IN JULY 1945 a meeting was held in Tathra so that the townsfolk could vote on whether they should leave the Imlay Shire Council and join the Bega Municipality. The report of the meeting was in the July 14 Bega District News.
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MR MARTIN'S report gave more reasons against the amalgamation proposal.
He said that Councillors of Imlay would have a much better understanding of the farmers' problems than would Bega aldermen and rates would be higher under Bega; Bega is actually a backward town with few amenities, and therefore could not do for Tathra what it could do for itself.
After reading then report, Mr Martin formally moved the motion to amalgamate. It was seconded by Mr G Lindsay.
Cr Cole, deputy president of Imlay Shire, was the first speaker opposing the proposal.
He said they should realise that if their proposal was successful they would still have to pay for whatever improvements they enjoyed from time to time, just the same as they would under the Shire.
So far as improvements to Tathra or any part of the Shire were concerned, the matter was almost always dependant on the whereabouts of the plant, and therefore they were unable to obtain any new plant in order to replace that, which by use, had been rendered inefficient.
So they had to make do on reduced elements of their plant. Tathra was fortunate in having a man like Cr Taylor on the Council.
He had always fought keenly and fairly for the interests of Tathra. Ald W D Oliver put the case for Bega.
He pointed out that in 1922 Imlay Shire would have been pleased to hand the Tathra Road over to Mumbulla Shire, but the latter rejected the idea.
The farmers on the Jellat Jellat flats were obviously concerned as to the prospects of increased rates.
He could assure them that under the Local Government Act they could not rate the rural community more than half the general rates. Mr J T Rogers: What is the general rate in the Municipality? Mr Oliver stated that the rate was 6d. Bega had better facilities to offer Tathra than Imlay could hope to have.
If they wanted to stay where they were they could vote against the proposal, and Bega would still mind its own business.