CORRESPONDENCE

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3985, 10 December 1891, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

Special Settlements.

[to the editor.] Sib, —There is a wail of indignation conies from the Mount Baker Special Settlement anent the condition of the roads, and not without very great cause indeed. While Ministers are being banquetted at the adjacent township of Eketahuna, and being landed to the skies as the friends of the masses, that portion of the masses from Canterbury, who, under the seductive influence of Mr March's eloquence, were induced to take up land on thit> block, are at the present time considering the advisability of removing bag and baggage back to the South, and indeed a great many of them have made up their minds to do so. Quite recently the Secretary of the Association wrote to the Minister of Lands as to whether any provision had baen made for the construction of roads tc the block, and in reply was curtly informed that there was not, but that the association would be put in the best way ot getting them (whatever that might mean). In the meantime the track leading from the main road to that part of the block occupied by the Canterbury Association, a distance of from five to ten miles from Mangamahoe, is almost impassable, even at this time of the year, and as a consequence there has been but litte improvements effected owing to the difficulty of packing in the barest necessariss of life. A nice prospect that the position of the settlers will be in any way improved, as without a road it is impossible for [ them to carry on their avocations, bo as to get even the necessary improvements done. The result will be tliat not more than one out of every two members of the Association will go on to the land at all. The utter absurdity of placing men on land without first providing access is most cruelly demonstrated in this case. The settlers themselves haye not the necessary money to make the roide, and if they had it is doubtful whether they would be justified in spending it for such a purpose, ns the land is not theirs but the property of the State. It is surely then the business of the State to provide access to its own property. ' If the members had a right of purchase it would be a very different matter, and though the difference may not be apparent to the present Government, it is very apparent to any body else. A circumstance which somewhat intensifies the feeling of discontent amongst the members of this Association is a report which h»s been very freely circulated to th.J efiect that certain money which the Government had allocated for the purpsse of making part of this road has, in deference to some of the influential Eketahuna wirepullers, been diverted to the Eketahuna end of the block, and is to be spent on the Mangaoranga road, which ties on to the main road within a mile of Eketahuna. It will be interesting to watch the course of events and note it there be any truth in it. " For if such actions shall have passage free, bond slaves and pagans shall our Statesmen be." Will any cf the members of the present Ministry or their supporters be good enough to inform the members of this Association what they are going to do ? Are thoy going to remain for years separated from their wives and children until they can make the road themselves, or are they to pack them in like bales ot merchandise and dump them down in tnebush, there to remain until some belter Government comes to their rescue? Heaven send su:h rescue aud send it quickly is the earnest prayer of yo«irs, etc., Bush Settler.