Opening of the new roads 1926

This story was published in the Evening Post on 22 March 1926:

New roads opened by Prime Minister

Access to Pukerua Bay

Development of the Locality

The Prime Minister (the Hon. J. G. Coates), at the invitation of the Pukerua Bay Ratepayers Association, visited the bay on Saturday afternoon to declare the new roads, long-wished for by the residents as a means of ready access to their properties, open for public use. In one sense all such functions are formal, but Saturday’s function was certainly not ceremonial in any degree; it was a pleasant afternoon for everyone concerned.

Pukerua Bay in the past has been badly served as regards roading, for until the new roads were cut the one way down from the railway line towards the beach was a difficult hillside track. The main section of the new roading is just under a mile in length, leading from the station, skirting the picturesque Waimapihi Valley to the beach, and a shorter length leads off to the right past Mr. C. Gray’s house. In part the roading will fit in with the new West Coast road to connect up — some day —Paekakariki with Plimmerton and Paremata more directly than at present. Upon this length, Government subsidy of £ for £ amounting to £250, was paid, but the greater length was financed by the property owners agreeing to a special rate, while the branch road and subdivisional roads were constructed by Mr. Gray.

Mr. Coates and his party, including Mr. W. H. Field, M.P, and Mrs. Field, Mr. A. I. M’Kay, chairman of the Hutt County Council, and Mrs. M’Kay, were met at the station by Mr. Gray, Mr. A. Basire, president of the association, and Mr. W. Burke, secretary and were entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs Gray. A general run over the roads followed, and the quite informal formal part of the opening took place in the hall, where there was a big gathering for afternoon tea and speeches.  Mr. Basire welcomed Mr. Coates, and remarked upon the real importance of the occasion to the people of the district. He read an apology for absence from the ex-chairman of the Hutt County Council (Mr. H.D. Atkinson), who congratulated the association on the advances it had made. At the chairman’s call the Royal toast was honoured.

Big things and little things

In proposing the toast of The Prime Minister, Mr. Gray said that Mr. Coates had shown himself as a man who was certainly not afraid to tackle big things, but at the same time he had also shown that nothing was too small as long as it was in the best interests of a community for him to take an interest in. The Pukerua district was that day marking a step forward, said Mr. Gray, and he sincerely hoped that when the time came for a greater step forward again the same man would still be Prime Minister of New Zealand. The toast was honoured musically and enthusiastically.

Mr Coates expressed the appreciation of the guests of the association of the welcome accorded them, and the hospitality shown. The problems of Pukerua Bay were small or large according to how one viewed them; they were just as important to the people of that community as the big things were to the greater number of the people. The one went to making up the other, and in considering the big questions one could not put aside the wishes of the smaller communities. There had been quite a number of differences of opinion among Pukerua Bay people as to which work should be carried out first, but now that the work had been done he hoped that those differences would also be ended, and that all would combine to assist those who came next on the other side of the railway line. The Government was going to encourage people who had sufficient enterprise to recognise the value and importance of their locality and to set about its development.

Mr. Coates referred in a joking mood to Mr. Field’s very lively interest and advocacy of works in Pukerua. “One no sooner gets down to a consideration of national matters,” he said, “than your member comes in with a suggestion for another express, and it won’t satisfy this gentleman, unless they are known ‘Field’s express No. 1 and No. 2.’ The Government, he assured the gathering, had very real sympathy with those who were willing to lend a hand in the development of their own localities, and would assist, where it could without calling too heavily upon the country’s finances.

Mr. H. Meyer, in proposing, the toast of “Our Parliament,” referred to Mr. Field’s energetic interest in the district, and to the greater possibilities now ahead of Pukerua. Replying, Mr. Field spoke of the need of improved road access, “with the rest of the world” to and from Plimmerton and Pukerua. He proposed to continue advocating that work, and foretold an early conference with Mr Coates, and possibly a satisfactory reply. Mr. Field spoke of the big part Mr. Gray had played in improving the district. Mr. Gray had presented a fine site of six acres as a school site, and also a sufficient area to provide for all the sports facilities that were likely to be required by Pukerua. The district how had more than the required number of children to constitute a school district, and he suggested that parents should no longer have to face the daily worry of sending their children by train to Plimmerton.

The chairman proposed the toast of “The Hutt Council,” and thanked the council for assistance given in the formation of the roads. In reply, Mr. M’Kay eulogised the self-reliance of the Pukerua people, detailed the manner in which the money had been expended, and congratulated the contractors on the way in which they had carried out the work.