also signified his readiness to give another site for the master's house, if the Board is prepared to erect one. Mr Whitcombe also expressed his willingness to survey the sites gratis. And as there is now the minimum number of children within the proper age, it was resolved to ask the Board of Education to at pnco proceed in the mattor; and also that a letterbe written to Mr Beethnm, asking him to support the request. The necessity of • having a Cemetery was again brought up, and the plan of the district critically examined in reference thereto, the result being that it was resolved the Government be asked to set aside section No, 5 of the township reserve for the use of the district, A hope was also expressed that the Government would at once put in hand the survey of the blocks on each side of this one, so that, they may be placed in the market at the.earliest possible date to meet the urgent request for more land that is being constantly made, The action of the Wellington City Council in reference! to their 2000 acre endowment came in .for a largo share of comment, all being agreed that as it now stands iys a.drfiwback to the settlement; and it was.hoped that the Council would reconsider their decision •to let it alone, and lease for, say 40 years; or, obtain-the power to sell, which would be better still, no doubt being held that it would be soon tiken up, as land is almost daily enquired for, in proof of which section No, 31 on the main road, containing 133 acres, 30 of which are felled and in grass, changed hands at a fraction over £5,15s 6d per acre, It was resolved that the Government, in the event of their approval to carry the telephone to Eketahuna, be asked' to extend the system to this district. As there was a deal of doubt expressed in reference to the way in which the county roll was made up, it was resolved to. write to the proper quarter for information, and that steps be taken to ensure that the name of every eligible elector be placed thereon. Before . the meeting broke up, it was thought as well to. notice the action of the Mauriceviile-Eketahuna-Alt'redton settlers in reference to forming a Highway Board, to include this district. The general opinion was that the idea was too unwieldly, and that: the interest, of this district would-be best served by a local Board. A vote of thanks to the Chairman, and to Mr Manns for the use of his room, concluded the meeting/,