SETTLEMENT OF LANDS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 50, 23 November 1926, Page 15

SETTLEMENT OF LANDS

AND BACKBLOCKS ROADS.

Sir, —In your paper of November 13 there is a paragraph where the Hon. O. J. Hawken, Minister of Agriculture, speaking at Haupai, says that a S rea many people forget the part that woman plays in the settlement of land, and that if farmers were to make their surroundings better it would oe to the advantage' of everyone. Also, that women find it hard to live in the country and that is the reason wny they drift to town, and that some ot the hard conditions could be avoided, and that if we paid more attention to that than in the past it will have a good effect. ' , Now, has this gentleman ever lived in the country, especially in tte winter, and put up with the roads? It is not the farms, as the women are always happy and contented with therr home surroundings, as they get all the improvements which their nurse will allow. It’s the roads that make one drift to town . We have a freehold farm, with an conveniences except electric light, and yet we cannot go half a chain without walking knee-deep in mud. This road has been opened up about thirty years, and at the time of writing one has to have a draught horse with only a light rustic cart to get a sack exf potatoes and a hundred of flour to tjheir door, and then go axle deep in ruts, and vet we have to pav rates, taxes, etc. What for? The honour of staying you own a piece of land in God’s own country. Now, there is practically enough metal handy to this road, if crushed, to metal the road with. The county has no money for such worSr, so one has to go on paying rates, etc., and walking through mud and putting up with far more inconvenience with the road than with the conditions of the farms. It would be more help to the settlers if the Government metalled the roads instead of wasting money on sending highly-paid servants around the country on this deteriorated land business (which, by the way, has not seemed satisfactory). They should help the farmers with the money by giving them a metalled road to get their produce both out and in. If this were done I am quite sure that the farmers and their families would be more contented and stay on their farms and .work them to advantage, as then they could get out a little bit and break the monotony of farm life. As it is now, one cannot go out as. the roads are so deplorable, and this is well on in the summer now. Our farm is onlv three miles from the railwav station, but two miles of that is clav road, and a disgrace to the countv and Government. There are a good number of Government farms here, some given up, others hanging on in the hone of better conditions some dav. Tf the Government wants the farmers, and especially the women, to stay on their land, they’ must give them better roads to encourage them, otherwise von cannot blame a woman for going to the town to live and enjoying the metalled roads, etc. Until this is done there w’ll always be dissatisfaction on the land. There are four families with children still living on this road, some of school age, but tbev cannot go to school on account of the deplorable conditions of the road; other families having shifted to town. Now, if the lion, gentleman and the Minister of Roads cares to come and have a look at the roads .about this n.art, I will accommodate them (buckshee) for a few days to allow them to see the "good” roads that the farmers’ wives have to put nn with, instead of the surroundings which he sneaks about on the farms. Thanking vou for your valuable space. —I am, etc., A FARMER’S WIFE. Whangamomona, November 10.