THE BACKBLOCKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 79, 20 August 1912, Page 7

THE BACKBLOCKS.

A VIGOROUS PLEA. Speaking in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Mr. C. K. Wilson (Tsuimarunui) said he would not say that the late Government had not done anything, but they on his side of the House held that the pace should be faster, though they could not exceed the pace of borrowing. He gloried in the name of Conservative. (Opposition hear, hears). He thought they had had far too much legislation. Laws the most magnificent were no good without administration of the same character. The great and important question was settlement of land, which did not mean passing legislation. Everone worthy of the name wanted to own his piece of land and home. The land laws introduced by Sir Wm. Rolleston were the best we ever had, and we're thrown out by "this blasted Liberal Government," (Oh! oh!) He was the elector of the cow-cockies. (Laughter). He related certain conditions of backbloek settlements which he described as a scandal and a disgrace. Certain people had to spend every penny in getting food through muddy roads; women had never been able to get to the railway or the town. When some of his friends wanted to go for a holiday, their luggage had" to be carted through fourteen miles of mud, "DOUBLY EARNED INCREMENT." There was no such thing as unearned increment; it was doubly-earned increment. The increment came to the men who sold, but they wanted settlers to remain. The Wanganui river service had been bolstered up by the Government, and the prices charged were exorbitant. This "infamous condition of things" would last another three years, but it was their duty to attack monopoly wherever they found it. What the country wanted was exports, and settlers should be helped' to produce. We would have to increase our exports in order to attain a flourishing condition. The good land near the railway should be cut up for the poor people. With 50 acres a man could make a good living. We were not near the top price of our land yet, and land settlement should not be fought as a party question. Let members on the opposite side join hands with the Government on this question. If this Government were not out for land settlement they would not remain on these benches for six months. They intended to have small settlers, not big settlers, behind them. It was grossly unfair to abuse the big landowners who had played their part and broken their country in. Hundreds and thousands of acres attacked were producing every penny they could ppssibly produce, while -enormous tracts were lying idle. If public work appropriations of the past had been wisely spent, the country would not be 'in its present deplorable condition. In the backblocks they had often not received SO per cent of the value of such appropriations. There was a "screw loose" when settlers had to make arterial roads. It was not all "beer and skittles" being a backbloek member. He read :i letter from a settVr who had been "mu> mi;jing" for roads since 1893. He said that the £704,000 spent recently on public buildings would have made 1000 miles of metalled roads. He read an excerpt from a newspaper report wherein Mr. J. Mackenzie, cx-Commissioner of Crown Lands, had advocated the provision of roads and better access for backblocks settlers, and he deduced therefrom a "strong indictment" against the late Administration. "ANKLE DEEP IN MUD." We 'had one of the grandest systems of education, but it was only for the towns, and a most deplorable condition existed in regard to education in the backblocks. Children were being taught in tents, seated ankle-deep in mud, in cold weather. For the honor of the country such a state of things should not be allowed. There were stables for horses considerably better than the hovels wherein child' ren were taught. Backblockers had been forced to tmild their own schools. It was the duty of the Government to educate these children. The Government had failed to produce industrious Maoris, but had done the reverse. He did not believe in taking awav the native lands, but they must not be allowed to stop the pi ogress of this country. The Budget was a fair and square statement of the condition of things in this country. (Applause).