KIRITEHERE ROADS: MR GREGG REPLIES.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 347, 31 January 1908, Page 2

KIRITEHERE ROADS: MR GREGG REPLIES.

(to the editob.) Sir,— Being absent from Kiritehere for tbe past six weeks I have just now only seen Mr G. F. Robinson’s report on the Kiritehere Roads, which have been tbe cause of so much complaint by the settlers during the past winter. I was much pleased to see that tbe Kawhia County Council took exception to some of tbe statements contained therein, and with your permission I would like to make a few remarks on the sama. Mr Robinson says in his opening paragraph that he “interviewed all the settlers who signed the petition except fpur who were absent from their lands". That is an untputh. There was not one of tbe signatories absent. The ones referred to~R. Halley, E. Halley, 8. Wouklesand R. Wifiison, and Mr Halley was very anxious to see him, I understand, as be had geveral complaints to make. There was pb suohmiscoucepAonas bespeaks 'about in regard to loading monies and parliamentary grants, with tbe exception of the Moestas block. No one knew where it was, not even the foreman. an officer of tbe Department. I learned from a map in Mr Robinson’s possession that the Moeatos block comprised three whole sections, and part of several others in the south-west corner of the settlement, and even Mr Robinson’s report 13 not very clear,- for he confounds Kiritehere with Kinohaku (there is no Kiritehere loan blcok). Further on he says that in speaking to the settlers “I found that with one exception they had no personal animus against Mr Burd on his inspector, Mr Barron." Now, sir, if I am right in my surmise the worst thing this exception said was “that Mr Burd had last the confidence of most of tbe settlers in this district,” and it ia my belief that he was not far out. In conversation with myself he admitted that the tracks wers in a (ar worse stake; and we settlers ware in a (ar more isolated position,, than he had imagined (rom reading all the correspondence on the subject; he even confessed to hia astonishment that we had borne i 4 sblong quietly, bathe deploredmv bringing into It the personality of Mr Bard, even trotting out this great libel bogey which like the sword of Damocles has been -suspended my head for months to prepare, for his coming get the tracks put in order, aided by two month®, of very dry weather. What would be have said had be seen them at tbeir worst. I replied th«t I was fighting for my fortune, as if this state of things was going to continue it meant ruin at least to me ; that 1 did not see how I could find fault with :tbe works andl exonerate the worker; what I had done was I considered the best thing I could do for myself and fellow settlers, and I would abide the result. I never acknowledged misjudging Mr Burd. It was relative to the Moeatoa block loan and his Starting work at the upper end ot the Kiritehere road insteed of in the centre. When he showed me the plan with tbe blocks shown thereon I said that it was my ignorance, but he was good enough to say that the information was not easily got. Mr Robinson says “ several set tiers told me thot they signed without reading the petition." Now, Sir, this is a lie, whoever told it. I went round and got every signature and the only one who did not read it or had it read was Mrs Wouldes. She was the last one to sign and I said that as her busband and all the other residents on road had signed she might take it for granted right—every residing sac tion holder on the road signed it, and that was all I wanted ; J. Woulaes was the only one who made any demur whatever, and is the only one 1 belioye who told Mr Robinson he regretted doing so, and it cannot truthfully be said that be is the majority. I have only just one word re Mr Hay lock : I met him shortly after (be Land Board pionio to theag parto. He did

not speak in commendatory termfl M Mr Bard then when he (Mr swam his horee across the Marokbpntp. gat out of the commissioner* way avoid listening io some remarks the Maugapohae road. And Mr Langlay, Whois he that he should express bfe opinion of the Kiritehere settlers and settlement? How have we bien ex plbiting the Government ? Hive not the Government been exploiting as? Would not robbing as be a more suit able.term?. Where is there another settlement in. New Zealand of equal size and importance which has to pay for carrying their mail, built their own school, make their own tracks, sab

scribe six months ago £45 per annum for five years for a telephone servioa which was to have been started imme-

diately. Where haa-it got to ? Whore are the properties that pessed through his hands always at la-ge profits ? I know of none. Of the one or two sec lioos which have changed bands here I think that the profits were so small that they might easily have been mistaken for losses. Who got their land cheap? Not the Kiritehere settlers. Better land has been sold ctbse to she railway line for 10s. Kiritehere land ranges from 17s 6d to 80s. Who pays for roads, the;settlers or Government ? 14 it a crime for a settler to sell out ? Mr Langley evidently thinks it is. I think it even Mr Lingley had pat say seven or eight years slavery on a bush section without’’ a rrtad or track and at last the longlobkedfdr road bad oome and an opportunity tomalise on his seven or eight years slavery and capital invested, I for one would not blame him if he desired a change and sold out. And surely, m a c unmiseion ageuthe should not find fault with what brings grist to bit mill, for if so many properties pas j through hie hatrite at large profits, it is certain that a large proportion of those profits stick in his hands in transit. In conclusion, sir, Mr Robinson’s report proves conclusively that Mr Burd is not to blame, the system is not to blame, tbe Department is not to blame. Who is to blame then ? Why the settlers themselves. There is a loan of I don’t Know how many thousands raised nine or ten years ago, and perhaps more in tbe Kinohaka block. Yesterday there was an unexpected balance of £1658 lying snugly stowed away, helping to swell the surplus each year. We had only to ask and; the immediate expenditure of it is recommended. Why will not settlers learn to be true to themselves and let their necessities be known to the powers that ba and redress will be sure to follow, as in the present caaa. Or there te still another way, and a better one I believe. I heard it from my friend MrKidd.M.P. for Auckland. 1 had tbe honor to meet him one night at the Waitomo accomodation bouse, about three years ago, in fact, I bad just got out there from my first visit to the Kiritehere, and I was talking pretty strongly to Mr J. William ion, a road overseer, on the barbarqus and inhuman treatment meted out to those unfortunates who went back in the wilderness. Mr Kidd sat listening for a time and then said, “Why do those people gO baclcto those in accessibleplaces ? Why do they not stay where they have good rpads and railways? There, My fellow strugglers, there is the kernel. Why do we not stay in,the cUiea and dsmang the right to work or at least to be paid 10s per day whether we work or not—to be honored citizens of the Dominion instead of helpless imbeciles, a plague .and a.thorn in the aide of the Roads Department, and a worry to commission agents, merchants and storekeepers, for it is well-known that wealth always brings worry and their wealth comes through us.—Yours,etc., R. GREGG,