FEW TRACKS, FEW BRIDGES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 649, 28 October 1909, Page 3

FEW TRACKS, FEW BRIDGES.

.. ; ~; .♦ . . '.-...'-! IMPRESSIONS,OF, TAUPO, LAND.,'..'•.. (By Telegraph—Special Correspondent:) ; i, Auckland," October 2G. .■ In the course :of an interview, Mr. W. J. ;• Napier, of Auckland, who'has been oh a : busi- : hess trip to Lake-' Taupo,' Taumarunui', and Ohinemutu, stated that he found that the settled, country 1:09 looking well, the,'.stock of ;backblock settlers being in excellent condition.' They are greatly, handicapped, however,, by .want of transport 'facilities, the packing from the Ongarue district costing £& per ton. The proposed Ongarue-Stratf ord Railway,, which had only been commenced from the Stratford :cnd, should (in Mr. Napier's opinion) be pushed on from the Ongarue'end. Also, he observed, stock stuck up in 1 transit between Mangaroa (Ohura) and Taumarunui owing to freshes, while there was no proper bridge across, the Otonui River. At;Pangaroa River- the makeshift bridge was -washed awajy and. a large number of-cattle were awaiting the subsidence of the floods at Taumarunui, where a bridge was necessary.' There were neither bridges nor roads in Taringamutu towards- Taupo, and,- while crossing the flooded Taringamutu River for the fourth time, Mr. Napier had to leave his horse tangled in snags, and swim to the opposite shore.-'... "There are settlers to my. knowledge who are waiting,to go into the backblocks, but are deterred' through the absence'of bridges. None of the 'rivers- towards Taumarunui were bridged, and the diverted trade was consequently taken by river steamers to Wanganui. The land in Taringamutu, ; and towards Lake Taupo, was,. said ~M r. Napier, very, good for grazing, and 6ome of it was fit .for agriculture. There was a district there, 40 miles by 40 miles in extent, with only two white men in it, and undergoing no-Maori cultivation. Tho provision of roads and bridges would, in Mr. Napier's opinion, be'the beginning of a great future for these areas. A good.deal of land is being taken up between Lake Taupo and Galatea in an easterly direction under various tenures. The delay which is experienced in getting Maori leases approved .of, however, Sets as a deterrent to settlement. ~.,.,';