NOTICE FOR THE BACKBLOCKER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 393, 19 May 1910, Page 3

NOTICE FOR THE BACKBLOCKER.

To the Editor. .Sir,—Having occasion to pay a visit to tliu iiakarakia Valley, a settlement -some 50 odd miles from New Plymouth, ami nvith the knowledge that several of the settlers 'had occupied and resided on their holdings for the past 15 years, I was astonished to find that for some nine miles their only means of egress was by a six-foot pack track, called the. Tui road. The track, is called a six-loot one, but this only refers to .portions of it, for in many places, what with the rank growth of tiipara and scrub on the hillside, togetner with the constant breaking away of the outer edge ana .slips there is only .some three feet or so of .practical use, and exceedingly dangerous at that. To one who tor some few years pas,t has been unused to going over such/places I felt thankful tlwt the utmost conlidence could be placed in the sure-tfootedness of the horse 1 was j riding, otherwise i fear that the c-lianw i were much in favor of sooner or later j finding my 'horse and self at the bottom of a. ravine L.iat is so steep that i was unable to see the bottom, and these diumerous places are only too frequent, i iusi count of the numerous sighs <A relief breathed after passing over these many bad .spots. As to the track it-ell it is in si shockingly bad state. more especially when one takes into consideration the long spell of fine weather experienced, and that only two days' ram had turned- the track into a veritable quagmire. A couple of weeks ago tile journey from Putiki to the Valley could lie done in an '.hour and a-'half. but today three hours is required to gel over the same ground, and the distance is only about nine nines, that is at the Tii te of three miles an hour. Had something been done to clear out drains and cut back the growth there would have been a manked difference in the time occupied, but I suppose that as the road ..as then counted good there was no need to touch it, .and now, except •cutins;: away the .scrub, very little can be done to those mvus in the winter. L was informed' that the energetic member -'for the district recently .paid a visit with a'yiew to laying before the settlers the fact that so far as he was concerned everything .possible was done to have the Kiwi road completed, and with Jiis wellknown desire to assist the backbloeker he will make some of the dry bones rattle in finding out where the fault of non-expenditure of a grant made l.'.sc January'lies. In the course of conversation with several of the settlers .1 endeavored to ascertain why this particular district 'had been so badly treated, but tliev were unable to enlighten me on the subject, and 'have now arrived at the condition that 'hope deferred makes the :lieart of the settler very sick. The promises of a through dray road have been so often made that -the words are almost nauseating. It only requires some 3'/ 2 miles of the Kiwi road to be made and formed to give them decent access, and although the last promise iVas made in January nothing further ilras been done. The completion of the road wouiu save i-he settlers some (1% miles journey to a market. It seems almost incredible •that such a. state of things exists, but exist it does, and no effort is being made by the Puiblic Works Department to alleviate the condition of those residing at •the far end. I might just say in passing that there are now quite a number of settlers waiting .for something to he done so that they might get on to their sections, and these iwili be affectod cither beneficially or detrimentally according to whether vigorous efforts are ;>nt forth to complete the work or aliD.v it to remain in statu quo. Alihoug'lt no good can be done by raking up the errors of the .past, someone erred very badly in laying off the Tui road road a .sideling that cost a.n immense amount of money to make, and was supposed 'to be only a temporary relief, whereas by 'going ia few chains either higher u.p or lower down a good llat open dray road could have been made at a very small cost, and, what is more to the point, .-would 'have been of good service for all time. To hark bac J k to the Kiwi road. This is a road that is made to within 3% miles of the Valley oh a good grade, and is one that I am given to understand was the .favored road by the then engineer in charge of the Roads Department wliffii that Department existed, and it will be granted that with such an intimate knowledge of the hinterland of Taranaki no one is better able to express an opinion than is Mr. Murray, and it will also be allowed that 'he always considered the greatest good for the .greatest number, but now that ■the Roads Department has been absorbed bv the. Public Works Department road matters in the district have become a negligible quantity. If this is one of the economies, then the sooner the old j slate of things is reverted to the better for the Dominion as »i whole and these J settlers in particular, for it is a false economy. With reasonable egress a great amount of ..stock could be taken off the land referred to. but owin<: to the danger of loss of cattle by falling over the banks, which means sudden death, settlers ihave no heart or money] to risk in such an adventure. In the r-i-o of lani'bs these have to be packed j ou 'horse-back—four on each horse—to ■ gi't them in to the clearings from out-1 •side. Surely this is not the treatment I that .should be meted out to those hardy settlors who give the best of their lives i in carving out a home in the backblocks, and who 'have struggled on un-! der such difficulties for 15 years? 1 hope tluit you will do you best to assist l ; !e member in his efforts to have justice from those responsible for the sad state of things existing, and use your columns freely in an endeavor to remove the wrong under which they are suffering. If nothing can be done to have the Kiwi road completed this season an effort should be made to render the use of the Tui track somewhat less dangerous than it is iit present.—l am. etc., CASCAL VISITOR.