THE CHATHAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 July 1907, Page 4

THE CHATHAMS.

AX IDEAL PLACE OF I?ISSUANCE. There is a happy land far, far away—m the Chatham Islands, said a visitor. Mr C. Wishart. from that locality to a C'hristchurch Press reporter, the other day. "Ours is a little country that is free from rates and taxes," he explained. '■You see, we have no representation in Parliament, and have no uolitical luxuries to pay for. J n sp jt e 0 f that we i rub along very comfortably. Our af-' fflirs are managed by a "Wharf Committee and a Stock Committee, which haVe recently been amalgamated. The former body looks after the collection of dues ami keeps the wharf in repair, while the Mock Committee regulates the shipment of stock, and prevents the large sheepowners from monopolising the shipping space. The island is divided into seven districts, each having representation In the joint committee. There are no metalled roads on the Chathams, and the only fenced thoroughfare is in the vicinity of Waitangi, extending six miles in one direction and four in another. The people living along the road keep it in as good repair as they can. The simple life agrees with us immensely over there," Mr Wishart continued. "The people old m years but young in bodily vigor are to lie met with on every hand. The climate is a particularly healthy one and we live a great deal of our time outdoors. That is the cause of it, I supnose. There is very little sickness, and absolutely no poverty. How could there be when nature supplies food so abundantly!"