THE NEEDS OF MASTERTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3195, 21 May 1909, Page 7

THE NEEDS OF MASTERTON.

IN THE WAY OF BACK-BLOCK ROADING. HOW SETTLERS ABE KEPT OUT OF MASTERTON. AND LOCAL BUSINESS SUFFERS. A MATTER FOR THE MINISTER'S ATTENTION. It rright be a very opportune time, now that the Hon. A. W. Hoger, Minister for Roads and Bridges, is on a visit to the district surrounding Masterton and Eketahuna, to bring under that gentleman's notice several matters of which prominence has more than once previously been given in the columns of the Wairarapa Age, in the way of roads from Masterton to settlements at present either inaccessible or rendered further distant that they should be by reason of indirectness of road routes. It might also be advisable also to specially bring under the Minister's notice the great desirabJity of opening up

A ROAD TO THE WHAREAMA RESERVE. Now this matter has been constant' ly alluded to by local press notices, has for by local bodies and settlers 'alike, and in various ways has been shown to be a question needing early answer from the authorities. After all, the opening up of the five-acre public reserve at Whareama is not so very much more a question of catering for the luxury of the public of this and surrounding districts than one of very great utility. Aa an East Coast settler stated to a Wairarapa Age reporter yesterday, "The fact may not be generally known —and if made better known may increase in the public mind the importance of the necessity for opening up the Whareama river —that for forty-six miles ot a strip of coast there is no direct access to the sea from a main road. Such a position is not known of anywhere else on the coasts of New Zealand where country of so valuable a character is concerned, and where the population is so great." This settler suggested that it was possible that the true position of affairs at the Whareama was unknown to the Minister, and probably if he knew that a 75-chain road across from the East Coast road to the reserve would strike the river at deep water, and thus open up forty-six miles of coast, he might give the matter more serious thought.

ALFREDTON TO MASTERTON—THE SHORTEST ROUTE. Alfredton settlers have time and again made known their desire to be put into closer touch with Masterton, and their quickest trip at present is a forty five mile journey involving a tour through Eketahuna. On a previous occasion reference was made in our columns to the urgent need for the Government making a straight-out grant of about £I,OOO for putting into repair that strip of the road leading to Alfredton from Masterton via Wangaehu, known as Barton's line. The position then was, and is now, that there is a well metalled length to Dreyer's Rock, with a patchy length of perhaps three miles. From the Alfredton end to Mangamahoe, there is a good length, and it is the intervening strip of about 5 miles which needs the attention of the'' Department. If this is property metalled it means that the distance from Masterton to Alfredton will be reduced.by quite 14 miles, and it goes without saying that such a reduction would make a material difference to the volume of business done by Alfredton settlers with Masterton. It is not a matter for a" quid, pro grant, but for the unqualified assistance of the Government, who cannot reasonably exosct the settlers in thi3 part to increase filieir already heavy burden of taxation.

OPENING UP HOMEWOOD. Heru again is a matter where there has been displayed a hesitating policy on the part of tHe Department, at the expense chiefly of the locked-in settlers, in addition to the business people of Masttrton. It has been shown in previous references to this route that there is a direct line ot read already surveyed and almost wholly opened up and in use between Masterton ?iid Homewood, and it only needs the widening of a six-foot track between live and six miles long beyond what is known as "Jackson's" ito slice eleven miles off th<? rc'jte from Homewood to Masterton. The. approaching completion of the | Weraiti-rernyhurst metalling conJtra!; increases the importance of i opening up this route, a-3 the Home* i wood district comprises some of the most fertile country in New Zealand. From Masterton's point of view the matter is one of considerable importance, as a large community of east Coast settlers will have incr3Hsed inducements to their visiting Masterton, while the establishment of a two-days round, trip coach service from Masterton to Homewood and Te Wharau commends itself at once as a desirable matter for both the settlers and for Masterton.

LINKING UP MASTERTON AND MANGATAINOKA VALLEY. Few people, even o]ci residents, know perhaps that Masterton is, or could be made, within easy trading distance of the fertile valley of the Mangatainoka rivei\ Yet such is the case, and the means lie in the putting through of a road between the Ruamahanga Gorge and the forks of the Mangatainoka. There is already a splendid road from Masterton to the point of commencement of such new road, and there is no reason why the junction should not be made at a minimum of cost—perhaps even free of cost if the Government chose to take out sufficient timber to cuver | the cost. The route lies through bush j of romantic beauty, however, with ; the Tararuas towering up to the left, \ and the forest stretching away to | the right, No land would need to be i purchasefL and there is splendfd ! metal avJpfrlethroughout the length. | The Mangatainoka Valley settlors j have intimated a keen desire to 1 have this road put through as it j would mean that they would be I roughly only twenty miles from Masterton, as against a fourteenI mile j&ui.t to Eketahuna and thence lon to here. It is quite obvious that here again complying with the wishes ol ths settlers means a big benefit ot Masterton.

ALL ROADS TO LEAD TO MASTERTON. - The centrality of Masterton as a distributing centre for commercial purposes is a fact which is becoming to be more and more apparent as settlement increases, as the matters pointed out in the foregoing serve to show. Indeed, seeing that so far we have no industries here, and seem likely to have none for some time to come, if Masterton is to continue to progress at all it must be because of this centrality. The Government has denied us closer settlement, and on their part the least they can do by way of compensation is to make the town more accessible to those settlers who are on the land. It is a recognised fact that Masterton can retail many classes of goods even draper that they can be purchased in Wellington, on account of cheaper rentals and other kindred causes. Therefore the town is entitled to a legitimate share of the rural trade of its wide environs, and it is to be hoped that the Government will recognise this by facilitating with good roads the business of settlers. The townspeople should also assist the movement in this direction, and if the Chamber of Commerce forward the Minister for Roads and Bridges a sufficiently emphatic resolution on the matter a tangible result might be the outcome.