KING COUNTRY ROADS AND RAILWAYS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 39, 19 July 1907, Page 3

KING COUNTRY ROADS AND RAILWAYS.

Mr Jennings' Views

During the course of his speech on the ?.ddress-in-reply, the member for Egmcnt made a vigorous appeal cn behalf of the settlers in the backblocks both in regard to road and railway facilities. The following will be of widespread intei*est: — Before passing from railway subjects I now make a claim on the Act-ing-Minister for Public Works for the more vigorous prosecution of the railway line from Stratford to Ongarue. That work has been cn the list of authorised railways for a long period, and the progress has been slow. Now that the Main Trunk Railway is Hearing completion it will be a very simple matter indeed for the staff and plant which is now working at Rauriniu and up towards the Makatote. Viaduct to be transferred to Ohura, where there are very few engineering difficulties, and to start the railway from the Ongarue end to Mangaroa. I have the promise in writing, from the Hon. Hall-Jones that the engineering surveys would be pushed on as quickly as possible, and I trust that the Acting-Minister for Public Works will see that that promise is carried but in its entirety. In reference to roading, that is indeed a most serious question so far as the 'North Island is concerned. Taking that large belt of papa country extending from Pahiatua right away through the King Country to Kawhia, the roading difficulty is a very great one. And while I give a full measure of credit to the Roads Department, still there are, at the present time, to my certain knowledge, men and women who have been twelve years on their sections and they have not got a road into them yet. I will give you an instance of what occurred at Te Kuiti a few months ago. There is a Southern settler there, a man from Canterbury, who took up some land in the Mairoa. block. He went away back there there four years and a-half ago, and up to the present time he has no track into his section. I might also sa5 r that whenever his wife has been ill he has had to do everything incidental to the birth of his children, his wife being afraid to go out, owing to the bad nature of the track, and also the expense connected with going to a town. That should not occur in any part of New Zealand at the pre sent time. There are hundreds of nurses in the towns, and yet there are people away in the back-blocks living under the conditions I have stated. The sequel to this story is a serious and sad matter. I met this settler at Te Kuiti, and he is known to the member for Hurunui, as he has worked on that member's place—he will know him to be a hard-working first-class man on a farm. I said to him " What is the matter with you ?" He was crying like a boy. He said : " That good little woman of mine I have taken to the Auckland Asylum, as the isolation has driven her mad." What unearned increment will compensate this settler and his family, I ask this House ? These are facts I am giving to the House, and therefore I ask for more consideration to be extended to people who are doing pioneering work at the present time. The whole trouble is that settlement has been placed too remote from settled districts instead of working out from them, which would have made matters easier. And this paragraph in the Governor's speech, if it is carried out —and I hope and sincerely trust it will be —will have a very gladdening effect on the hearts of many people who are suffering in backblocks at the present moment. It reads, — "My Ministers are fully alive to the hardships of our settlers, especially of those in the backblocks, consequent upon want of access to their holdings. You will be asked to make liberal provision for the construction of roads, telephones, and such other conveniences as may render the good work done by these settlers, less irksome and trying than it has been in the past." I hope this House will rise to the occasion, and give to the Government a full vote for road purposes.