IN OUR HINTERLAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 87, 16 August 1913, Page 7

IN OUR HINTERLAND.

MINISTERIAL VISIT TO V/HANGAMOMOHA. HGN. W. FRASER INSPECTS THE RAILWAY WORKS. RESIDENTS VENTILATE HOAD CHHEVANDES. BANQUET IN THE EVENING. ■•‘•Post” Special Reporter.) The Hon. W. Fraser, Minister fo: Public Works, accompanied by Mr J. ]•. jj; n 0) member for Stratford, arriv('d in Stratford by the mail train on Thursday evening, and after having tea in Stratford, joined the usual 7 o’clock train on the Stratford-Okahn line, to which the Ministerial carriage was' attached. Whangamomona was reached in due course, a good number of residents meeting the train and welcoming the Minister.

the railway works. VISIT TO TAHOEA TUNNEL. At 9 o’clock on Friday morning, the Minister, accompanied by Mr Hine, Mr 0. T. Murray, Public Works Engineei, and Mr McKellar, engineer in charge of the railway works, boarded the Public Works Department's train, and set out on a visit to the present head of the work. The weather was plea-

Ka nt, and much interest was displayed !,y the party in the work in progress. Alter a run of about an hour and ahalf, the tunnel at the Tahora Saddle was reached, the whole party going through to the further end, wheie there is a very deep filling to be made. A start has been made with the lining of the tunnel, men being engaged on the work as the party passed through. The return journey was made safely. Tin state of the roads along the tramwav came in lor a deal of comment, and the discomforts of travel were vividly illustrated by carts, which ploughed their way along.

ROAD MATTERS. XUMEEOUS REQUIREMENTS. J /iter lunch the Minister repaired to the County Council Chamber, where a number of deputations met him or. road matatrs. Mr J. B. Hino introduced the various speakers, MUDDY TOWNSHIP ROADS;

Mr Athol Meredith, chairman of, the Whangarnomona County Council, brought. up the matter of the mail read through the Central Riding. Twr or throe years ago the road was in first-class they though it would carry their traffic,foil a,number (j-f,years. . Thgn Pub', u. Work ■ Dcpartmerft: came along such; tliei traffic had cut up,,the road, which ha/ been left in the condition in which the Minister had seen it. Resident:now asked that the Department repair the road and put it in the condition in which it was prior to the carting being done. Then they understood tha* the, bridges weijedDoMfi-raised -fotxf-feet

Mr Murray :j 3Eo:'docisioß' , ha» |l 'b«ei: corue to yet. 1 ■—■V jffvi?'- »

3,1 r. Meredith said the Mangerq Road was,similarly treated.' ft wbiild'take £50130 to. fix up both roads and {he bridges. Mr McCutchan said settlement tool; place following on a promise that tht Government would metal the roac from Stratford to Wliangaroomona and that promise should be kept.

Mr Fraser said there had been some corriospondence regarding the road Set dors were entitled to have the dam age done to their roads repaired, bu‘ ne could not see that they were en titled to a. hotter road than they hac before.

Mr Meredith said they estimator the cost of the work on the main roac at £BOOO, and on Mangere Road a' £l5O. As to the bridges, it wa suggested that if the Government gav; the County tho money it would cos to raise them, the County would pu up entirely new bridges. Mr Fraser said settlors would b fairly dealt with. Tho Departmen. had damaged the roads, and the Count deserved some recompense, but he doubted if the Department should bt called on to do the whole of the work. In the case of any grant made, the Department would demand a plain statement of the work for which i. wa; paying. “Something has to he done,” said the Minister. “flic state of this township is something shocking, hut it would he only waste of money to put metal on tho road in its present, state.”

-Mr Meredith explained that thc\ did not desire to do any work at once, hut desired to have the whole matter fixed up early, so that the work could he proceeded with in the summer. They did not want the matter to hang over indefinitely.

Mr Fraser said there would be nothi ig like that. Settlors would not hate to put in another winter under present conditions. He was not in the habit of puttings things off. He recognised that it would he we! to have the bridges done, hut there •vas no absolute hurr-v for that work.

TIMBER FOR A TUNNEL

Mr Meredith said a tram had been m down the Mangaoatu Road b\ e Public Works Department in or-

der to get out timber for the Tabora tunnel, and the tram blocked the road for wheel traffic. It was a I metalled road three-quarters of a mil--long, having been metalled by the setj'.lers by means of a loan. They asked that the work of getting the tim--1 her out he expedited, so that the road may Ire opened again as soon as pc: ihle. I.: answer to the Minister, Mr Mur-

ray said work on the tunnel would continue for more than a year. Mr Meredith said it was desired that the work might be expedited. Only a certain amount was now taken out—sometimes only one load a day. .Mr Eraser: If people want a railway they must be prepared to put tip aiUi some little inconvenience.

Mr Meredith: But people who have rated themselves to metal a road deserve special consideration. Mr Murray said settlers’ goods were carried free on the tram. Mr N. Cleland, a resident on the road, said that the tram was not always on hand when settlors desired to get out. If he wished to bring Ids children out he had to carry them to the main road. His wife had not been out for five months . M r Fraser said ho could not see his way to promise that anything would be done, but settlors could rest assured that the Department would .hilt the tram at the earliest possible moment. There were many difficulties in building a railway along narrow valleys, and some settlers would have to suffer inconvenience j but the railway was a thing which none of them would willingly bo without. Ho thought the request made was not reasonable. Mr Cleland then asked that a rough shed he erected at the junction with the main road, so that he could keep his trap there. The Minister said ho could not agrea to that. If he did he would be inundated with similar requests from all over the colony.

THE BAOK-BACKTBLOCKS. Tiie nest deputation consisted of Mr and Mrs Walker, who occupy a holding on the far side of the Tangarakau River. Mr Walker asked that the existing bridle track to his holding bo widened to twelve feet. Mr Eraser: What is the width at present? Mr Walker: In soma places it is inly eighteen inches. Mrs Walker said tho track was supposed to be six feet wide. There were places where it was absolutely langerous to life. In a, place where die track narrowed to about eighteen inches one’s life was in danger unless die horse was very sure-footed. The other settlors asked her to particularly emphasise the danger to life. There was four miles of a saddle, and if a dip came down on this it covered the whole of the road. In some places die slips were of soft mud, and in others of rock. There wore about twenty people in the valley.

Mr Murray: I have been over there. Mrs Walker: But not since the track dipped away., Mr Murray said the road was an expensive one to keep in order. There was a long papa sidling. Mr Fraser said ho could .not.pro: mis© to make a, dray road, but be would endeavor to have a sum put m the Estimates to make it less dan-

gerou*. HELP WANTED. Mr Meredith said £3BOO had been spent. on the Brewer Road from the main road to Miircott Road, and a subsidy of £BOO was now wanted. The Minister promised to investigate. ' ;■ A subsidy of £IOOO was alto asked for by Mr Meredith for the Kohi Road. Mr Pratt, a Kohi Road resident, laid that as the road when completed would probably bo adopted as a main road to Whangaraomomv it was plain Hint any work done would be for tho benefit of the whole community, in,, addition to settlers on the road itself. Mr Fra SO i* said he would see that mmething was done lor tho road. The sum to ho spent would not be under three or four hundred pounds. He was not sure that the whole of tho work could bo provided for this year. Any sum given would not he as a subsidy, but as a straight-out

grant. Mr Meredith, on behalf of Mr M. Jones, asked for a subsidy for work ni Mangarewa Road. At present Mr Jones had only a rough track. The Minister promised to give tho matter consideration.

Mr Aylward also asked for help to rive access to his holding. Ho said he had taken up the land while in Christchurch without seeing it. He chose the land because it had the highest rent and was closest to tho road, the Kohuratahi Road. Later it was decided to close the road, after a, house had been built facing it. The Government made a track part of the way to tho house, but there was a piece of road he had to make himself.

Mr Murray said the formation of the track would cost about £2OO, and a necesssary bridge a further £IOO.

Mr F raser: 1 will see what I can

Mr Aylward; I have interviewed all the Ministers who have visited here, and have got promises from them. Mr Fraser: I do not give promises without doing something. Mr Fraser promised to see what could ho‘done in regard to Kimuputa Road. A settler from the Maikai Road said the laud had been occupied for fourteen years, hut still the only access was by a six-foot track. Settlors desired to have a grant to widen it to twelve feet. Mr Fraser, in promising consideration, said settlers should ask only for works which were necessary this year. Money would not be so hard to get next year. Mr Bacon asked for help on Okara Road. He had been on Ids holding for seven years, ‘and he had to wait for six years and a half before he got oven a bridle track. At one point there was a nastv ford.

Mr Murray said a bridge over the stream would cost £SOO. Mr Fraser said lie would see if he could get the money for the bridge. Mr Bacon said there wore not many stock sales in the district, and if a settlor was hold up by the stream being in flood lit* might miss the only available sale. Mr Fraser promised Mr Kopka that ho would boo what oould be done to give him access to his section on Ti rohaiiga Road. Five settlors on Mange re Road asked for a grant to widen tha road. Mr Murray said it was one of tha heaviest roads in ilia district. A thousand pounds had been spent in the past year in widening one mile of tho road. None of .the money .was spent on maintenance. Besides the expenditure on widening, £1 To was spent on maintenauee. One settler said the settlers on tho road had to send their woo! by packhorse to Wha ngam onion a from the vicinity of the Waitara River—a distance of twelve miles in some cases. Mr Murray said the road was narrow, dangerous, and difficult to maintain. Mr Frasar promised to endeavor to gat «. sum placed on the Kstiraatos for the work. A NEW DOCTRINE. MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS OX ROADS.

MR HIXE DISAGREES. M!* Stock well acted as spokesman for a small deputation of Marco Road settlers. He said the laud was surveyed in 1897 and certain portions were taken up in 1901). One mile of the road had been formed to dray width in 1901, but from then for twelve years practically no new formation was done. Certainly a bridle track had been made, but the hardships in living for twelve years on a bridle track were very great. Since the Marco Road land had been taken up, other blocks had bee nopened and had got reads within three years, and in other cases access was given in six ■years. In respect of the treatment it had received the Marco Road seemed to ho in a class by itself. Settlers had to pay two shillings per cwt. over the Whangamomona freights. It would ho preferable to let land lie idle than to settle it before roads, were provided. Living on a bridle track young children were very much jhandicapped in the matter of attending school. They had been quite prepared to stand a little inconvenience at; the start. He did not desire mon 4y to I>e diverted from Other necessary works, but he thought the Minister should select the most deserving cases to.’bo ; dealt with 1 first, and he thought Mr Fraser would find that the Mam) 'Road was 'a highly de-

scrying case. I ' Mr Eraser: 1 have heard of this road before. 1 cannot-think that it is wise to spend money on a road if the road is to cost moro than the land is worth.

Mr Stock we] I ; It is country which will carry two sheep to the aero. Mr Fraser: That may be so, hui I cannot' put a road costing £GOD to land worth £3OO. I must make fur-, thor inquiries.: If people get land in these out-of-the-way -'places they should be able to make the Lands Department exchange the holding for land elsewhere. Mr Stookwell: When Mr MacDonald was hero he gave us a definite promise that £IOOO would bo spent on the road. Mr Fraser: There is no mention of this promise in the official records, Mr Stockwell: 1 have been holding on to my section on the strength of that promise; and if nothing is done I will have to throw up my land, lata in the day as it is. Mr Fraser; The fact that you have been living on the land for so long, and that not Government has seen fit to do anything seems to be corroboration of my view that it is not worth while doing the work. I will give the mat ter considera tiou. Mr Stockwell; The settlers on the road are in a desperate condition. We have had promises of help, on which we have relied. Mr Mine: You cannot leave these people there. You must either give them roads or shift them.

Mr F raser: I will look into the whole matter, and see what can be done. I will speak to the Minister lor Lands, who may he able to suggest something. Mr Stockwell; The Government’s regulations compel us to stay on the land. M r Fraser; If a man has no access, he should he given a remission of rent.

Mr McCutchan said the land on the road was very good and would carry two ewes to the acre through the win-

ter. As to the. relation of the cost of the road to the cost of the land, it had to bo remembered that produce would come off the land for all time to come. He saw no reason why this road should not receive similar treatment to other roads. It was always understood that roads would he supplied similar to other blocks in the district, and it was the duty of the

Government to keep faith with tne .settlers. Mr Fraser: If a settler thinks his kind is valuable he should be prepared to spend money on loading. Mr Mine; This is a new doctrine you are laying down, and 1 don’t sec why it should he applied to this land. Mr Fraser: i only say that if the road is costing more than the land is worth, a person who believes his land is of sufficient value to warrant it should do something himself to get the road. Mr Murray combated the contention that the road was treated differently to others. The road was difficult to make and difficult to maintain, hut it laid not had different treatment. The matter then dropped. DRAINAGE AND WATER, FIRE AND FEVER FEARER. Mr Meredith introduced the question of a. water and drainage system for the township. Two applications had been made for a loan of £IOOO, but both were refused.

Mr Court said there was no drainage of any sort in the township. Tho Health Inspector had paid a visit recently, and reported that the township was in a disgraceful state so far as sanitation was concerned. The sewage would he dealt with in a septic tank. The settlors were willing to rate themselves. If something was not done there was a very great danger of a very serious outbreak oi illness. ’The scheme provided for the erection of a reservoir in the lulls for a water supply. At present r there was a fire the residents would he powerless. When the hotel war burnt they could only stand about and watch it go. Mr Fraser said that in a township like Whangamomona drainage was an absolute necessity. -He would consult Mr Allen. Money was not so hard to got now as it had been recently. Money could ho procured from the Public Trustee on much the same terms as from the Advances Department. Hr concluded by advising settlers to wait till they heard further from him—he would advise as to tho best method of getting the money.

A COMPENSATION QUESTION. INQUIRY WANTED. Mr Coxhcad brought up the uiattoi of compensation for land taken for the railway. A railway reserve lia\\*vcr. set aside but the Public Works Department had deviated from it. TJu private land taken included in some cases the only flat land the owners had. Mr Lould, the land purchase officer of the Public Works Department, had told him that no compensation would 1)0 given. This officer had also refused to give him access to his property from which the frontage had been taken. Mr Fraser: Mr Mould knows his business and would not be likely to make such a statement. Air (Boxhead: I can produce evidence as to his remarks.

Mr Hine said that from Stratford to Toko the compensation was ftxcc hy a compensation court, from Toko to Huiroa private settlements wort made, and from Huiroa to To Worn all liability for compensation was disowned.

Mr Fraser said the law of the land should l)e that everybody within hall a mile of a railway should contribute to a compensation fund, those i not harmed by the line to pay compensa tion to those who were harmed. Mr Hine: That is not the law, thank goodness. Mr F raser: It should be. Mr Coxhead said Mr Boxdd ban stated that ho (Mr Coxhead) would not ho allowed any compensation foi the taking of the only frontage to hi? land.

Mr Fraser expressed surprise that such a statement should bo made, and

said that if the complaint were made in writing he would have it investigated.

A RECREATION GROUND, NEAR THE RAILWAY. Mr McCutchan asked for the influence of the Minister in procuring lor the Domain Board a little islam of land nearly in the heart of the township for a recreation ground. It was a beauty spot, and there was enough left by the Public "Works Department for a recreation ground. II appeared that the Police Department wanted the land for police quarters. They would not object to the Police Department having the land if it w:e the only available site, but another good site could he procured. It was further stated that the land consisted of about two acres in two pieces. One would do very well for n sports playing ground, while the other would do nicely laid out in walks.

The Minister promised to refer the matter to the Minister concerned.

POLiOE QUARTERS. PLEA FOE IMPROVEMENT. While inspect insr I lie proposed recreation ground, Mr Mine put in a strong plea for impi'ovement of the police building.