TANGITU.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 548, 8 March 1913, Page 6

TANGITU.

Own Correspondent. Nearly three years have elapsed since the Government compelled the lessees of the Tangitu block, all married men with families, to oc cupy their respective holdings. Three years have passed, and yet so vile is the only means of access thereto; so indescribable the roadß in winter, that the principal furniture and the household effects of the settlers are lying in the goods shed at Waimiha railway station, with only eight miles of bad road between the railway and sections. The Railway Department threatened to charge Btorage on the furniture, but so far has not done so, and there the furniture remains, or whatever rates, mice and moths have left of it. And here in Tangitu with a population that requires no leas than five public schools the settlers are living in houses 80 wretchedly furnished, and so eheaply built. Yet we hear of the boasted land settlement scheme. While the Government are spending thousands and thousands of pounds on public buildings in the cities the settlers of Tangitu in their ceaseless fight in the bush have to transport all their supplies over a eight-mile Blush poud at a cost varying from £6 to £lO per ton. Here mav be seen the extraordinary sight of a team of jaded packhorses each laden with eight board 1 * one end of which trails in the mud, and this at the end of the best summer we have had for years. The Government boast that in this settlement no bachelors are allowed. The bachelors are, indeed, fortunate. Last year £7OOO was voted for the metalling of the main road from Waimiha, and what haq the Public Works Department done? They have set about spending that money in a way that ensures an additional handicap to the settlers. The popular opinion ia that next winter we are in for a worse deal than ever. We have had one of the finest summers on record, but the road is merely a succession of corrugations. The sight is a remarkable une. Round every corner the view is the same. Mile after mile of clay ridges ten inches high and eighteen inches apart! Wheeled traffic is an absolute impossibility. The settlers consider that for £IOO all these ridges could have been levelled, and for the last three months the settlers could have pressed every available wheel into service, and transported their few belongings, and the necessary supplies for the coming winter. Even the Government safe, destined for the langitu Post Office could have been brought in. But no, it is with the settlers furniture in the goods shed at Waimiha. There ic has lain for the last three months, and there it will lie a perpetual reminder of Government incompetency. But what of grant? The department is constructing a wooden tramline from Waimiha to the top of the saddle, and on this was to be carted the metal for the road. So far about three miles of that tram is laid, and now it is going to stop. Did anyone ever hear of laying three miles of tram in open country, and a dry summer to cart metal on? Soon the wet season will begin, and again the settlers will be isolated, by this abominable road. Moreover, as the tram is "built in the middle of the road, wheel traffic is made doubly impossible. Even now, if the tramline is put in order and the road from the head of the line to Tangitu is put in order the settlers will get some benefit, before winter sets in.