THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 27 March 1907, Page 3

THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS

I GREAT TRADE POSSIBILITIES. TARAXAKI ASLEEP. Ear back at Aria, and, in fact, in all the other centres in the Taranaki Hinterland, the cry is for roads, roads. T'liey are coming gradually, Inn only gradually, and too slowly. And they are hardly moving from the Taranaki end. The trade, consequently, goes Auckland-wards. Necessaries of die conic in from the North, and Tarunaki's unclaimed birthright is being filched away by the greater commercial activity of the northern metropolis. Taranaki'"is asleep, and has been asleep for many years. Occasionally the sleeper turns on his touch of complacency and commercial indolence, and mutters indistinctly. It is the wail of the Chambers of Commerce who everv now and again make litful and futile reference to the need [or reading, lint it is theoretical eloquence of dreamers, and sleep quickly follows. Few of the speakers know much of the locality of which they speak, and their cries for assistance are confined ,to one or two roads in which the members may have more iperlsonal than, in I crest. In fact, it is the professional iran, and not the business man who thus airs his eloquence. And his talk is without avail. When .the great and good government, forms and metals all the roads, Taranaki bagmen may wander into Aria, Mangaroa, Tatu, and all the other remote centres of population. And they may wander out, too, without opening a book, for the Aucklander has been there first. He is there now, laying the foundation for a great business with the increasing population in the heart of the island. And the northerners are working—not talking—for roads and railways. That's where the rub conies. And they are getting what I they want and the Main Trunk railway is creeping southwards and gobbling up the trade for Auckland. A movement is afoot and an agitation quietly working, for the commencement of the Taranaki branch railway from the northern end. There arc no quarrels about routes. The quarrels are left to Taranaki, i and Taranaki squabbles away its chances of having the line made in time to . reap a harvest of trade. Unless there ] is a change we shall simply be gleaners 1 over the iield from which Auckland has ' garnered the best of the crop. Taran- : aki is asleep, or dreaming. The trav- 1 eller finds little sympathy, except from old associations, with Taranaki, the natural outlet of this vast and magnificent pastoral country. With all re- < pect to the Waiinate Plains, this is 1 "the" pastoral land of Taranaki. A ' rich loamy soil, in easy, undulating ' country, without gulches or gorges, or ' steep hills, is the usual characteristic. * It is capable of being subdivided profit- ' ably into small holdings. It seems to ' fatten /bullocks very rapidly, and it is 1 used largely for this purpose. And 1 this stock finds its way northwards. * The settlers are anxious for .the estah- ' lishment of an auctioneering concern; there, and 'the first business of the kind should find a splendid investment. A fco-opui'ativc sakyai\ls company is en tapis, and the business will probably be | offered to a Waikato or Auckland firm. I And why should not this rapidly devel- ; oping country send its trade in this di- ' rection? It s'eems that it can be fed I and served easily and cheaply by means I of the Mokau river, which should prove ' the highway of commerce so far as this i district is concerned. The river is < navigable for sea-going vessels now for 1 nearly thirty miles from its mouth, and 1 it does not appear to he a very big' con- ' tract to extend the navigable portion ; by snaggipg. The Mokau River Trust ' is endevouring to arrange for a survey of the river: but time ftics, and the Mo- [ kau still remains useless to us in this ' respect . Roads from these districts to j New Plymouth are impassable in winter. By way of the coast there is the ! Mount Messenger troujile, and it is ad- ! mitted that the road is in the wrong j place. So no work of improvement j goes on, and worse still, no steps are , taken to make the new road which is < considered necessary. By the inland >, route is the Tangarakau gorge, which i like Mount Messenger, is grand from a t scenic p? Nt of view, but a block in the ( progress of settlement. The business r firms of Xew Plymouth have a dreamy 1

eye on this tine hunting ground. They know that there is great businos to

I>e done, and stem to think that our j boasted links with the past—the first j rifle volunteer corps under fire, tin; shedding of blood at Waireka. our , luana as the race Of .settlers who kept 1 the hordes of Maoris from our door*, will do the trick. But it won't. Business won't be attracted, to New Plymouth by any sentimental magnet if the best business proportion conies from the other end. You can't expect a steamer to drift downstream .f there's a pair of paddle wheels churning up the water in the opposite direction. Whilst Taranaki sleeps, one result of Iter lethargy already appears. The powers at the seat of Government have recognised that Auckland can the better administer the school all'airs of the new Waitoma county, including part of the Taranaki Education District, and that already diinunitive area loses another slice. Is there a live man in New Plymouth who can make the people [bestir themselves in this matter? But long soliloquies are not conducive to rapid travelling. We must move on ,to Kaeaea. Puzzling sort of a name in point, isn't h ? Pronunciation is easy, though, when we spell it Kaiaia, | which gives a better idea of the manner |o£ naming this little place, seven miles from Aria. Here there is a school, with a young lady in charge. Deep in the solitude of tlie forest, away from civilisation, its pleasing comforts and irksome conventionalities, Miss McMillan is teaching fourteen members of "the young idea" how to read, write and figure, and fitting them for the battle of life. And, for casting aside companionship, home ties, opportunities for self-improvement, ami the comforis of town life, and diving deep into the unroaded country, a benctieient country doles out a salary of CS4 a year! The weary wayfarer met with a hear-

ty welcome at Kaeaea. He was expect- I ed. Mental telepathy? Marconigranis'/ No. But it was marvellous to note the 1 spread of news. Talking at Paemako, 1 he mentioned idle death of one of New 1 Plymouth's be-t-known commercial meli. The news arrived that night at Kaeaca. Whilst he slept, his budget of seven-days-old news, up-to-date when he left, 1 was being repealed in settlers' homes at the village he purposed visiting in a > couple of days. They knew all about him. who he was, whence he came, and ' wherefore. Kaeaea is in the midst of some fine grazing land, and the cattle seen from the road were sleek and fat. Low-lying grass lands, witli patches of timber, but mostly open, are the general conditions. Back to the main , road—or, rather, the main track, for it i is a road on the ma]) only—and a start is made for Mangapapa. Progress was blocked a mile, or so farther on. the road ceasing at the great papa face. The men have gone gra«s--e-ding, and the road will be continued some day. So the night was spent at Mr Hunter's house. Mr Hunter is an Australian, who spoke enthusiastically of the grea' advantages this colony has over the great island continent. F.'r-t of all, the climatic conditions were not comparable. with our-, and there were not the same opportunities given b>r the man of small capital to get hold of a bit of land and work' it A selector who was plucky enough io take up land in the country of big Sfjuatters rece \ed no help'ng hand from his big-landed neighbor. He ha I no chance of obtaining a little employment, for infctaree. at tin* big man's hinds. But, on the contrary, the sqnatjer did all in his pow<-r to get the selector out of the locality. Here, in New Zealand the new man on the land could get work from his neighbor, or from the State, to help him along until his own little plot had begun to make a return for the outlay of cash and labor. Amount his sidelights on Australian life, Mr Hunter mentioned the thousands of men wandering all over the country, with b!ank"t and "billy," and, without doing a touch of work, demand and receive their rations fit/ni the stations day by day. Our friend mentioned the i of a man who«e farm had been I panned on the way. This settler had never known to give a stranger a bed or a feed, and ;he Australian said ; tie wouldn't bo long prosperous 'on the t h r side.-' Some of the tramp ele« [• nieiit would rcpav such meanness hy 1 i. 1 burninjr down sheds and wrecking his . homestead. Next morning Mr Hunter i put the traveller on the right track, - which led nVnr the Waikaka Falisj I known as the twin falls. Each fall h

tibout twelve feci in height, ami I hoy arc a.liout a clmiix and a lm,i apart, in a pretty setting of native bush. Mangilpapa is 1 lie next stopping plui'. 'l'liere is no township yet, nut even a blaeksmith's shop, but tlieve is a fine school building just creeled l>y the Public Works l)i'pai]tment for the Education Board. The bu'lding is splendidly finished, and substantially built. There are .'ill pupils, with Mr Bicheno as sole teacher. This gentleman put up quite a talking teat, travelling' on foot over seventy miles between Whanganiomoiu ! and his scdiool. Slaiipjajiapa was the resting place for the night. Mr Carter, representative of Mr Hickman Russel, acting as host. The land here was exceptionally good, producing some of the host rye-grass and c'over that it has licen our pleasure to see.