DEAR BUSH COUNTRY.

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

DEAR BUSH COUNTRY.

AND LAND BALLOT PRICES. Mr. V. L. Jackson, of Waitanguru, in the King Country, gives eonie striking instances of the handicap of bad roads in his district. 1. Yes. If there is one department of the Dominion legislation that penetrates to the back-blocks, it is- the Education Department, and although tho boards take perhaps longer than they need to attend to matters when represented to them we generally get what wo ask for. 2. Of course we in the back-blocks are at a disadvantage in regard to communication with tho markets. Our transport t-xpenses aro exceedingly high, especially where Toads are unmetalled. ■ With good communication, distance is nothing, and in a small country like ours there should bo no back-blocks at. all, yet until lastyear we could not got. even telephone connection with the district, but''we"'realise that our interests now are in the hands of moil who better understand tho needs of tho. farmer than when in the hands of tho Ward Government. 3. I am writing from Waitanguru, a young settlement of ten summers, in one of tho test localities in tho King Country, situated nineteen miles north of tho Taranaki provincial boundary, and halfway between tho Main Trunk and the West Coast. Like most of the settlement in th? King Country, we are 30 miles from the railway, for the simple reason that the land that attracts the settlement and is most productive is not in the immediate vicinity of the Main Trunk; not, at least, that portion of it between Tt> Kuiti and Ohakune, and as far as that part of its route is concerned it is a poor means of supplying tho settler with communication, though it does that service at an enormous cxpensi to those who patronise it. After paying ,£3 per ton freight on the railway, the settler has to pay from Jib to JZIO per ton to get his goods to their dfstination. And while on tho subject of communication, k-t me strike a note of warning in regard to it. I sincerely hope tho progressive party, when considering the laying down of new railways, will do so in an honest and practical manner, in order to link up the most country with a minimum amount of construction, regardless of the opinions of the towns, Mam Trunk townships, political influence,' and other illegitimate interests, which always arise and press their demands to the extinction of the legitimate m.ccssity of tile work, in hand. 4. The mail route from Te Kuiti to .Marokopa, including the intermediate stations, viz., Aupae, Mairoa, Mangaohae, Ngapaenga, Waitanguru and Hoeatoa. is a glaring instance ot the scant consideration given to the Ixick-blocks by some of tho Government Departments, anu tho careless indifference in which they regard repeated agitation for improve-, ment. The.mail in question is.a weekly one, but carried wrong way about makes it practically a fortnightly one. It is carried out from Marokopa the day before it is carried inwards from Te Kuiti, so that the outward mail is little or no use to the district, and deprives the inhabitants of the evidence of their outward mail records, which is the principal evidence to justify our claim on tho Department. Tho mail should be curried inwards, and the next day carried outwards. This would make all the difference, with no extra travelling, and very little, if any, extra cost. Of course, wo shall get an improvement if we complain long enough, but the fact remains that heads of important Departments, drawing big salaries, can put hundreds of settlers to great inconvenience for months and months, when a little common-senso in the delivery of the mails would shorten our communication by a week. . 5 and G.—Yes! Most decidedly so. 7.—Yes; but here again we aro up against road communication. We often buy from the man that will undertake to deliver the goods, and often ho fails to do so. I .have seen tanks, wire, timber, and heavy commodities lying in the mud perishing in the sun and ram for nearly twelve months. 1 have seen milking machines hauled in with block and tackle, and stores hauled in on a float, a contrivance far moro remote than the sledue, but not so far back as the punt—it fills un important necessity l>etwcen the two, go, I don't think renters are doing too well, but things are getting better every year as the land gets broken in. We don't expect to get as much off new land as in older farming districts. 9.—Labour is very scarce, here we have resorted to a custom of assisting each other during busy periods, such as shearing. grass-seed, sowing, fencing, and stock driving. 11.—Tho greatest drawback to our country life is recreation, but we cannot expect legislation to improve this much, except by giving reasonable means of communication. but in early stages of settlement, where roads are impassable for six mouths of the year, the women folk get verv little clinnge of scene. There is a matter I would like to refer to and which needs the Reform party's attention, and that is the steadilv-rising price of bush land at the ballot during the last four or five years. 1 don't say it should not; rise in price to a certain extent, but if there is no limit, where is the use of (lie ballot? You might as well sell at auction at once. Ten years ago the best of this land-was priced at 15s. per acre unimproved; to-day land of inferior quality and further back is put up for ballot, with .£3 Ss. unimproved value. The ballot system was to give tho poor man u chance and do away with competition, but how can a poor man pay ,CBO a vear rent on n 3"io acre section; spend ,S3 ii«r acci on It ovm' it 'period'of Hire* i years bsfojs Jw M.O MBtsJi My. retina f -

The price Las gone up bccauso the land 13 in demand, and it is only available from the Crown anil the settlor has 110 alternative but to take it or leavo it. Much of the land that is taken up at Jill .is. only cost tho Government 3s. Gd. purchase money. When the ballot system hi'st started a poor man could get a good section for J:V2 u year, now that scction would cost him Jilifl. A man now needs a substantial banking account to take up bush land. 1 don't blame the Reform party; the surveyors and rangers have a t ji w '" l price and most of tlieni are servants of a i'ormer Government, but in my opinion, quite incompetent to nssess the value of land from a tanner's point of view.