Kairanga County Council Subdivision Files

This series contains subdivision files created by the Kairanga County Council. As originally formed, county councils had very little to do with subdivisions and the government Lands and Surveys Department was responsible for monitoring and approving subdivisions within counties. It wasn’t until the Land Subdivisions in Counties Act 1946 that provisions were made for counties to comment on subdivisions, but this did not give them the same authority that borough and city councils had. They didn’t receive those powers until the passing of the Counties Amendment Act 1961. The files in this series start in 1946, although the bulk of the files are dated after 1960. In 1988 the Kairanga and Manawatu Counties amalgamated to form the first Manawatu District Council. The Kairanga subdivision file system continued to be used and added to by the District Council. Following the 1989 amalgamations this series was closed off, although a small number of files have papers on them after this. Most of the Kairanga County archives were transferred to Palmerston North City Council, and only those records that directly related to areas outside the City were kept by the new Manawatu District Council.