OUR HINTERLAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 12, 11 May 1912, Page 5

OUR HINTERLAND.

MI-XTSTTCUS PAY A VISIT TO WHA NO AMO -M 0A A.

NUMEROUS DEPUTATIONS

Tho "Ministerial party at present in the Taranaki district paid a visit yesterday to Whangamomonaj primarily for the purpose of attending a banquet tendered to Mr Joseph McClugL roffe; hut, naturally, a great number of other matters were attended to. ACCESS TO PUNIWHAKAU.

Fr 1) Maxwell met the Ministci for Public Works at the Toko railwav stat : on, and asked that the Puniwhakau-Whataihmvaka road he push cel on to give him access to his holding, which was practically the outpost of settlement, and, though held by him for seven years, , was not yet accessible by road. THE MANGERE ROAD.

The Minister promised to ■ enquire into the matters. Upon alighting from the trucks at the Mangare road, the Hon. Mr McDonald was met, by! a deputation consisting of Messrs 1 artridge, Willdoil, and Say well, who reiterated the request made by them to Ministers who had previously visited Whaimamomona, that the Mangai e road formation should he completed as far as the tunnel. The Minister said that there wa. a vote on the Estimates, but the expenditure of it had been declined by the 'Whangamomona County Council. The vote had now been placed in the hands of the district engineer of roads for expenditure. Subsequently, Mr G. T. Murray, the district engineer, explained to fhc Mmister tha there still remained £S/0 of .MOOO erant for this road. It would need a further £BOO to do what the deputation asked, and that would not he the end of it, for on the other side of the tunnel, after travelling about a mile and a half along a spur, the road descended through' equally bad country. This road, ho said, was in the sainc category as the Marco road and those were two of the w orst roads to make in the wdir.le district.

V/HANGAMOMONA’S On arrival at Whangamomona, Mi W. A. McCutchan, on behalf of the settlers of the district, presented ad ; dresses of welcome, • and expressed pleasure that two ministers of tjii; (Jrou'ii,had ventured so far to lean the actual needs of the country. Cheen were given for th Ministerial party. The Hon. W. D. S. McDonald, warmly thanked the res dents tor then hearty welcome. Continuing, ho saio that as Ministers, 'they''were movihp about the country to find what wai necessary for its i‘ development, ;aad in the 'best intoredtsi oil- all claesor of people in the DorAilid'on. Hoi -lino noted with, great pleasure the groai doss bilities of this fertile district. H< had been a farmer all bis life, anc understood the value of this class oi land. ’ Ho knew the difficulties o land settlement, road-making, rail wav construction, and the. pioneering and bushfoiling work. He recognisct that the development of the district would ultimately beHV’gMit asset 'tithe people of the Dominion, as wel as to the pioneer settlers of to-day The Hon. Geo. Lanr.enson ro-echoei these sentiments. , He’ assured -M> hearcys that if ever a Ministry ha< been returned to power whose inter csfc and desire it was. to help tin “under dog”, to help the man whwas endeavouring to carve out a honu for -himself in the backblocks' of tin country and thus to raise his socia position, the present Ministry wa; that one. The Government was no going to devote its attention tq tin requirements of the h;g centres, bain attending to the needs and re quiremonts of the men and womei making their homes in the hamlet; and obscure and lonely places in thDominion. >• (Applause.) A Lanca shire man shovelling clay up the rom had told him -that as a result of ho two years* life in this country, he wa convinced that New -Zealand was “thbest country the sun ever shone on' (cheers), and surely it was one of th fairest that God had given to man If they would watch the policy of thGovernment, they would find it in eluded opening up by roads and rail ways the remote places, and as a re cult nrght he expected a prospent; hitherto unequalled anywhere. H considered the men and women win were doing the noble pioneering worl in this and similar districts were cle serving of all the help that could Lgiven them, and, speaking on helm! of the Government, he assured tljor that the Government was going to ox tend them that help. (cheers.)

THE AIARCO ROAD. Mr AV. A. Mr Stool well, and two others, waited o.i tli Minister of Public AVorks in icspee of the Afarco road. The departoien tal vote had been declined by 1 County Council, Air McCutchan m plained, because the road had not bee; properly gazetted and handed over t the loeal body in good order. J lie road was a very bad one, and h< thought the Government should coim to the ass’sta’nco of the settlers am. give them proper access to their holdings, for the present Ift. track rdoiM this precipitous country was vc-n dangerous. Mr Stockwcll informed the AI in'Mc; that the land was surveyed .'u l£9i and thrown open in 1900, when In took it up. In the twelve years which had elapsed since that time only 20 chains of formation had lira done on the road, and ho was eve. five miles away ,from the main road Xo real attempt had hem made t> road the country. AVitlnnt wish.iij, to appear sarcastic, he opined tr at at the present rate of progress at would take 100 years to roach his pen party. His holding comprised 'l9 0 acres, and its original value was lOf an acre. 'The last formation had teen done nut of accrued thirds, and the metalling on Die road had I non done nit of a loan raised by tlio setvie'-j themselves. He pointed out the hard ship imposed by them having to take their wool live nrles to press it, and that the settlers on this road had to pay 2s per ewt. heavier freight than even their neighbours at AVhangai.ioaiona. This was a big burden yijen it extended over twelve years. Driving stock over sueii a road was usually attended with loss. Air Stoekwoll snid he had understood the County Con no 1 was going to undertake the work, hut they did not. Ho asked the Minister if there were any vea".nnahle prospect of the read being formed, for. whilst a man could penalise himself, ho wouldn’t penalise Ids

children. For his part, Jiis children must have education. Mr G. T. Murray said that the Government had spent thousands oi , pounds on the track, which was very expensive to maintain. Mr Stockwoll had suggested tunnelling under the saddle as a means of shortening the road, hut the tunnel would ho too long" (thirteen chains,, and would cost too much (£3000). To do tho widening asked for would cost £IOOO. The County Council had not stated during the summer whether it intended to" expend the Government grant of £IOOO, hut in the autumn had stated they would not expend it, and lastweek ho had received authority to spend tho money. A sum of £933 was available, hut this wouldn’t do hall the saddle. Ho considered this the worst road :n Taranaki. Mr Stock well said that if the settlors had known the reading was to he delayed like this, they > would never have taken up the sections. hi answer to the Minister, Mr McCutchan said this land was “two-ewe country in winter. The Hon. McDonald said the £9OO would he spent. He know what reading in papa country meant. “You have to"make a lot of roads,” he said, “before you get the last one.” In answer to Mr Hine, the Minister agreed that a fresh vote would have to he made in addition to the present grant. Mapgapapa Road.

Messrs. llobcrton, Wilkinson, Thompson, and Smith interviewed the Min ster in respect of the completion of the Mangapapa Hoad. It was stated tiro settlers had been there for over ten years, and still had only a track to their holdings, and this was particularly dangerous—being only 2ft Gin wide—round the bluff. Although £7OO had been voted for this work last year the money had been expended only on the Ohura County portion of the road. Tiie deputation asked that something should be done to give better access. About live miles of reading were required, and tins would help nine settlors. There were also several slips on the road now, and the road engineer had said there was no money available for the purposes of repairs. The Minister promised to obtain a report with a view of having an amount placed on the Estimates, and said he would authorise the issue of the necessary funds to effect repairs forthwith.

The Domain Board.. Mr. F. Court, chairman of the Domain Board, at Whangamomona, made a request for £IOO to bo granted to t!’c Board for improvement purposes. Tie settlers themselves had done a lot of work. Further improvements wort estimated to cost £2OO, of which t!i( Government was asked to.grant £IOO. Tiio Minister said lie would place tin matter before his colleague, the Minister of Lands, and would also recommend that any grant made be a straight-out one. Mr. H : ne thanked the Minister for his courtesy in receiving the deputations.