King Country Chronicle Saturday, August 23rd, 1913 KAEAEA-WAITEWHENA TELEPHONE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 596, 23 August 1913, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Saturday, August 23rd, 1913 KAEAEA-WAITEWHENA TELEPHONE.

For some time past the settlers at Kaeaea and Waitewhena have been making representations to the Government with the object of having the telephone service extended to connect the places mentioned. The connection asked for would be the last link necessary to complete the through service from Te Kuiti via Pio Pio, Aria and Kaeaea to Ohura. To anyone acquainted with the district the request j is highly reasonable, and the connection is specially desirable in the interests of the further back settlers of the district. In addition the suggested line would relieve the present line which is frequently congested owing to the amount of business and the constantly increasing requirements of a rapidly growing district. The very fact that in the case of Aria or Kaeaea settlers wishing to talk with Waitewhena notice up to twenty four hours has to be given is sufficient indication that the line is practically useless te those people who are most likely to require to communicate with each other. The fact that the present route of telephone communication between Kac-nea and Waitewhena is 120 miies and entails a passage through the intervening offices at Aria, Te Kuiti. Onuat'ue and Ohura, is surely a convincing argument in favour of completing the nine miles of line between Kaeaea and Waitewhena. Not only the two districts mentioned would benefit by the work, but Ohura and Te Kuili would be brought ii;i» more direct communication, and the whole of j the intervening district:- wotmi be j linked together in a manner which ir i altogether desirable. Wo trust such ! a reasonable proposal, which will con- I fer obvious benefits, and which will j entail but a comparatively small • >. penditure will be reconsidered by the department.

ROADING EXPENDITURE IN TAUMARUNUI ELECTORATE. -- -- ♦ ■ The information received from the member for the district last week to the effect that the Advances Department had granted provisional approval of lqans aggregating over twelve thousand pounds in the county will be widely welcomed. It is, moreover, an indication that the Government is desirous of assisting progressive counties to provide the necessary roads for growing districts. The necessity for using every effort to provide the best possible system of roads to enable tne settlers to carry out successfully the development of the country requires no argument, and it iB to be hoped the Government will be enabled to carry out its avowed policy in this respect. The Wailomo County Council has been particularly active in promoting loans for metalling purposes, and to the success of its operations in this respect much of the progress of the district is due. In such a vast and rapidly settling district as the King Country which has only been opened to European settlement within the past few years it standi to reason the immediate call for money for roading purposes must be enormous. Attention j has been frequently called in Parliament tn the large expenditure of Government money on roads in the Taumarunui electorate, and there is no gainsaying the statement. It should be borne in mind, however, that the Tajmarunui electorate ex tends over a very large area. Approximately from Te Awamutu on the north to Taihape on the south, the district embraces a stretch of about a hundred and fifty miles of fertile land?, while for a distance of fifty miles on either Hide of the Main Trunk railway settlement is extending at an unprecedented rate. When it comes to be considered that practically within the last decade the district referred to has been transformed from a wilderness into settled country, the settlers may take comfort in the knowledge that the expenditure has been more than justified. Boroughs and town districts have been created along the railway, while no less than fiv; counties have been brought into operation within the period mentioned. It is uot to be wondered at, therefore, that a great and increasing expenditure for roading has been necessary, and that the demand for money for the development of such a vast and fertile district has been inpi jtent, and will continue to be made. It would be a deep and abiding reflection upon the enterprise of our settlers if their elforts were to slacken, or their demands to become abated merely because attention was drawn to the fact that a large expenditui'9 of money for roads was »going on in the district. Whatever the amount may be it is safe to assert that it is not suffiiiently large to cope with the requirements of the settlers. In many localities it has not been sufficiently large to provide more than bridle tracks. In ten years of continuous settlement it has not been sufficiently large to provide a formed road between Te Kuiti and Marokopa notwithstanding the clamourings of the settlers. Throughout the period mentioned it has nut been sufficiently large to commence the opening of the main road southwards from Te Kuiti to Wellington or to complete the main road northwards from Te Kuiti to Auckland. It has not even been adequate to give access to settlers on Crown lands, as witness the locality between Op rure and Waitomo, to say nothing of Tangitu and many other districts. Moreover, it hns not been sufficiently large to make a particle of provision for the roading of native lands, which phase of the roading question is at least deserving of some consideration by the Government, Ministerial utterances to the contrary notwithstanding. There can be no possible objection taken to the statement that a large expenditure £.is being made in the electorate providing it is not claimed that such] expenditure is not justified. It reflects considerable credit on all concerned that the ex penditure has been maintained, and we have every confidence that the efforts of our public men will be directed towards maintaining an equally large expenditure until the reasonable reqireinents of the district are fulfilled. The district has been fortunate in possessing representatives who have understood the necessities of new settlement, and have advocated the cau6e of the ba-kblocks unceasingly. Mr Wilson ia to be commended for his activity in the interests of the electorate, and we trust the statement conncerning the large expenditure in the electorate will inspire him to further elforts in the interests of a district, the returns from which will justify a much larger expenditure than has been made in the past.