King Country Roads.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 323, 26 July 1907, Page 2

King Country Roads.

During the course of his speech on the address-in-reply, the member for Egmont, Mr Jennings ,made a vigorous appeal on behalf of the settlers in the backbl cks in regard to road facilities. The following will be of widespread interest:—ln reference to loading 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 reading difficulty is a very great one. Aud 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, & mm from Canterbury, who took up some land in the Mairoa block. He went away back there four years and a half ago, and up to the present time be has no track into bis section. I might also say 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 present time. There are hundreds of nurses in the town, and yet there are people aw&y in the backblocke living under the conditions I have stated. Tbe 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, 1 ask this House r jThese are facts I am giving to the House, and therefore I ask for more consideration to be ex tended to people who are doing pioneering work at the present time. Too i whole trouble is that settlement has been placed too romite 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 backlocks at the present moment. It reads:—“My Ministers ace fully alive to the hardships of our settlers, especially those in the backblocks, consequent upon want of access to their holdings. You will ba 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 irksoma ond trying than it has been in the I hope this House will rise Io the coca iar, and give to the Government «* full vote for road purposes.”