BUSH NOTES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3914, 5 February 1884, Page 3

BUSH NOTES.

KUMEROA VILLAGE -_ETILEM"_NT. Tliis settlement was put in the market by the Government some four years ago, and since that timo all tho plots have been bought hp. It is situated about seven miles from Woodville township, and was evidently, by thy size of its. village allotments, intended

to form rural homes for small farmers rather than a township- The position oi the settlement is, however, most exquisite, both on account ot tho happy convenience of its remoteness-if such a description is coniprehensiole-as well as for the beauty of its surroundings. It lies on a flat in a bond of tho Manawatu rivor, and consists of open grass land, with clumps of manuka scrub interspersed, between which rustic dwellings and homesteads peep.' On all sides bushy hills form a background to one of the most sunny and cosy pictures that one can find anywhere in this bush district. About fifty people inhabit the Kumeroa village settlement, and it is tho centre of tho Puketoi blocks, one of which is already settled, and the other shortly to be placed in the market. In the course of time these blocks will support a fair-sized township, although it is too close to Woodville to ever grow very large. Kumeroa boasts of a Road Board and a school-room. It will shortly have a School Committee and a teacher. It has a I ost Oflico and a weekly mail from Woodville. Perhaps the greatest drawback which this pleasant little settlement has had to contend with is the inefficacious manner in which it is connected with the rest of the world, and the difficulty of access to the main road. Although the saddle-horse road is only seven miles, the cart road is fully fourteen, and all for want of proper attention to roads which exist and only want repairing to be perfectly passable for wheel traffic. The main leader to Kumeroa,is Harding's road, a road which has already established such a notoriety as to long remain a monument to ! those who laid it off and constructed it. An M.H.R., in a recent address, remarked that surveyors were not noted for their capacities, either iv laying off road lines or in making roads. Any one who doubts the truth of this statement should visit Harding's road, and if he does then fully comprehend it he must either be a surveyor himself or a successful road contractor. Perhaps the most amusiug circumstance which was brought to my notice during my visit to Kumeroa was the fact of a settler there having two houses to live in—one for the day time and ono for night. When told the reason I could hardly believe it It was as follows :—The Waste Lauds Board compel residence on each plot of land, and since this man is tho lucky possessor of two plots ho is compelled to have two houses, and live on both sections at tho same time. Surely a legislation that is so easily evaded is not worth enforcing; or, on the other hand, why do not the Wasto Lauds Board give special permission at once, for the settler in question is improving extensively. One of the advantages which Kumeroa has is tho absence of stumps and logs, which allows free use of the plough. Most of the homesteads are surrounded by a nice little' crop of either wheat, oats, or potatoes, and this is perhaps the reason why the whole plan strikes one as being so picturesque. Diving into the far distant future, I should not be surprised to see Kumeroa a favorite country resort for Woodville "cockneys," many years hence, and act the same part to the latter place as Brighton to London, Veirberg to Cape Town'/Kaiwarra to Wellington, Manly Beach to Sydney, or Petane to Napier.