UNMETALLED ROADS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1804, 17 July 1913, Page 4

UNMETALLED ROADS.

TARANAICI AND ITS WANTS. This reply is from Waitara, and, like many more, lays particular emphasis on the need for good roads:— 2. —No. At tho present time in England, and especial'ty in Tooloy Street, our butter and cheese are simply a lottery. Last season our dairy produce was about 18s. a cwt. higher than at the present time, and yet this season, although there is a further shortage of about two hundred thousand crates of cheese, the prico is down to zero. This proves there is a big gamble going on somewhere. The Nutional Dairy Association have one man in London to watch the interests of tho association, but one man is not enough, when such a big object is at stake. For one thing pooling should be stopped at once. 3. —There seems room for improvement in the railway servico here. Tho train service between New Plymouth and AVai-' tara is not suitable for the town people. One can get to New Plymouth through the day, but must leave again for Waitara at 1.20 p.m., getting to Waitara about 5.30 p.m. Therefore, tho country people have no opportunity to spend an evening in New Plymouth at all. As for roads, well, there is only one metalled road between Waitara and New Plymouth, and Waitara and Mount Messenger. All the side-roads are unmetalled. In a conversation to-day with a farmer who has been in tho district for nearly thirty years, ho told mo that they cannot get a penny spent on their road, or even the grader along it. Mount Messenger is still unmetalled, and two coaches cross it daily, and there is no other road out for the back-people. Metal the roads, and the farmer will then begin to cultivate his land as farmers should. 4.—The mail service is fair, but the telephone service is behind the times. All country bureaux close at 5 p.m., and Waitara itself closes at 8 o'clock. Therefore, the telephone is no use at all after dark, just when the worker could have a few minutes to do his business. 5—A farmer can always learn, and an agricultural show proves to him what can be produced of the land far tetter than any book can tell him. 6.—l'es, I should say so. When hundreds of sacks of manures are coming into the district daily, it goes to prove that the Department of Agriculture is doing good work. A farmer has only to ask, and he will be assisted in anything he wishes to know. B.—The present renters of farms here aro doing very fair. Several farmers here have told me that their returns per cow are all over 3001b. butter-fat per cow, and their rents are from 10s. to £2. per acre. The average farmer runs a cow to every three acres, besideß other stock. o.—Farm labour is getting a serious question. Farmers are offering 30s. per week and food for men of any description. The majority of dairy farmers here who dairy herds of any size are all installing milking-machines. There is room for plenty of farm labourers in Taranaki. , 11.—To advance the country, simply keep the roads in good order. Let the back-block farmer get to town, and the town will better itself. ' .