A TRIP TO PAHIATUA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1229, 14 November 1882, Page 2

A TRIP TO PAHIATUA.

[by our special reporter,] This settlement in the Forty-Mile Bush, Which was sold by the Government about two years ago, and which has of late through tho perseverance of its settlers! been brought before the! public, is situated between Sketahanasnd; Woodville, being 16 miles'.from the for-! mer and 11 miles from the latter place,:: and is bounded east and' 'went by the' Tiraumea and' Jjlangatainoke rivers res-!! pectively. 'Along the main and Tiraumea 1 roads, where the settlers are able tb get! to their blocks, it is really surprising to| see the large quantity of land that is' cleared and stocked, and it being of such excellent quality, is at present abundantly covered with feed, On the west side of the main road to the river, the land is very level, and has very;rich,.light soil, Qp tho gajit side are low, undulating hills' if iiinestoi)e' formation, specially adapted for gracing'purposes!-' On this aide is the block "of Mr J, . M; I)avie, a'ntl, is the'one that first meets the traveller's view! coming from Masterton. There is at present 250 acres in grass, and 200 head of cattle on this block, and there-will be between ?00 and 800 acres of' bush roady for burning next February or March. Mr Davie's land extends to, and is bounded by, the Tiraumea road, being about 5,000 acres in extent, There are at present several settles living down the Tiraumea -road, whiel! is^orm^d ; ,be|tween. i and 5 miles, in length, anJ'j.wjiloftia in 1 a 'Very bad condition, 'iThis road'waiformed-by the County Council about 18-uionthß ago, and although the rates have been collected from the settlers, nothing - further has been done to |t. The wateii drajnf on wther side haw bien allowed io fill up,

consequently thdwaterhas flowed over and made the road almost impassable even lor horsemen during: the past winter. At the present time theie is great danger of any-. one being boggid that ventures on it. There is a toad ying formed from lhi» , one about 1£ miles from tho mam road, which,is intended to lead to the Township Reserve at the 1 Woofiville end 1 of the settlement,, but as the only land, with the ■'/ exception "of two" sections',' that benefitted by it ris the Wellington Cor- • ! poration eniloWmept (of which biore will ; • bespoken of),tW settlers have.nol much to- ' congratulate themselves on its formation for the two sections could bo almost as easily reached from tho Tiraumea roaj, I Auhecorner-of these roatlakarblook of / 80 acres, owned by Mr Reiux, who hat 25 ' acres in grass, Seventy fruittrees hayeW_ planted .here ~since, last'Reason,'"t6« ~ majority of which are now iMoll-Woom, Mr McCardle, of Masterton, omnAtha opposite corner seotion on the maarjpd to . Mr Davie's, part of; which, is Loleared and in grass, the corners of these Actions . are admirably, adopted for, an acoomodation house and ptore, both'j)f; which'Vfo greately needed in the settlement'for tho now arrivals are often thrown upon the charity of the settlers there for accomodation until they can get to their own land, as in Borne cases a man will, arrive, his wife and family with ; the ' tion of having a road to g'et to his block when ho finds he has to cut a track several miles through dense bush before he oan,ever get to.it, this, of course, entails sdme weeks hard work, in the meantime the whole of them are ~billeted on someof the settlers, this, with a few of the other grievences will be dealt with together) There are three''- or four' wotionfi between, McCardles "and-the all being mote or less cleared and stocked, this comprises the land cleared near the roads on the east'side, of tha tl«nijn(, ( :;on-the. ( west side the whole of the Vectiona ara taWen'up, arid are more or leu .dtfarpd., Messrs Avery Bros, of the Tarat»tivWij| hnndred acres here, 100 of whis ready for, the next burn.. Messrs Hjigbe# Bros have between four and 5-yo hundred acres, about ,200 of which is in'grass 1 jartd stocked, and 60 ready, for burning. Messw Hall, McDonald,' and 1 Matin liayl eabh about 50'acres'grijsseii; and stocked, and are knocking down some more bußh.. The total number of acres in" ; thfe f settlement that .will be burned off next season are about I,4oo.''The timber is chiefly tawa and, pine, the former being a very free burbins! wood, and if on the ground quickly decays, which renders. the task of. .clearing the laud of slumps It #ot jery.V * The' Fahiatua block ipomprises about 35,000 acre*, the whole of which is splendid land, and with the ,orc«ptwij otflM or two sections lias all 1 been'takeniupj and wben it is:taken into consideration that within 18 months dense bush land i has' been converted into splendid pasturage, 400 head of 'cattle grizih'g- oh it, houses built that would be a credit to any. town, (although the, timbef, Mfjii liome instances to be brought ahouCsO {miles), it will therefore bo seen ! that the cJa«B,of settlers who oc'oupy it are not land, latori, but men who are atrififle. to. jyjo- • a'home, with;?l! lt Jils comfor.ts.; npd it is fop this •reason !,that the ,(Joveru^ftt.,gho ) |iid giy,e tljera itoery encouragement ,i(i its [n ti/a m ; eent instance some viery' grave'' jmiqfwjp appear to have been made. Parljamejot|ry grants seem to have been .voted for the purpose of opening ftp the. tack; lettjjsments, which has never beep. do|)0, Cfljipjquently those who havq bought t|ifi j|p4 under the impression that the aams mids to it, have found on their arrival that they have to cut a track some miles in length before they can case in point occurred about a fortnight since, a selector with his wife and family came to the settlement, and he has beinw ever since engaged in cutting a through to his section,,while his wife and family are dependant on what acoomroo(latioii the neighbors can afford jjvhich, as njiist be expected, is'very Scah\, and if anyonp can iijiagjjjo a woman and children having to livf during tho ppt week or two in a slab whare with flip win| j[n|. rain driving through it, tho full of the injustice to the man oan tjien b'e realised, and he having once got there, it now bound to stop, for unless he 1 pan 'fall sufficient bush during the next ;few'weeks to give him room tn put a" house and little stock on, he will have to wajt until next season, Unless these'', roads aro formed, and the small selectors hWeprory facility offered lo reach (heir ,lau<l;''/hu result will be quito the, reverso to wjiat jji intended, for thero is nothing, vtji,'jp:event up - the Jand, (there being the Ad J,' and getting the few' fl-prea tip are specified cleared every yeayi and tljijj being of such a superior quality tyilj b£ sure to bring a high price by and bjf, The settlers are evidently ,an are of this, for at a meeting ,held there a fortnight ago'Mr McCardle was asked,,t<J wait'tapdn he County Council and place this arid other matters before them. / A meeting will be held in a fortnight to consider the report, ahd other matters affecting th.e sj3tt)epnt. between the' Settlement propegr.' ah'd, tfje' fioVeifnmerit .TonnShin Reserve,a large. bMck pu«G™ strikes one as being a yery.'soJi% look'ing place—f»t{)p Wellington (JityCof'poration. Eeierve of »bfl)}f l f Mapres j tj)i|) will entirely shut ont the township frop} the settlement, besides. beltic a gr«a£ dravbfldk !# the place, unj.esa it if cleared, ft it tpijp tfje Corppratjop went through the • form of jn»ifjflg tenors for falling a portion of if but the absurd that in thrspeiifioations would make it impossible for the »orJf to be done under about to pep? aura, iwjipiW|t||Mr expected it wjh} ho idono,%' if 10s, In the: matter of the township reserve {hs Oovprmpnt have evidently made a mistake In npt bppnitSg jt up, ana selling it before, as a township will bfl formed Ijjr private individuals nearer thn j centre of the settlement,.- and then if this is done tho reserve' imay'as well bo, offered in ' 'One' block, A roa'd has beeb formed for about half a mile into this reserve, 'arid thtfn left). ' A contract for a pontinuapoo of jt was let previous to' theiast sitting of ihfl fienqral but the <ipne pti'yihin| towards making'* at^rt," Already lanM the junction of the TiraumeVrfla^ 1 been selected for business Very high prices offered: for them, and from its central situation there is pvery reason to expect that what business places"^ erected will fa at this junction'.; as Pahiatua is, In the centre' of ('mi. mense district, which, in the oolirsew' a few years will, all, be ecttled on, and haying such an energetic'clasi of settlers A in it, it cannot be wondered at that, they-1 should endeftvor fo phtaiofl reprpseritativo ''' of their-op,jn and 'when 'it-is taken that the Government hpo it|6t puroliaßod 70,000 acres of eqija|ly g flo d |aqd on tfif) west side (with the thousands of aprpg available on the east, side), which they intend shortly to offer for seleotlon, the action of the settlers in petitioning for the district to be formed into an independant riding is quite justifiable, and there is no doubt that the prayer of -the- petitioners will be granted after due consideration, The main road through the sMtlemonf |n (jrst condition, as Indeed the whoJe'o^tJia'FortfMile'Biiili roads are iwhat, great /pruEress'l)ie's6tJ% make, who live on the line of roods', tHI necessity of constructing 'toada to' the back pietioßi will b» folly felt, '' "