A HUMBLE REQUEST.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1810, 24 July 1913, Page 11

A HUMBLE REQUEST.

WOULD BE SATISFIED WITH STOCK ■ TRACKS, Mr. J. H. D. Kutledgo writes from Orete, Raukokore, in tho strotch of country between Gisborno and the Bay of Plenty I.—l should say most decidedly no. Tliero are only Native schools in this locality, but considering the amount one hears and reads of tho undoubted ability of the Maori to farm his own land it is remarkable that it should be lacking. 2.—No, returns from sale of products aro not satisfactory. 3.—Wc have neither roads nor railways. Wo are humble people and would do without either if we could only get stock tracks. During the last four years a matter of 70,000 acm of good twosheep country in this locality, say, from the Raukokore River to Hick's Bay, has been brought into occupation, and tho Main Coast Road from Capo Runaway to Hicks Bay, say 25 miles, except for a mile of futile formation, is tho same as it was in the days of Captain Cookexcept that it is surveyed. And this is a main arterial road! From Cape Runaway to Opotilci, 70 miles, there is a narrow bridle track with treacherous river crossings—an extremely bad track in many places to drive stock on. To Ret stock in or out one must use ose or other of those roads.

4.—1 should say decidedly no. Tho postal service is once fortnightly—tho same as it was five years ago—despito tho fact that settlement has increased tremendously and tho business must be at least six times as much as it was five years ago. A telephone is being erected by tho Government from To Araroa in tho east to Opotiki, which is all the help wo can expect. s.—No benefit to speak of from shows in this district.

6.—Yes, but it could bo more. Tho sheep industry is still this country's greatest asset, and while the Department of Agriculture has done much in the matter of pushing tho meat industry, in wool it has done little or nothing. Our meat is graded, why should it not be possible to appoint expert woolclassers who could with the assistance of a few samples give most sheop-farn.crs a great deal of valuable information in a very short time? If the woolclasser was a man of even moderate knowledge of wool but also a good man with sheep generally, he could in many cases give one valuable advice in the matter of, say, casting or retaining a doubtful ram. Even if a district were visited only once in two years it would be of value. It 6eems to me—though it ma}- be only prejudice—that the Department devotes too much time to the minor industries and not enough to the greatest of all—the sheep industry. 7.—No; not at all. B.—The renters of farms here are generally sufficiently satisfied with the prospect of making a satisfactory living in the future. There were about 10.000 acres of bush felled in tho locality last year. 9.—Labour supply generally unsatisfactory. 10.—Exceedingly so. Bushmen, fencers, and other contractors earn up to ,£6 per week clear. 'Weekly wages run from 255. to 455. and found, usually in the same "tucker" as the boss.

11.—If you take some of the more important planks from the Massey Government's platform and carry them through with what promptitude is possible, you should better things generally. I don't think this question can be tied down to one answer; in different districts tho answer must be entirely different. Personally, I should say carry out the policy of less railways and more roads—less elaborate public buildings, less day wases and "more contract, and also' do as Mr. Jlnnro Scott, of Turakina, says—removo tho purse of the Treaty of Waitangi by putting the Maori in every respect on the same footing as the uDfortunato pakeha.