AN OHURA PROPOSITION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5, 27 April 1914, Page 8

AN OHURA PROPOSITION.

WAITAANGA: STS EXTENT AND POSSiBILITiES. The following artieky is taken from the latest issue of the ‘’Ohara Advocate” : Although one of the oldest settlements in the Ohura, its extent and pos.ihilities arc scarcely known to othei parts of the district, let alone the )utsidc world, which is, perhaps, due :o its isolated position. Situated on the Tongaporutu road, 15 miles from Ohura township and 52 Tom Waitara,the nearest town on tin vestern side, it occupies the unenvianh position of being cut off from outsidi ommunication by many miles of bridle track at either end. It is, truly, a mekhlocks hush settlement, and is xirt of the AVaro !)!cck that was open'd to the ballot in April, 1905, am 1 tas, without doubt, the largest area >f easiest country in the Ohura. Why a ll important block like this honld remain unloaded so long is a nystery, unless (as is usually the case) '.wing to the. clamour for land it wai brown open with a rough bush track pul the Department found itself unible to carry out the, costly work of oad formation: hut, nevertheless, the met remains that these settlers have been in there for over

Eight Years Without a Dray Road. ml have to resort to the expensive netlioc! of packing their goods from. ■>r to, either end of the track. From the Ohura side a dray road e> ends for a length of four miles, endng in a'■'6ft. bridle track through tin mAh which continues to wind up am [around the hill sides until the tableland s reached at an elevation of about [OO above son level where the settleuent of Waitaanga is situated. Afer riding through the bush it’s a relet to come upon an expanse of easy ouutry where the inhabitants enjo he benefits of a bracing and sunn; -Innate, while ns poor mortals at a ower elevation are often enveloped ir og; more especially in the wiuto ime. ft reminds one, on a small scale )f climbing the bush-dad ranges to the able-lands of the Darling Downs r Ineensland over 30 years ago. Tin ■xtent of easy country here surprise' ne; the hills arc few and low, tin lats far exceeding in area the hill; rortion. Most of the bush is heavy md closely timbered. In new burns i dense mass lies on the ground aim i greati forest remains standing, a ‘urge proportion of the timber bein' iron of good length and girth but prac deafly wasted. This shows there inns >e something in the land to prodnemch a crop. In the older clearings r,he logs are fast disappearing, and tin 'paddocks looking green and well grass cl where attended to. A second o:hird fire will clean up things. Mud has been said of some of the flats be •ng too wet,and the quantity of fibrou; natter known as “bookau” lying 01 :ho surface. But in time these tronb es must disitppear. The banks of tin Waitaanga are low and the stream .vinding about very much makes tin Ivor sluggish. Lower down, a scrimif rocks block the course of the water which, 1 understand, can lie shifted with comparative ease. This will giv< i. fall of many feet in the river, the: he flats can be easily drained am. Waitaanga will be all dry. As to tin bookau, which is a kind of rooty vege tation in a raw state, it will cithe: get burned off by a second fire or dis appear through the process of nature. decay. Some sections of good flat country seemed to be deserted; ; Wrong growth of fern, and scrub ap nearing among, the logs. This is to ar gone to do any good by stockim and will at some future time have tc bo burned off and re-sown. To see th bind in this state, struck me that th

Isolation of the Place ;ad something to do with it; n< neans of getting produce in or on 1 xcept by packhorse; no means c n joying a comfortable drive out in ; .heeled vehicle summer or winter milling (as it must appear to them —but the everlasting packhorse. The settlers first came in from th. Waitara side as no other track wn ivailable at that time and at presen dthough only 15 miles from Ohura II mail matter is sent by way o. ranmarnnni, Marten and Waitara hen inlnd to Kotare, a distance o *3 miles from Waitara; no mail scr ice, as yet, being established iron Umra. About 18 months since Wai aanga was connected with Ohura b. telephone wire through the bush. Thi; s a great boon to outlying district' uul one that can only be proper!; understood by those living in out-of fche-way roadless districts in white. Lime. And often in wet or wind; weather, a tree or branch falls and breaks the wire; no regular lineman is at hand; a settler may happen t< come along and loop the wire togelhe-, md communication is again restored The Departmental expenses in connec Lion with this line showed a difference of several pounds over the revetun received for the year’s working, but I do not think it will be cut oft on Lbat account as the County Council ire the guarantors for any loss. An agitation is now on foot in New Plymouth to have all available resources made towards repairing and metalling the main arterial road leading from New Plymouth to Te Kuiti on the Main Trunk railway. The reasons, given are, that it is useless to make side roads unless there is a good main road to get on to them. r l his is quite true as regards metalled roads, but the Waitaanga settlers do not expect a metalled road yet and it only seems fair to them to have the road widened to a Dray or Summer Road. As more than one settler remarked: “Wo should ho satisfied it it was only

a summer road so that we could take advantage of the dry weather to cart air goods in and out and therefore <av,e the great expense and labour of paeking. (To be Continued.)