CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2034, 6 July 1885, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor.)

' Sir—With youf permission I wish! to mako a few remarks with reference to the Wangaehu Valley, to wliicli you refer in your recent excellent article on Country Boads. This district, considering its pr'qxjmity tp s£asterton ; and the quality pf its soil, W'hoe)} sljamefijlly This road, knflwn as the Masterton and' Alfrgdton mail) road, was surveyed, anij the bush felled, no less than ten years ago, and in that condition it has remained till quite recently, with the exception of a bridle track with tawa bridges, which was made years ago, probably with a view to '• open up the country" further down the Valley, but which has not been of much service to the country generally. |At last, after all these years, and at great expense to the settlers, we have succeeded in getting some four or five miles of the road formed, which will probably be liable for general use during the sunup; months, % (ft? remainder of the year will be impassable, ejtoept fur horse traffic,

If the country, and consequently the towns, are to go ahead, settlers must have free access to their market at all seasons of the year, . It is a great injustice that (with heavy rates to pay) settlers should be prevented from getting their, produce to or from the town in the winter months on account of the roads, and such will be the case until the road is metalled, lam convinced that if the whole Wangaehu Road was formed and metalled throughout, every- available acre of land in this , Vallev would be Bold within six months,

and at a price that would well repay tho outlay. To my own knowledge, scores of intending settlers have been frightened away from thia district, owing entirely to the want of roadß.' Settlers are what we all want, and what we .Bhall never wet, as long as railway's and metalled roads are taken side by side, and'really good land a few miles away lying idle for want of better access.. I am, &c., S. MAWLBY. ■ Ditton, July 3rd, 1885.