ROADS IN NATIVE DISTRICTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 66, 13 April 1880, Page 2

ROADS IN NATIVE DISTRICTS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE MAHAWATU HERALD. Sir.— la your issue of April 2, 1 notice a letter signed by Mr Thomas Bevan, junr., of Waikawa, but evidently written in great part by a gentleman who for some time past has been encouraging the ideas of certain young Otakians to sprout. Had Mr Bevan relied upon his own unassisted efforts, he might perhaps have made his meaning clear ; it is even possible that the schoolmaster, had he written independently, might ! have made himself understood ; but ! a combination of the two intellects has resulted in a most extraordinary jumble — composed of ratios, Commissions, qutients, sinking funds, &c, &c, with a " Cyclopean eye " presiding over all, — which can only be described as an incomprehensible " haggis." In order not to take up more of your valuable space than necessary, I will endeavour to comply with the request you made to your correspondents in reference to long -winded communications, and " boil down " this aforesaid haggis, and my few remarks thereon, into as small a quantity as possible. The only piece of road the Highways Board has made up to the present time is right in the centre of the township, and is more used than any other road in Otaki, County roads of course excepted. The sum expended upon this was £35, not £45, as stated

by Mr Bevan, and the place where it is made was formerly knee deep in mud and water for six months in the year. Had the Board spent this on the road from the Otaki township to the Beach, as suggested by Mr Bevan, the money would have gone to improve a County road which is for some distance a sandy waste. Mr Bevan objects to the ratepayers' money being expended in an extravagant manner, and in a way that happens incidentally to benefit natives, and yet asks to have a sum of money laid out on a road that is entirely on native land, and that probably no ratepayer, except himself, would derive any benefit from for years to come. The fact of the matI ter is this. "The present state of hopeless confusion in regard to land matters is such that it is impossible to make a road or drain in any direction without running the risk of \aving it stopped, or perhaps claimed by natives when made. The resolution re roads proposed by Mr Hadfield, and passed by the Board, is a guarantee that the ratepayers' money will not be wasted, and is exaotly what Mr Bevan wishes to see acted upon in every case except his own. I am, &c, W. H. Simcoi. Otaki, April 5, 1880.