THE BACKBLOCKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8148, 4 July 1906, Page 2

THE BACKBLOCKS.

i SOME DISABILITIES. s P Writes out Uruti correspondent There lvn been another change ii ! the co-op. labour lately. Tlie loca Y ongincer received instructions thai sums of money had been voted fo I eertain roadi, and things were prepar , ing to go back when tho next thins wi i hear is that all co-op. work in th< [ back block is to stop at once and n new contracts are to be let. Sursl; there is a screw loose somewhere 1; our Koads Department. The sami thing was dono some two yoars ago ' some were stopped in the middle o ' their contract, aud all work wa '< slopped for a month or so, and tln-i s sonic of the men were sent back t " where they had shifted from only '' vreok o: two before This sty'e o l ' treitraent of tie oo.op. labourers i disastrous to them financially, as mos Q of them have no homes to go to. To consequence ii (hat they hang abou the hotels and boarding houses unti funds are gone and then have to tak i, to the reads. Ili ive heard some o i, Iliem remark that they believe tha t they ore'eryed in this way to keei them from geltint; too off. Per haps this is a trick to keep plenty o navvies and bushmen in hand; at ail' rat* there is no talk of stopping publii works just before an election. What is really wanted out this wnj is the train to Urenui. The excuse is I believe, that it would not pay. Wh< . would be so foolish as to believe that i 1 From Waitara, to Urenui, a distance o - about ten miles, the line would rui , through first olass farming land o) ; every description. There is land foi ; the dairy farmer, the turnip grower ~ and above all a prosperous little towr ■ lo run to. Tiie land is practically , level the whole way from Waitara, tin Omero hill being the only hill of any size that would have to b e de&h with. From Urenui there roi,( ls leading ta the buck blocks in everj direction. TTo one who takes thi trouble to think about it can bo of the o,)in : on fh t the e.\toasion of tlif railway at Urenui would not pay. Un- ■ less the farmers and settlers at this ' end make a move in this matter we - will find ourselves left behind with all , our back block trade gone to Auckland. I The only way to get these things done ■ is to be continually harping at Minis- ' t ts in Parliament until wo get a hear. i"S. It is no use meeting a few Min : sters at Ur. nui with deputations. Wo want a few deputations to go to Wellington, with a list or two of a ' fcwluid'ed names to them So let them s 'e that this is a district of some it: p 'rUnce. On lip Ohiu road list w'nt-r lip> stores s'artel. They had to pack all their >t'r' in for miles on pickhorses: prior to this, the stir keeper from there v a p.vkin;* ftn'es (on Uruti to settli'n and en-op. labourers forlv miles bae'e up the Mnn;nroa and Ohau roads. Those a'e the men, these baok blo.'k s« f ts, the very backbone of the coin ry, who have worso time than prison labourers. Wi.wever settlement is thero should also bo decent roads, to give the settlers a ohauce to make a living off their land. At preamt they get a section and then have gi out to work, and work for_whatey.r wagetljoy pan get to keep their section. This can scarcely be called getting a living off the land As things have been in the past the towns have got all the consideration and the back settlers left out ii tho cold. Simply becau e they have been men with big hearls and' stout arms who have stuck to Inrd graft and rough life, hoping that in a feiv years' time Ha' Ih'ng woull change.' Bui this iLane has not come and it is now high time for the back block settlers to m:ik > themselves hcard, and lo stand to pother as one m:vi, vmd keep on until listened lo ;:n 1 g'y n justice.