MAKURI HOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 4008, 9 January 1892, Page 2

MAKURI HOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) There is much talk lieie about one' Garrett, a contractor, who cleared out and left his men unpaid. Bushmen think the owner of the bush should be responsible for wages. They forget that if tbis were so, no owner of bush would let a contract to any man who could not furnish responsible sureties. The remedy, therefore, is in their own hands, namely, to demand their pay weekly, Their objection to this is that if they demanded weekly pay, no mail could take up a contract unless he had money, But as I have shewn, unless a contractor has money, or responsible sureties, no man can under any system be safe. For to imagine that if owners of bush were responsible for wages they would let contracts to men without capital, is absurd. Under the present system, a fraudulent contractor takes a piece of buah, say at 255, well knowing he can't do it, at the price, lie gets stores on credit; delays paying his men; draws a progress payment and clears out, The owner is all right, lie lets what 'remains to another man. Only the storekeeper and the bushmen suffer, If there is a strong popular demand, make the owner 1 ("sponsible by all means, It won't hurt liim, because he will, as I say, exact security from tho contractor It will raise tho priqe of bushl'alling per acre, but diminish the great loss that owners suffer by contracts bei|ig abandoned, work re 1 - measured god Against this loss they at present protect themselves by refusing larger progress payments than 50 to 75 per cent, and forfeiting all money not drawn if the contnctor clears out, ~

• The weather at date, January 4, is raining and unsettled. Very lew people are about, as most of the camps have finished work, We are waiting for a burn, Tho last bridge on the Cradle road is nearly finished. This will let a dray up to the Gorge, provided h small piece of formation is done, od which some unemployed " iire iViifking, In The Makuri Gorge, one gang of about six men are at work, making very slow progress, I weut over the Te 'Aupapa road yesterday aud found it all going to ruin through the want of occasional repairs, It was formed a yoarago, and a dray could traverse it. Now I find tregs'across, ifnij only iijst lopped to let a horsp pass, wjjtpr fablps blocked up, klips not removed, and one shocking bog bole. It might just as well never have been formed for all the good it is, yisitor? riding slone to Makuri B|joald 1)b parefjil to get ppisp instructions p to tjie roftd. T||ey capnot well tnisj i f - until tjiey cross' the Makuri river and then as thera is no direction post and no road, only a very obscure track, they .very likely would. It is a curious sonsation sleeping under a mosquito canopy in the Jiush. Close up the holes as well a3 you can, for holes thero always ajfe.' jyfien ypii' slay those insjde tjiey ar,e (jujte slifggi'sj}, amf with a light ijnger p)n j)p pusjiecj tbfojigh the matting i)y if dp||cate rplljug motion, Then'yon go to sleep and when you wake you Bee thirty or forty! hanging up, black, distended, gorged, Don't try to, kill these, or you will cover the placo with blood. Lift the netting and drive them gently out. Tho contrast between the spectral starvelings of last night and the surfeited aldermen of the morning is for tbe moment appalling,

Only one or two camps are in here,now (January 7) and the township is deserted. Tho district surveyor, Mr Olimip; came in on tbe 6th and went on to his camp over the Paketoia on the 7th. Mr Greville (also a surveyor) came with him intending to strike his own-camp, some 6 or eight miles north of Mr Climb's, by this route instead of going round by Eketahuna.

The weather is very wot now and cold, and prospects of • a burn seem bad, ■ 1 The Rev, Mr Farrow, Methodist, was up on the 6th looking for a site for a church, He proposed to buy one; but as there are no less than SOO.aores in tbe township, i should imuginethe Government ought to grant one free, if any proper guarantee is given that a suitable building is erected within a specified time, Recent visitors report the roads Very had again owing to rain,