CITY MEN TACKLE HARD WORK

Hokitika Guardian, 4 February 1932, Page 2

CITY MEN TACKLE HARD WORK

AND MAKE A SUCCESS OF IT. OBJECT-LESSON IN SELWYN COUNTRY. “Aliles of water-races re-made and cleaned, river protection which will be the salvation of many thousands ol acres of land, reading; improvements', and many other useful works,” is how a Christchurch newspaper describis what has been done in the Sehvyn county by gangs of men under the Unemployment Board’s No. 5 Scheme. A great deal of this work has been done in the Hororatu distri t, about 43 miles from Christchurch, and as most of the workers belong to the city there arose problems of transportation and accommodation. The former was very satisfactorily solved by the Unemployment Board agreeing that the meh, who are of the “three-dav” class, shall he permitted to work for nine days continuously, and the latter by the utilisation of houses on abandoned farms adjacent to the work. Thus there was little waste time through the Inch having to travel backwards and forwards t(j the jobs each tiny;

Sbme of these abandoned hbiilesteads preseiltod a most forlbrn nppenritrtcb prior to tlie oCcuatkin by the unemployed, but, according to tlie newspaper report regarding an afett surrounding one of the homesteads:— “it is doubtful if the last tenant would recognise the place now. Ihe old hedge has been pulled out and. a neat picket and wire fence substituted by the unemployed men in their spare time. They split their own pickets, and u s e old discarded wire. In front of the house there is a good area turned into a garden, where potatoes, cabbages and many other vegetables are doing well. All, were planted by tb men in their own time. The water for the garden is brought from the race 100 yards away in a forty-gallon drum, which has to Ire rolled up a steep incline.” This record of go"d work is repeated concerning sever:-1 other deserted farm residences occupied by these men from the city. The County Engineer’s tribute was whole-hearted. “Gang after gang have worked in a manner that dispels the idea that city men cannot come out into the country and do their share,” said he. “ATost of the work is hard—grubbing gorge in shingly soil, shovelling stones and gravel in the river-bed, and digging the races clear, alul they have done it well." And seeing that the enginers has had as many as 150 men under him at one time, and that the gangs have been coming and going for several months, his opinion is entitled to respect.

GANDHI. “Throughout, it lias been hard to guess what the Mahatma means in his inner heart and brain. His phrases have been a tissue of contradictions. Theoretically he cherishes sublime visions and sentiments. Practically he makes for anarchy and nothing else. He i s an almost impossible man with whom to transact political business in plain terms equally binding on both sides. He was not a member of the first Round Table. The second would have got on much better without him.”—Mr J, L. Garvin, in “The Observer” of London.