Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1916. PENALISING THE BACKBLOCKERS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3557, 18 September 1916, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1916. PENALISING THE BACKBLOCKERS.

The -Departniental attitude with, regard to granting- backrblock settlers facilities for communication is the same to-day vas it has always been. For more than half 3 century successive Governments \ have pei*sistently refused to grant concessions to settlers in out-of-the-way localities simply because, from (the. Departmental stand-j point, "it would not pay." It is this policy which is delaying the closer settlement of some important districts, arid it also has nad, and is still having, a certain I amount of influence on the re- ! aggregation of many holdings. The method adopted by the Postal Department in some localities, when it is requested to provide telephone facilities; is to get a guarantee from the settlers con-, cerned; this guarantee is also signed by the local body of the j district, and if the revenue from the telephone service is less than the guarantee (which is based upon the cost of construction of -the line and its annual-mainten-ance), the local )s ,body collects the shortage from the guarantors and i for wards it to the; Bepartm ent. llf there is a surplus, or if the seryice just pays expenses, no call is made on the guarantors. With 'regard to the application recently I made by settlers in the country lat the back of Methven, anttj which the Acting-Postmaster-! General refused to authorise be- j cause, according to the reports of i ibis officers, it "would not be a 'paying proposition," we do not know whether an offer was made by the applicants to contribute towards the cost. In any case, the Minister did not, in his reply, suggest to them that the Department would be willing to assist them on those lines. This De- ; partmental indifference to the, needs of .the settlers who are doing the pioneering work in the j back-blocks is in striking contrast j to the American Postal Department's policy. Upon application j being made for a telephone ser-| vice, the Department does not ! study the question of whether the line will pay; the only consideration is whether it is needed— whether for business or equally good reasons the settlers should be provided with a quick means of communication with the nearest {town and medical man. Being satisfied on this point, the Department constructs ' the line and charges, the users with interest on ithe outlay, plus the cost of workling. The United States re- ! cognises that the people in the j back-blocks are deserving of more help from the; Stat- th)ln is J given to residents in towns and cities, and the result of this broadminded view Is that the sparsely- ! populated portions of most of the j States are gridironed with telephone lines, for the most part attached to boundary fences. There is no reason why a similar system should not be adopted in , New Zealand. In his reply to, *hp tMetliven district applicants, the Minister stated: " The number of people to be served by an office is not likely tot increase." The Department's policy of penalising the settlers in the back-blocks makes an increase of settlement a very * slow, process. If a more sympathetic interest was taken in the needs of these settlers it is probable that more people would be induced.to leave the congested I city areas. In a speech. • some I time ago Mr Massey expressed his j belief that "something" should jbe done to check the centralisnition that is draining the country 1 districts. Attention to little mat,'ters such ns that we have referred j to, as well as to others that are of greater importance, would go a Inniv way to solve this drift to the . cities.