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THE BEVERLEY DISTRICT
A IIW STERNAL VISIT.
MINOR REQUIREMENTS URGED.
AN EXEMPLARY BOARD.
The Minister for Works (Mr. W. D. John
son) spent last week-end in paying a visit
to Beverley and the Dale River district.
While at the former township, where,
among other attractions brought under the
Minister's notice, were the substantial work
ers' homes which have been erected recent
ly,, no was tendered a reception by the
local Roads Board, and a number of de
putations waited on him to urge a few
requirements of the district. On arrival
Mr. Johnsop was received by the member
for the district, Mr. F. T. Broun, M.L.A,
and representative residents of the locality.
After luncheon an adjournment was made
to the Roads Board Hall, and the Minis.
ter's health was toasted as a preliminary
to prolfering the requests.
In asking the company, which included
Mr. McLean, sen., one orf the oldest mem.
bers of the community' in and around Bev
erley, to drink to the Minister' Mr. Broun,
as chairman of the Roads Board, convey
ed a hearty welcome to Mr. Johnson. It
was, he said, Mr. Johnson's second visit
to the township during his term of office,
and he hoped that the Minister would see
his way clear to again visit the district
before the elections to inquire into their
requirements.
The Minister for Works: Say after the
elections. (Laughter.)
Mr. Broun: No, I will not say that at
all. Continuing, he said that the requests
which would be put before Mr. Johnson
were not numerous, and they hoped that
the Government would be able to meet
their desires, which -were reasonable ones.
Beverley,; in comparison with many of the
other towns, had not received as much
assistance from the Government as others
could boast' of, and the fact that their
requests did not involve a great amount
of money, and would certainly not entail
an expenditure beyond their estimates,
should induce Mr. Johnson to lend them
his assistance in securing the grants.
SsMr. McLean -jun.; also extended! a well
come to the minister and said that since
Mr. Johnson's last visit to the .township
Beverley had ceased to be a municipality,
and its welfare was now looked after by
the )Ro(ds Board. Whether .the new order
would be to the advantage of Beverley or
not,' time-would show. Personally, he be
lieved that ultimately 'it would be to Bev
erley's gain. (The Minister: Hear, hear.)
A reouest would be 'made to" the Minister
for some assistance in connection with
the Gieenhill6 line. They had not moved
in the. matter before because it was re
-moured that a line fr?in Brookton would
come sufficiently north to ;heetn their 're
quirements) As they were in doubts about
?the lihe they- had';fsh, asked'. that the
expense, which would hbe. outlined, should
be: incurred at- an earlier date: .
The Minister for. Works, in acknowledg
ing the compliment, said that while h'e
had previously visited the 'Beverley district
he was, on the present occasion, breakiing
new ground. He intended to pay a visit
to the Dale River .area, which he had long
desiredlto seeson his own accounto nd also
by 'reason 'of a. loiig-standing- promise to
Mr. Broson, the niember for the district:
Hd took-the opportunity of congratulating
the people 'of Beverley on the' amalgama
tion of, the municipality and roads board,
the consuinmation: of which he h ad-been
anxiouts to see' brotight-.about. He had, no
doubt that the'new order of things would
'prove successful. -,He congratulated them
on the good: administration of the.Bever
.ley Roads Board. which had a, high rie
putation 'among the local governing bidiel
'in.-the State..Personally, lie took a keen'
'interest 'in local government,' 'and .read
with .'ppreciation 'the .eports. of-c he Gov-.
ernment auditors: on the working of; the
various boards. These reports. were q'o?
prehensivo and.included a confidential ec
tion dealing with' the .personal element 'of
the -boards' working' which : gave -himn- a
good :opportunity -of. judging. the 'relativ
merits, of the .bodies ,'z Withput.hesitation
be -.1 could say "that Beverley had :one
of. the best d boards s,,.in -the :State.
and beoausb, it spent' its money
judiciously and,,'generally ·speaking, eco?.
nomised i.n' administration, .that .,fa'ct
gave a Governmnent coitfidence that grants
asked for; would be reasonable end neoes
sary, and would 'be expended wisely. ! With
soine Roads Boards, - while thernquest
might be viewed as.a iesonaile on yet
the Government had misgivings ast4, the
manner in whichkthe grant would be utilis
ed. He trusted that-matters would pro
ceed smoothly under the amalgapation
scheme,: and if his assistance could be of
advantae towards achieving that object,
he would be glad to 'miake it available.
(Applause.) After referring.to theiti"htness
of the money -market, and the Enanes'
generally, he dwelt upon Mr. McLean's re
ferences to railway ,matters.: He desired, h-
said,- to explain thatwhen at Count 'Peak
some .time ago, he promised to see if they
could;not be better served by the Brooktmon
Kunjimn line taking a route other than
that decided upon. He promised to place
the matter before Cabinet, but when they
went into it, they found that the line wouldi
not.place anyone as near as previously pro-.
posed. Consequently he did not- get an al.
teration of the route, and it was decided
that the route as suarveyed was the one to
he adopted when the line was oinstnructed
That fact had beenconveyed to Mr. Broun
and he was able to report to the settlers
that the route of the Brooktbhn-unjinn
line had been fixed., Now that the weather
had broken and good.downfalls were being
recorded, he trusted that, with the assist
ance of the late rains, there would be an
excellent hasest, which would enable the
Government to make ends meet, and to pro
vide a ittleo more money for general do
SEB~S OF DBPUTATIONS.
Mr. Broun then briefly introduced several
deputations. Representatives of, the Cen
tral Ward of the Roads Board asked for a
grant of £100 towards the reconstruction of
Hunt-road, and for a sum of '£250 to be
placed on the Estimates for improvements
to the Recreation Grounmd. Requests were
made that railway, sidings at Kerkenin,
Kurrcnkutten, and Quairading, on the
Wickepin-Merredin line, should be shifted
to the spot where the main roads crossed
the railway at those centres, so as to save
additional carting up the railway line with
produce. It was alo..pointed, out that the
settlers Who would use the Brobkton-Kun
jinn lind desired to have a siding fixed at
the 23-Mile. A deputation .from the Mor
binning district asked for some £300 to
gravel the roads leading from the district to
Jacob's Well siding, .on the Grenhills.
Quairading railway.
The Minister, in reply, said that as the
grant for the Recreation Ground was purely
a matter for the Treasury Department, he
would place their request before the Pre
mier, and endeavour to secure for them the
assistance desired. He would inspect Hunt
road, and, later would see what could be
done when the Estimates were being
framed. In connection, with the railway
sidings, a deputation had waited upon
him from Kerkenin, requesting that the sid
ing there should be altered as indicated
by them. He never interfered with sid
ings at all, but simply instructed the Engi
neer for Railway Constructioi to see the off
cera of the Linds Department, and by coni
paring notes to decide where sidings should
be placed. It seemed to him' that a mis
take had been made so far as the country
round Kerkenin was concerned. Many
people had an idea that he (the Minister)
had something to do with the fixing of the
siding on account of his holding. He was
not affected, however, as he was five miles
from the' Nunajin railway, and would
always use that line. He had referred the
deputation which had waited on liim to
the chief draftsman in the Lands Depart
ment and the Chief Engineer for Railway
Construction, to arrive at a decision in the
matter. It had to be remembered that
they could only put railway sidings in cer
tain places. There might he engineering
difficulties in the way. Past experience,
when he had been oonvincd that a mistake
was going to be made. had shown him very
often that the engineers had been able to
prove conclusively that it would he practi
cally impossible to put sidings in the places
desired by settlers. Such might be the case
with the sidings in ouestion. On the face
of it, however, the sidings seemed to be
too close together, and if altered further
apart, the requirements of the settlers
would be better served. The same remark
applied to the siding at the 23-mile, on the
Brookton-Kunjinn line. (A voice: "It is
dead level there.') He would.make inquiries
and see what could be done. As to the ques
tion of giving the settlers of the Morbinning
district access to the railway, the matter
would receive consideration when the Esti
mates were being framed. It was, of
course, the duty of the Government to give
settlers access to their nearest railway eid
ing in the best possible way. He would
try and get money on the Estimates, which
would be framed during the next fqrtnight
or three weeks, when he would know how
much money he would have for distribution.
(Applause.)
In reply to a question, the Minister for
Works said he had heard incidentally of a
survey being made north of the Brookton
Kunjmn railway, but he did not know any
thing about it
The questioner: In our district we heard
that the constructing engineer had refused
to push on with the. frt r tns - 4s OA
Brookton-Kunjinm line, and Mr. Muir? bad
come up again and had told him that be
must go through, irrespective of cost.
The Minister for Works said that he knew
nothing about the matter, but would call
for a report when he returned to the city.
As far as the Government's decision was
concerned, it had been decided that it would
follow the surveyed route, and there had
been no talk of another shrvey.
After the Minister had been driven round
the town by Mr. Brown1 in his motor'car.
and partaken of the hospitality of Mr. and
Mrs. Brown at their town residence. be was
escorted to the Dale River district to imves
tigate the claims of that part of the State
to an agricultural railway.
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