The Oroua County Council has jurisdiction over a large extent of prosperous farming country, adjacent to Feilding. It was established in the year 1903 to supersede the Manchester Road Board. The area of the county is 213 square miles, and the population at the census of 1906 was 3,698. Rates are levied on the capital value; there is a general rate of £⅝d. in the pound, and also special rates.

Mr. Roy Lindsay Harding was appointed engineer to the Oroua County Council in the year 1907, to succeed the late Mr. Charles Bray. He was born at Cambridge, Auckland, in the year 1885, and is the second son of Mr. A. B. Harding, of the Government Survey Department, Auckland, and a nephew of Mr. A. E. Harding, Ex-M.H.R. He was educated at the Thames High School and at St. John's College, Auckland, and then studied engineering under Mr. J. E. Fulton, of Wellington, with whom he spent two years. He was subsequently appointed assistant engineer to the Rangitikei County Council, under Mr. Mair. In September, 1906, he was appointed assistant engineer to the borough of Feilding, and, a few months later, borough engineer, which latter position he resigned in order to take up his present appointment.