THE NORTH AUCKLAND CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 142, 15 June 1894, Page 4

THE NORTH AUCKLAND CONFERENCE.

(To the Editor.)

Sib,—The session will soon commence, and I may therefore be excused for drawing attention to a part of the colony which, in connection with tbo gam trade, has been more prominently brought before the public during the last few months than in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. We have been visited duriDg the recess by the Premier and by one of his colleagues. And the latter found, in the state of our roads, food for laughter if not for reflection. Meanwhile, an effort has been made by the local bodies to obtain united consultation. This action has already met with your commendation, and that of the public generally. Approval or disapproval of the various motions passed by the late Conference is hardly the pressing question. The first point is: Have the people of this part Of the colony cause to declare that they have a substantial grievance. Few will deny this. Next: Does not the state of North Auckland directly bear oft the great question of the hour, the settlement of the people on the land. The shortening of the purchasing power of the people in the Northern Peninsula has made itself felt in Auckland. The cause, the drop in the price of gum, has forced many small settlers to look to the farm more, and to the gnm fields less. And of the " nomad " gumdiggers, not a few are beginning to apply for land under the excellent form of tenure now provided. Ton will say, if this is the case, that the fall in gum is not an unmixed evil; granted at once. Bat of what enormous importance then is the question of roads, how absolutely necessary is ib that settlement should tfbt be checked by the first essential ot all progress—means of communication with a market. The Hon. Mr Reeves at the City Hall, summarised the roads in the North admirably. What apparently he did not see, or did not remark upon was how closely this "roading" question, is connected with the decentralization of population. There was one question, "Subsidias to Local Bodies," a subject dealt with by the Chairman of Kodney County, and fully discussed by the Conference, which in the official report might be perused by our M.H.P^'s and carefully considered, always provided that the affairs of North Auckland deserve consideration at all.—l am, etc., A Northers Settles.