THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1907. THE NEGLECTED BACKBLOCKS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8556, 15 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1907. THE NEGLECTED BACKBLOCKS.

The piteous cry from the back-blocks for l'oada becomes intensified year by year instead of diminishing as time goes on. Some of the tales that have come before Parliament this session of the suffering of settlers are of the most harrowing description, and if these settlers of the unroaded districts, or districts in which the roads are of the most primitive character, had not the hearts of heroas, many parts of the interior of the North Island would be deserted. The Government listens to the cry of distress with a callousness that is almost cynical, and the strugglirg settlers are allowed to struggle on unaided. The answer to every demand is that there is no money available, or a dole of from £SO to £IOO is given as a sop which is eventually lost in the main quagmires of the district. For many years there have been record surpluses, if Budget statements are to be credited, yet never have the far-off pioneers reapsd any benefit from the country's prosperity, or consideration for their heroic efforts to bring under subjection new and desolate tracts | of 'ountry. In thi King Country, i-i New Plymouth, in flawke's Bay, I and in fact in every provincial disj trict of the North Island, hundreds j of settlers are living under conditions compared with which the \ poorest of the poor in the cities and the more favoured provincial towns I are in Elysium. Even in parts of the Masterton electorate the condition ' of the roads is a disgrace to the Government, whose special claim for public approbation is its land settlement policy. In some districts the settlers are compelled to resort to the use of the primitive sledge during the winter months as the only means of obtaining supplies or getting into communication with markets The absence of metal has something to do with this condition of things, but the absence of pecuniary assistance from the Government, which has induced the men and

women to people the back-blocks, lias more. A system of tramways or light railways would vastly improve the condition of the present settlements between Bideford, Alfredton, and the East Coast, and encourage still closer settlement. Men who are competent to judge aver that such lines would pay, directly and indirectly; but it is useless talking about railways of this kind at the present time, as the Government has set its face against any further railway extension until the North Island Main Trunk line is completed. ' What the State, however, could and should do is to offer a subsidy to the extent of, say, £ for £ upon the money locally raised. The settlers between Bideford, Alfredton and the East Coast are, it is authoritatively stated, willing to take advantage of the Loans to Local Bodies Act if they are assured, of reasonable assistance from the Government in the shape of subsidies; and, taking all the circustances into consideration, they are entitled to such assistance. The members for the district have been diligently bringing pressure to bear upon Ministers to this end, but they, have not met with much sympathy. Shortage of funds ib the alleged bar —shortage of funds for a legitimate object of this kind in a country whose Government throws away hundreds of thousands of pounds upon useless demonstrations and on a hundred other equally useless matters every year! When the Public Works Statement comes down, the plaint of , the roadless settlers will occupy a large place in the debate, and it is to be hoped members will be able to convince the Government that something must be done at once to remedy, the crying evils- here referred to, and which are a discredit .to the Administration.