THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 3 April 1907, Page 3

THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS.

A SETTLER'S TRIAL. CHILD LEFT TO DIE. Matiere was reached at 3.30 in the afternoon, just as the youngsters were leaving school. Their appearance would certainly have nonplussed the city scribe who writes the dreary tragic story o! the "child slaves of TaranakL' From the point of. view of intelligence 'these children have nothing to learn from their city cousins, ami for physique —we'd, a score of them looked (it to tackle and b'at half a Hundred town-breil youngsters. The Matiere school site is a little tableland, raised perhaps twelve feet above the- surrounding countrv, ami the place generally has a clean, tidy appearance.

MATIEItH is a ivpic.il backblocks village, but has excellent prospects. There are two hoarding houses, a couple of stores, smithy, and the indispensable billiard room. Of course, the main street is st>H unnictalled, and in wet weather the prospect is a chei.vless one. The country around comprises excellent fern and heavy bush iand, but it is a noticeable feature, here and right along the route, that (he timber is sappy, with vwy little hear.. To the traveller Matiere seems to have the best chances of growing into a. fair sized lowa, and this idea is not dispelled by a visit to the much vaunted Mangoro'a: but of fiis more liter. As there i< some chance -of the Stratford-Ongaruc branch railway ww v he'.ng commenced at this end, the id'a being to open a suction as far as .Matiere, with a view of cheapening the cost of living in this locality and removing some of the undoubted hardships of the pioneer life. The movement in favour of the construction of this line is strengthened by the semi-official intimation that the route of the line from the Stratford end is not yet decided on definitely, and a great change from the surveyed route is more than probable. As all this means delay, THE SETTLERS DESPAIR

of early connection with TarauaUi, and are endeavouring to secure a railway outlet to the north. Ongarue is eighteen miles away, and all the traffic to that centre from Mangaroa and Mangapapa districts passes through Matiere, which is likely to assume fair proportions on to

MANUAKOA, who e praises people sing. And lific is the only disappointment of the whole tour. Mangaroa is far short of expectations. A couple of stoves, three little boardinghouses, a school that had to lie dosed at the end of last year on account of the attendance dwindling down to an average of 4.5. No wonder the teacher left. No children to teach, and no fungus to gather, made his prospects look blue indeed.- The town, or the site of a proposed town, is on very lowlying land, and in wet wcjather the place is partly under water. The next day, after a wrong turning and the re-: tracing of the way which added [four miles to the journey,

TATU was reached. Tutu was the place, it will bo remembered, in whose vicinity the unfortunate mailman disappeared last winter, overtaken by the, Hoods. The Tatu stream is dark and murky, taking its colour from the outcropping coal. It is a sluggish, lazy tream, which rises rapidly in rainy weather, and is spanned by low-level bridges, which are always submerged whilst the stream

is in Hood. When the Hoods subside 1 lasL winter it was found that the piece of decking in a bridge had disappeared, an the settlers surmised that the mailman, ou foot, stepped into the opening, fell, and was wept away by the: Hood. Xcaring Tatu, two pedestrians came into view, travelling in the opposite direction. They were llr Percy Bayly, of Ilaw'era, aged til) years, 'tramping through. As usual he, was armed to

the teeth, and, despite his age, he carried a swag weighing probably 80 pounds. lie was accompanied by his son, similarly loaded, and he in turn had a grimly tenacious and unpleasant companion,—a raging toothache. Scenery failed !o charm or words to soothe him, and it would be safe to wager that he'd have given away the whole countryside for mi interview with a dentist. From Tatu we rode through to Tokorima, and on the Ohura river. Here was fouiill another h'ghway—a watery one, the settlers obtaining their goods from Taumaramii. Ami it was in Ibis locality, too, that the trials of the backbloek settler were exhibited in colours that no artist could paint, or years ell'ace. fu a little home, father and mother stood over the bed of their boniiie eighteen-months-old child, awaiting the end. The infant had been stricken down with dyscntry, and was gradually sinking. Distracted with sorrow, the parents were powerless. There was not a doctor within call, not a chemist or dispensary, not even a store for miles. All the household remedies had been tried, without avail. Far away, in the midst of an oppressive- solitude, father and mother watched for the passing of that sweet young life, unable to assist or alloy the suffering, or to stay the progress of

THE liEAl'Ell DKATIL Who says that the backblocks member mifairlv uses the argument or the cry uf the'" backblocks settler'; Who cnvvies th« life of the pioneer backwoodsman! Let liim conjure up this picture, the dying child and helpless parents in the little log hut so far removed from friends, from civilisation, from help, and then let him say whether or not the tlovcrnmont of this country has not a great deal to answer for when it sends men into the wayback lands of the colony and wickedly fails to give, thai road access which they are led to expect. This is hut one instance of the misery and sull'ering which too often falls lo the lot of the bush pioneer and his plucky wife; and for the sake of the women and children who have; lo face these trials let us ever urge on a policy that will bring them within easier travelling distance of the settled country. The settlers art' endeavouring to arrange for a resident niedicai practitioner at llangaroa, guarantee'ug Ci'iO a year, and agreeing to a charge of 7/(1 a visit in addition to mileage at live shillings per mile. Leaving this melancholy scene a reliirn trip'is made to Tatu. All along the road can be heard the complaint of settlers that the Government is reserving Jie pick of the country, probably for future settlement.

WILD CATTLE AIIOUXD. When a hunting partv succeeds in killing some good wild beef, there is made a distribution of the spoil which would do credit to the time of the ancient liomans when, according to Jliiciiuley, '.'spoils wfrc fairly portioned, lands were fairly sold." A few weeks ago a beast was beiii'i disseeied for distribution, and regret was expressed that So-and-So hadn't come lor a piece. lint another settler had a keen eye to bu-iness. '.faking a bounteous share of the free beef, he called at I lie camp of the abs<|utee, And sold hi..' 'be'. 'that action was enough for i a ■ '.'■ most sons of the wdvlernes., and the meat seller doesn't come in now for his share of the. spoils of the hunt. A- mean as possible, he has been "scni, to Coventry.'' These

SWI'UCUS AKli J.Ul'ltlSUXEl) in tin- wilil in vinter. The roads are impassable. .Many of (hem have, not -ecu ii train fur years. Oim thing that impresses the. vUilor is tin.' fin,.. stuKip* nf women w!ni, in Hi,. ell'ort to carve a lmiiic from lids rich accmipuny their husbands, forsaking ihc old homo, friends, social fiijoymcjsii. :t,;.l ;;o, in;.' they know not wli -,■<: laving in. ' a hi ml whore doctors arc unknown.' and nursing aUoinlaueo al ,-t unprocurable. ■ Attending to the household duties and 1 seldom .sciiing a soul ouisidc the family itself. 'dhe homes arc in many case- ■ mere *lab ini! ■, or sometimes a coinbiu- ; aii< f lent and lint. Ktuviii" ;,, ,„,., ' af I lie- laiier. cvcrvtliing U'e i-unn! was spotless as at 'tin. great life's. I Th. table war- and enllcry shone ai'in .ni the snowy eloill, and the sweit lion er made bread and Imlter would have v templed a prince. And I his in a piace Hint looked from the outside as kirdlv ~ lit for human liahitution. '-The cotla"-.. 1 was a iinilehed one, the. outs'de old and mean: yet everything within that col , was wondrous neat and clean." And ,( "little dims'' there, were in plenty; s ft of them: six sturdy little chain, dad principally i„ a pair of pants and thei, ~ braces, happy and Imalthy; with 'ilieii „ playground in Xnluro's woodlands „. They had Ihcir niinjiture model farms ~. fenced in manuka (ti-troe) twigs ant |. : subdivided into paddocks, and litth „ buildings that their little lingers hat _ fashioned. Of the six—teo"ctihsfc*mii years oldHJjrca cqulj2 awim irTiftj

pool that they had deepened for tin.' purpose. And at night they came one by one. and kissed tile parents good-night shook hands with the visitor, and tbei strode atvay in the darku.ss to thcii sleeping-lint tun chains farther up tin hill. She was a WONDERFUL WOMAN, a wonderful manager with wonderfullj primitive appliaiucs, and a woeful lack of space. And it shows what woman can do when "pur to it.'' 'think of it ye dwellers in (.he towns. Rooms scarce large enough to swing a kj-tjiv ceiling; low, clay Moors, mats of sacks resting on frames of supplejacks, no butcher, no baker, no grocer or coal man calling; no visiting, no concerts-, nothing but home! How little some ol you value the conveniences which have come with the march of civil.sation. The next move-on was towards Kohn ralahi, but the country hereabouts am the glories of (he 'J'angarakau gorge an worthy of another article, which w ,fi appuar later. ,