In the King Country.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 338, 15 November 1907, Page 2

In the King Country.

DISCOURAGEMENT OF PIONEERING. SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A ROAD. BROKEN GOVERNMENT PROMISES. The following letter to tbe editor appeared in the Wellington Post on N ivember sth : “As you have so kindly given one in s ance of how we baok-blook settlers a e treated in the matter of roads, by publishing Mr Gregg’s letter from K ritehere, I would a*k you to kindly make thi. public know of the way in which we settlers of the Awaroa Valley hive been treated.

The scions taking the milFdle of diolilook, are seven miles from Ka ; «hia harbour, whence we ga: all our ft ipplies, and twenty-two miles from the main Trunk Railway. Tbe land was taken up in April, 1900, and the lite Mr Seddon who was present at the billot, promised that we should have r ials within Lw > years. De s Sir J. G Wa-d repudiate tbe p omisos of his p. edecessor ?—For we have no road yot. The selector’, relying on that p otniie, came on to their sic'ions straight away, bii g:ng their families ( he e is only one not living here) and a acted felling and grassing, with what result ? When they wanted to ge; sock in, where the promised road? N jt even started ; aor wa? it for about three years, and then only a six ft track. Tbe netiler? bad to cut a track nice the bush to gat in sbeep, and out of one mob of 460 over 260 were lost on that track or died from the result of the drive. Think of it, you city dwellers—26o out of a mob of 460, all because the Government w mid not form the road ! What a setback to settlers just starting! Io the meanlime, all stores, wire, seeds, a c , bad to be packed for ten miles through a bush irwk, up to the girths in mud, and up the rocky bed of the Awaroa river, often, after a flood, getting into a deep hole, swimming stum ting, and sometimes bc-ing thrown off and getting everything on the pack wet through—stores spoilt, or if it were wool being packed out necessitating it being all taken out and dried. Often have I seen a milk ;an of sugar, rica flour nr other stores, out in the sou be ing dried after such a trip. At the end of six years the attack was formed to my gate, seven and a half miles from the launch Ending, and the bridges were not put in, the settlers having to erect temporary ones. Three times they had to do this before a bridge was erected, and now, after seven and a-balf years, we have ten miles of six-foot track and one creek not bridged yet, and for six m mths of tbe year it is almost impassable for mud. Other blocks around here, which opened out at tbe same time have tbeir dray roads. Why should not we have been treated the same ? At the Kaimango creek, the timber was pit sawn and lay nearly buried in mud for about twelve months, although the money was authorised for expenditure, and tbe man were waiting. After a lot of writing tbe then Minister for Roads sent a reply that tbe timber was seasoning What a farce! Where he got bis information goodness knows; finally tbe bridge was erected. Between ourselves and tbe road to the railway is about three milesof unformed road, in standing bush and impass able.

In order to get our stock to tbe mar. ket, we have to drive them kr 50 miles greatly depreciating their value, instead of driving them twenty-two miles to tbe railway and trucking them as we should do if the three miles were formed. So that, as far as sheep are c -ncerned, with which our places are stocked, we have practically no outlet for stock still, as we can only do this for about three months in the year. If we wish to sell stock, we muss do so during those throe months, whether prices are high ot low, or else keep them for another year, and perhaps run short of feed. The first three miles of our road through native land and this we have to maintain out of rates, as the natives pay none, and tbe Government will not form more than a six ft track native land, as it would enhance the value of the land when it wants to buy it. Why were we not told this when the land was opened, or why does not the Government bry the land and form tbe r ;ads ?

A short time ago a poll was taken and a proposal carried to raise a loan to metal our road : but where is the use? The Government will not widen the road, so how can we metal it ? Do Ministers expect us to widen ourselves ? Seemingly so. Is thisencouraging the pioneer settler ? Perhaps they hope we will forfeit the land in disgust, when they can add it to their endowment area. Why is not some of the muoh-vamjted surplus ex pended on our bush roads, or does it exi-t only on paper?

Our laud is loaded with three shillings an acre for reading (we bava the word of the Commissioner of Crown Linds for tbic), amounting to about £l5OO, but this money has not been expended on our road. Are we to go on paying interest on this amount, and when we buy out our farm; pay the Government an extra three shillings an acre and get no benefit? Is thia just ond rigdt ? Is the Government to break its bargain with us, and keep us year after year without a road ? Mr Mr M'Nab, when interviewed about this loading money, wrote to me in reply “That certain provision had been made, which would be made clear when tbe estimates come out.” Very canny but we want wbat rightly belongs to our road expended on that road, and not a paltry hundred or two put on tbe Estimates to try and keep us quiet Leading money should not have to be provided for on the EBtiDMtw.

In a further letter to one of our settlers Mr M'Nab said:—“l may mention that loading money is not & sum of money added to tbe price of tbe land (>r reading, but is tbe amount tor by the Minister for Lauds to be expended on tbo land.” Very nice indeed*. I would a-k Mr M’Nab to expend my L ftdir.fr money in having a pl co of bu h fellel for me. Way I ask Mr M’Nab’s definition of loan i g ? I think I have given your readers a very fair idea of the attitude of tbe Government towards tbe back block settlers Ministers seem to think more of a showy bathhouse at Rotorua (»r tourists than of roads for our back blocks. I must apologise for taking up so mv-h oj your valuable spio, but it is hard to get an infl leutal paper to take op our cause as you have done. Tbauk ing you in anticipation.—Yours, et., H. H. BABBAGE. Hau.uru, 26 October, 1907.

In a leader commenting on tbe above toe same paper say : When tbe last Imprest Supply Bill was before tbe Hou-e of Represents lives, the bitter c y of b 1 back block' was again brought f -rward, aud with ibe usual re-uit. Mr Jennings spoke of the establishment of a c*catn ry in one district having b ea deltyed i r a longoime owing to the difficulty getting tbe rnichinury along the imp as able roadg, and Mr Lang mentioned a portion t.f Li-i electnt ite wh>re the roads ware s) bid tba' it was impossible to cart the limber requi-ed for a schoolhouse, and even sL ck c eld not bo driven over Ibcru The Pro mier’s reply waa that the Government sympathised with tbe setiler.< in their struggles, but b id nor m nvy enough to propide relief. We tru-t that the country membars wilic m isue to hirp upon the sui.j ci until these official <x pressinns of sympathy have acquired a less stereotyped and more prao-ical form, aud such a letter as we publish to day fn.m a correspondent in tbe King Country should suffice to range every town member also on tbe same side. Seven years ago the settlers of rhe Awaroa Valley were promised roada withia two year-, and they are still awaiting the fulfilment of the promise. On the wretched track which tbeGovernmeot’s breach of faith has compelled them to cut for themselves right through the bush more than 250 out of a mob of 460 sheep actually perished or suffered injuries from which thay never recovered. “Af-er seven and a half years says our correspondent, Mr H. H Babbage, of Hautura, “We have ten miles of six-foot track, and one creek not bridged yet, and for six months of tbeyear it is almost impassable fcr mud.” In this mud tbe tim ber for one of the bridges “lay nearly buried in mud for aboui twelve months” and when the Minister’d attention was called to tbe matter, facetiously replied that the timber was seasoning! Tbe pre ent p tsiticn is that for lack of tbe cimpletion of three miles of road through standing bugh, tbe unfortunate settlers bave fifty miles of road to traverse instead of twenty-two in order to reach their market. Referring our readers to Mr Babbage’s letter for further details in this pitiful case, we would ask the Premier and the Minister for Lands how much longer tbe ' system which makes such things possible is to be allowed to continue. For most of tbe suffering not the present Ministers but their predecessors must

be held primarily responsible, but the Jo□ bio duty is cast upon the Ministry of retrieving past blunders and guarding against their repetion. Yet a barren sympathy is all that the humanity of the Government has to offer. It is surely time for public opinion to declare that to leave our pioneers to ruin their fortunes, waste tbeir lives, and break their hearts in the mud is a cruelty unworthy of any Christian country.