MAKURI NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4018, 21 January 1892, Page 2

MAKURI NOTES.

(From Our Own Cmespondcnt.) On Saturday, the lGtli, I found the township practically deserted, as nearly all the bush camps have finished and gone out, while no bush had been fired, consequently no grass seed sowing could be done. However, in the afternoon Mr Nevins fired his bush, or was reported to have done so, and as his would burn Mr Bennett's we hare a start,

The plans of the Makuri township being not yet available, very few visi tors have been looking at the sections. There are four gangs of unemployed in the Makuri gorge, all working on separate contracts. One gang is metalling the road with the limestone rock, which seems more sensible than clinching it over into the river. Any horsemen not accus-

tomed to new country will have a new sensation riding through, as the inside of the road is a Bheor precipice, newly cut in soft limestone; when you look up yon see masses of earth entangled among roo!s ready to fall. To-day, the 18th, heavy steady rain is falling, which will probably - bring down slips. It would be on improvement to suggest to the authorities that if four : gangs in succession leave billies, coats, crowbars, and sleepingjlogs, along it road, where the actual track is only about nine inches wide, there will be an accident. It is just as easy to i" clear the gangway" before sudden death as after.

No announcement lias be?n made aa to whether the gorge is to bo' kept open certain days, or whether it may at any tims be blocked altogether by blasting; noc is there any announcement SB to whether explosions aro notified in advance by red flags, horns, or what, Pack horses are commonly driven by one man,' who rides behind. The laden beasts go iu front. If the first horse comes right on a smoking fuse he will probably stop and smell it, A comparatively new road is now open from Kaitawa to Eketahuna, Yon go from Kaitawa past Mr George Whitcombe's up the Mangaone Yalley as far as the properties of Messrs Davey and S. Bridge. Then you can either go straight on to Eketahuna or turn to the right and go along the Hawera road to its junction with the main road where Mrs Stewart's new hotel is situated. I went down the Hawera road and so back to Pahiatua. Time from Kai'awa to Mr Davey's about 1J hours, at an easy canter, The road of course is exceptionally dry now. Three or four years ago this Mangaone Valley road did not exist, and it was it paid day's work (in winter) to get to Mr Damy's and back (from Pahiatua) by the Hawera road. The sections wljich form Mr Bridge's property lay open for application a lgng tinjei J{o otto would tyke them up, on the ground that tbey were inaccessible. Now they are .quite suburban. There was quite recently a good bit of land close to Makuri going begging for some reason, but it is mostly: taken up now. At Mr Bridge's the resident manager kindly took me for a walk over the leading spurs, and we looked down into the cradlg of the infant Mangaramarama, It was a sotfc of amphitheatre, i'v no means rugged. When the bush was on it, the land oflice people described it in all good faith as a precipitous myine, lid doubt jt appeared softheu. It js ipost extraordinary how the most bieakoneck places (in" bush) become mere gentie slopes whenin grass. The Crown Lands oflice is. still much complained o£ in some quarters. People tell me they get no receipts for money, Is this true ?' I know from personal experience that if you apply personally for a section and lodgo a deposit, they refuse a receipt. A well known solicitor in the Wellington district 'sent a B.QiQ,, en behalf of a client, in payment of' reni, i'tld gets ting no receipt wrote for one and was told they hadn't got tho money. He then wrote to tbo Wellington P. 0., and the Chief replied that he had cashed the order, and taken the tyceejver ot Land Eevenue's receipt. He then pot? to ttye pros?)) toijs again and got his receipt. All [liie seems to me great nonsense, : Also the rules about not receiving cheques, stamps, etc. If I write to a merchant for goods and send h|m a cheque, he , cashes the cheque first (if he j know me) and then send? the gootjs. ■ SimiM/ ,why .can't I pay tpv rept fcy ( cheque, and the office' sgnd ' jne a receipt when tlfe cheque is cashed ? Again, witl) big merchants it sonie : times happens that an acoount is idjusted wrongly. Exchange is Emitted or something, i have been 1 •equested to "enolose 10s 5d in i itamps in my reply" or bayo been ' lold 11 Balance Is enclosed." But j with the Crown lain!; ?sjce, if you ' apt to send them £lolßs 7d and in ; J ir'for iid, it appears their f nachinery (s all put oat bf'orfjer, ' ' ' Here is another little game, A ' nan paid cash for a section and took 1 t receipt,. Then he wanted his Crown t ;rant, He.was told be must give up c lis receipt I After much delay he was I nformed thac the Crown grant was f ying jn Ajickjand and would ; bo sent i fhe sent a receipt foi it : first, If he 9

had done so, he would have been quite helpless, in the event of any further delay. Any merchant who did this would 1)8 howled down. Suppose I gave Wr Oaselberß £llO to buy me sheep at a solo. Then I come and want my sheep, 1 must surrender my receipt, and the sheep, lie says, are m Featkerston. Well, I say, send them along. No, he replies, yon giye me a receipt for the sheep now„ aud I will send them when the spirit moves me, A merchant going ou these lines would be considered obviously de-

ranged. It is, I suppose, rank heresy to say that Crown tenints ought not to he compelled to improve; Well, I risk it, and Bay that the Government should simply make toads and then lease or sell the land at the applicant's option, and leave him free to do us bo likes. To prove ray cise I ask yoii one or two straight questions. Out of all the Education Reserves leased during the last ten years, is there one where the lessee has simply sal up in a tree and cracked nuts 1 Has not every lessee improved'? Similarly with regard to the 'land sold by the Wellington»Manawatu railway company. Why then do the Crown want to compel improvements? Simply because they sell land without roads, and put so low a price on it that it pays a speculator to take it up on spec and sell, Think this out. It is reported that E. H, Rhodes, Miller Bra?, Peter Stewart, and D. Simpson have all had excellent burns. We will liopo it is true.