HELPING THE BACKBLOOKER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 23 April 1907, Page 2

HELPING THE BACKBLOOKER

THE OIIUIIA KOAD. ( DEPUTATION TO THE ACTING- e IUHOMJ Ull. * il A (I<*[>iii:i(ioit representing (lie Tarji- l ink! Chamber of Commerce waited 11)1011 *■ ,Uc Aeting-l'remier late yesterday .if.crnooii in connection with the Oliura road, and the proposal to hiiml it over ! to the Stratford Couniy Council. - The deputation consisted of .Messrs ' Ab. Goldwatcr (President of the Cham- ' her). J. H. Connott, Newton King, W. |' ,T. Peim, C. Govett, \V. Amlmry mid 1 Bedford. Mr W. Jennings, M.H.R., introduced > the denudation. ' Mr Goldwater noted as spokesman. Having refenvil to the loss the liovn 111111 district had sustained hv the death of Mr E. M. Smith, he said' that they wt»re led to lielieve thai it was eontcin|)late.l liy the (lovernmem to hand over to the Stratford County Council a large portion of the Oliura road in its present unfinished stale. Such a proceeding, he under-lood, was contrary to the usual custom of the Governments of the past, mill if such were done in respect of the Stratford County Council, it would militate against that body in the upkeep of the other roads, as the large co-i, entailed Ml keeping the unfinished piece of (he Ohnra road would cat up , the greater portion of their rates, anil 1 Hie ratepayers would lie compelled to submit to heavier taxation for the upkeep of roads. Up to the present the Oliura road had Ibecn paying a heavy penalty, not only in rateis hut in excessive charges on settlers' food, clothing and farm requisites required by them; also in the ma/Her of getting their farm products to markets. It. meant that there would he no relief to (his excess unless the fiovernme<rfc completed the metalling of the mad. . "What the deputation would like to sec was the projected action deferred uniil Mich time as a thorough personal investigation of the question in all its hearings had been made by Mr Hall-Jones or the Minister for lands.

Mr W. J. Tcnii followed. He knew the Oliura district from personal experience and was cognisant of the past and present rtato of all'airs. He dwelt upon (lie inability of the Settlers to carry any additional burden, upon the hardships that would lie inflicted on the County Council were tee main road in its present condiiiion left to the Council to maintain, and upon a great proportion of the settlers being driven to give up their holdings, on account of the disabilities connected with the life there. It was not the fault of these settlers and Hie Oliura people that so much money had been spent on the road with so little practical result. He was quite sure that Ministers did not quite appreciate \he gravity of the situation. If they were to enijuire personally they wot'il realise how impossible it was for the settlers to carry any greater burden.' He would beg of Mr Hall-Jones or the Minister for Lands to enquire into the matter personally before taking the extreme step of vesting the Oliura road in the Stratford County Council.

In reply, Mr Hall-Jones said he was very glad' that the deputation had seen him, because from what had been said, it was evident they did not understand the position. They had said the settlers were unable to undertake the Inirdeu of metalling the road. Who had asked them to? Wliat had been said was that they should assist in the maintenance of the road and the money voted by Parliament would be utilised in metalling the road. Hundreds of miles of roads in different, parts of the colony had been dealt with in a similar manner: counties did -the maintenance and the Government the metalling. The counties were glad to take the roads over, and he fell sure that when he saw the Stratford County Council that night and the position was fully explained to the. Councillors, they would realise the benefits resulting from the poursc he proposed and would be. thankful to take charge of the road. He was anxious to give the settlers anccss to their holdings. He wanted to help the back-hkiekers as much as the deputation, or anyone else in the country. He wanted '.lo give them good roads. Some of the settlers in the far Ohura had only bridle (racks. He was going to help them to get dray roads. The Government had certain moneys voted by Parliament for reading. The Government wanted (o use .these moneys as far as possible in niakiig roads—not to maintain them when they had been made. It was to (heir interests—the settlors' and the Government's—io work together in the matter. The present trouble did not originate from Hie Stratford County Council. It originated from the public meeting held ft Stratford, and which had protested against the curtailment of public works in the district. That meeting was founded on a lie. Public works there had not been stopped. lie felt sure, as lie said before, (hat had (lie same money as had been spent, in that district been expended in oilier districts there would have been more appreciation felt amlishown. The sum of £114,000 had been spent ou the Ohura road alone, and he agreed that had the County Council done some of the maintcnj a'nee. they would ere now have had the road to Whangamomona properly metalled. The Government had to do the maintenance as well as the construction. The settlers in the district in question had nothing to complain of in the treatment, they had received at the hands of the Government. The Government had helped them, was helping them. It was supplying them with burnt papa for the roads; and it was doing its best for them in forming, metalling and maintaining the roads. lie was fully alive to the fact that the country couid not prosper unless the work of road" ing the country was proceeded witn. This the Government vttis doing to the. utmost of its ability. One of the deputation had spoken of aliont 70 per cent of the settlers in the Ohura district having been driven out on account of the disabilities under which they had labored. To show how these same settlers had been "starved," lie would instance a few of (heir cases. One had spent £750 on improvements, anil seed out for £I2OO. Another's improvements were valued at £130; he sold out at £500; another's improvements were £l-10 when he sold out for £3OO. Still another's improvements were assessed at £530; he got £B3O for his place. These were only a few cases of many that were on the list he had prepared. These men had been "starved on!!'' H was a fact that (hey had not been starved out. They had sold out to benefit themselves, and to buy other places. The Government had done well for the settlers of the backblocks of Turanaki, and the Government, he felt sure, would do well for them in .future. Mr I'enn explained that the action of (he Chamber of Commerce in ilepiitationising him on this matter ■ was no f prom.pU-i by any outside inlluenee. for, as a matter of fact, Uio Chamber had for years been moving in the direction of opening up the backblocks and gaining for the settlers improved means of communication. Mr Hall-Jones said tlv money available for (he Ohwa district would lie used -for further metalling. They could rest assured on 'that point. They had their respective parts to perform. The (Invevnmeflt would do its. He wished Taranakl would devoiop lit* harbor more than it was doing, and instanced the ease of Timarn, where he saw otic day last week boats lying at the wharf which aggregated over 30,000 tons. There was no reason, in his opinion, why Xew Plymouth should not have the same. Mr Jennings: We will have (he big lioats here if you will look after (lie back-blocks and give (hem roads, The deputation, utter thanking Mr Hall-Jones for his courteous reception, noon after withdrew. MR HAI,L-JONT.S AND TIIK STIIATPO.RD COUNTY COUNCIL MATTEK APPAUKN'TIA" CLKAIiKD UP, (By Telegraph.—From Our Special ' Reporter) stilt foil \pill 22 The Acting-Premier, Mr Hall-Jones, on •nrival n't Stratford !>v special train from New Plymouth to-night, met the tslratl'ord County Council at the County Unto). Ail (he councillor* were prcsul lAiept McSsis J line tud Mi (Nil cheon. Mi Hill Tones lfta pawng i Imd olimit lo tin hit Mi h M Smith sn ing he had been as hard a worker in and out of (he House as any man he was acquainted with, was pleased to llnd the people of New Plymouth attend him to his "lis resting pluc iu sudi laigi mini Piers', The Minister isahl that having come so far he thought it a good opportunity to'meet good business man, for as eucJi he looked upon the Sdrotjoid c<?u.n<

ty Council. His ationtion was drawn soiuu litLlc time ago to an advertisement palling a moeiing to protest against tli« curtailment of the works on the Ohura. road and signed, "N. J. King, Mayor." Tliat advertisement was based on falsehood. At the time that advertisement appeared votes for this district had been auuonsed by two to thi": thousand pounds. ,'soimi strong things were said at that meeting. .Mr Marehaut: J'mi mo strong, sir. The .Minister, continuing, said lie had always given llie (Joumy fair treatment. < As the outcome of that, meeting, a ivso- . lution was passed urgfng a more vigor- . ous prosecution of road works. lie , thought the best way was to hand the road over to the comity. There, however, seemed to be Su.ne misapprehension. He had never suggested that the county should do the metalling of 'the road. He only wniiied the county to maintain the road and assist him to carry on the metalling. There, was no suggestion of treating the comity exceptionally. The road was pracjcally the Stratford County*.. .<:; soon as i( wa's formed. There were many worse places than i.lie Ohura road skle-roail... In many eases there was not oven a dray road. lie laid down that his work was primarily to lay down tracks and then to Iransfoini them into dray roads. Ai I'angilikoi there was mure progress than in anv countv he knew, lie formed a mad and handed it over, and I hen on accrued thirds raised money. lie desired no connection with men acting on phpie. lie desired to meet business men, and therefore asked the eoniny to meet him. lie wanted 10 help the hack-blocks settlers and wanted (he county to help him to do so. He had (o lie careful how he proceeded with bis expenditure, as he would probably lie shorter of funds than at present. ' Keviewing the great progress of road works in Stratford during the last ten years, lie paid tribute to Mr Synies, 11.H.1i. He did not know any road of this nature that had been so long maintained liy the State, or any road on which so much money had been spent. Some 22 miles were metalled, jand handed over to the county. Sixteen miles beyond is unmetalled, and six miles 19 chains beyond tha't again were metalled, lie never put the maintenance of a road on a county in winter time. The question was of looking after the maintenance of 10 miles, and in that he should be glad to have the county's assistance so as lie could proceed with the metalling a(s expeditiously as at the present.

Mr Marchant, chairman of the County Council, deplored the meeting hold in Stratford in February .without the county being consultut, and said lie was extremely sorry that 'the meeting was Jii'ld. He told the conveners of the meeting at 'the time, that the comity had no grievance with the Government at all, and he deeply regretted the meeting being held and the iinwarrantly hard things aid. Personally; the county had every reason to be pleased with the treatment by the Government.

Mr Hall-Jones pointed 'out thai one of his objects was that the county workmen passing to ami fro should attend to little matters on the road (hat required looking after. He was always prepared to give assistance, in extraordinary circumstances. Why not draw on some of the "thirds" accruing to Whangamomona, some ,0500 to £2OOO, to assist in maintenance? About £llOO of accrued "thirds" were available directly for the Ohura road. The best thing at present was to arrive at some arrangement mutually to maintain the road. As winter was approaching, he would not at present hand over the unmetalled sixteen miles.

Mr Marchant pointed out that the maintenance of the road to the Government had been very large. Up to the present the County Council had only had care of the niatalled road, and lnaiii'tenance had absorbed the whole of the funds of the district and a portion of the StratJord-to-Douglas road, and a little beyond was £3OOO to the bad. Jf that was the case in that, portion, how much worse would it be if the county had Hie maintenance of the whole of the road? if the whole of the road were metalled, it would still tax the resources of the whole district to main-

tain it. Mr Hall-Jones: You mean that the rates are not suilieiciiU What are you doing with the accrued "thirds'"; Mr .Marchant said that the general rate of a half-penny in the £ ou improved value of the Ohura road in Ohura riding was producing £205. On the other side roads, the rate of one penny hall-penny produced £(il."i; on the Olmvn road in tiic east riding- a Ihree-fnrlhings rate on capital value produced .111280; a general rate on the unimproved value of three-halfpence in the £ produced Cl-Uitl: and iivc-farthings iu the £ on the other roads £l2Oll. The two latter rates together were more than a penny halfpenny on the capital vaule. The Ohura road in the Ohura riding ai present was in credit by £llO. The dr. balance on the Ohura road last year in ihe, east riding was a.3342, which was gone iu maintenance, over and above 'he rates. At 31st March, 1007, the deiut balance was £3107. If contracts had been carried out, the position would have been substantially worse. He could >not conceive how that district could carry the burden and provide for maintenance of the road, Mr Thomson also dealt with the hurdthipa of the. district. Mr Halt-Jones, referring to the allegations of earlier settlers having to leu\e Whangaiuoinona, dealt with the matter on the same lines as at New Plymouth, giving instances of sellers selling at good remunerative prices. He had a whole list of these settlers, anil, so far as he could see, nearly all had done very well. Mr Woods also thanked the Minister for the very kind treatment he had accorded the county deputation in Wellington.

Mr Hall-Jones. Yes; you got all you wanted, didn't you'/ Mr Woods continuul that ho agreed that Mr Thomson had hit the nail ou the head when he said the finishing of the railway lor metal to the nioutaiu was the >e'crcl of the question. Mr Hall-Jones said He would see the county through with the saddle portion est the road, a distance of four miles, which ran through the forest reserve. The eleven miles umnetalled between the foot of the saddle and the metalled portions at Huiakama ran through priviue lands. Mr .Marchant agreed, but said, why should settlers further back be penalised i'or that? Mr Hall-Jones said that every other conntv accepted such proposals. Mr'Syiues, M.U.U., said that the Whiingamoinoiia roads were harder to make and maintain. lie also pointed out that the loading was very heavy. Mr Hull-Jones, in icply, pointed out that the great portion was unloaded, and I hey could borrow at 4 per cent for 41 year*, whei. they would De clear of burden. The cost of maintenance o,f the whole of the road to Tutu from Stratford, over the last six years, only averaged £ISOO a year. With the county's accrued "thirds" ho was sure lie could come to some arrangement to maintain the road. Ho would oven go as far as to help pound for pound, and would also look after the road over (he saddle. The best wfiy was to arrive at .some sum which he could assist them bv fur maintenance that eleven unmetailed miles, He would do as much metalling as he could with the money available next year. His whole desire was lo help the backblocks. lie only wanted tho county lo assist him as much a s possible with'the maintenance, and he would get on with the metalling with as much progress as possible. Ile never had the remotest idea that the county should do the metalling, lie wanted to see the metalled ends connected, and would certainly make provision for it, on (he Estimates. If any ditlieul'ty was got, into over maintenance lie was prepared to assist the, county 'to the exteii'; of pound for pound. The county councillors thanked Mr llall-Joncs, and evidently were satisfied that the matter has been cleared up .