TARANAK HACKBLOCKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1922, Page 7

TARANAK HACKBLOCKS.

THE RECENT TOUR. NOTES BY THE WAY. Members of the party returned well sun-burnt after four days in the open air, during which time the sun rarely hid. itself. The unmetalled roads, especially around the OJiura, were very dusty, and. on returning from a trip a general rush was invariably made for the bathrooms.

Some of the younger memoers of the party “got their money’s worth” out of the trip as far as enjoyment was concerned. One of them described himself as “the light comedian of this outfit,” but others ran him close. By the time the party were homeward bound, endless numbers of nick-names had been invented and practical jokes played. The Tahora post office is a weird and wonderful building, being nothing much more than an elaborated box set down in the front garden of a near-by residence. But, taken on the whole, the poet offices en route were very neat-look-ing buildings, especially at such places as Ohura, Aria, Pio Pio and Awakino. The Tokarima district, through which the party were driven on Thursday afternoon, is where the murderer Andprson created a sensation a little over a' year ago, when, in endeavoring to shoot a Mr. ’J. Loft, he fatally wounded a young man named Telfar. Anderson decamped, but later gave himself up not far from the scene of the murder. He said he never intended to shoot Telfar, but he did Loft. He was tried on the murder charge, and found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. He was then sent to an asylum. 1

j The difficulties and hardships of back- . block life are exemplified by the manner in which children on the Mokau River [ .have to get to school. Those living on . the side of the river opposite the school travel three mornings of the week in the launch that collects the cream cans along the river. On the other days they have to walk to a point opposite the school, where a small boat is kept for the, purpose of rowing them across in the morning and back again in the afternoon. About fifteen miles up the Mokau River is the site of an old sawmill which was abandoned about eight years ago. All the costly machinery, however, is still there, though nowadays coated with rust. Much of it, though, could be put into working order without a great deal of trouble. It certainly seems strange that such a costly plant should have been abandoned without any action .oeing .taken for its disposal. The cost of transportation in the back country is tremendous, and this consequently reflects on prices. One typical example of this is the price of benzine, which costs £1 a tin in Ohura. In winter time some of the settlers have to pay as much as from £l5 to £2O per ton for the transport of their goods, whilst in summer prices range from £4 to £B, depending upon the condition of the roads and the length of the haul. The pity of it is that it is the poor struggling settler who has to pay these high lates. Had the past Governments only realised their duty, metalled roads or railways would have gone ahead of settlement, and instead of being broken in heart and pocket the settlers would to-day have been in an excellent financial condition and the country’s productivity greatly increased. It takes men of stout heart and indomitable spirit to carve out homes for themselves in the backblocks. One man —a returned soldier—who met the party in Tahora, together with his brother had a 1000-acre block in the middle of the Tangarakau Gorge. In the two years they had been there they had cleared 600 acres. Most of the block is standing bush, and is situated literally miles from civilisation. In the same valley are a man and his wife and two little children. The wife came straight out from London to this outpost. Access to the valley is both primitive and dangerous, and the young settler asked if the chamber would help him in getting better facilities. The pioneers certainly : deserve all the help they can be given.