Country Grievances.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 111, 30 November 1908, Page 5

Country Grievances.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — In one of the recent issues of your paper you drew attention to the necessity for a bi-beekly mail service between Te Kuiti and Aria and Kaeaea, and rightly so. It is time we had such a service, but I am afraid it won't come this summer, as the elections are past and it looks, on the face of it, as if the promise of a bi-weekly mail service had no real value. At the M okau, the mail is not half what it is in here, yet they have a mail twice a week. Surely it is only bare justice for us to have similar treatment. The same applies to the telephone,_ which remains only a promise. This is a serious matter, as the settlers know too well, in connection with the late fatal accident to F. Bredenbeck. Another matter which calls for immediate attention is the way in which money is being almost practically wast d on some of the roads. Take Wallace's Hill for instance. Instead of fascining this shocking piece of road, and throwing dry stuff on the top so as to allow the wagons to go over to Te Kuiti to fetch stores, etc., in, they are throwing the soft slush out of the side, into hte middle of th>> road, which takes it almost impossible for the mud underneath to get hard. On November 9th, it took Mr Holloways' 14 bullocks all day to get to the top of the hill with an empty dray, and when the poor beasts got out, you could not tell what they were for mud. I can assure you, Sir, this is a serious matter for us settlers away in here. It is nearly midsummer, and here we are having to pack all our stores and things in yet, The cost of living, especially with families, is enormous. I know four settlers who are wanting to get building material in to erect mors comfortable houses for the coming winter, and they cannot get a thing in on account of the state of Wallace's Hill. Mr Holloway is putting up better accommodation for travellers, and people coming to see the land, and the district. He has had to let the work stand over because he cannot get out to get his building material in, so it partly stops the progress of the place, as he has had to refuse accommodation on several occasions. Trusting you will use ycur pen to ventilate our grievances —-I am, etc. F. ELWOOD, Kaeaea.