BACKBLOCK HARDSHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1922, Page 11

BACKBLOCK HARDSHIPS.

SOLDIER SETTLER'S X.OT IN OTAGO. HARD TIME FOR WOMEN. Colonel T. W. McDonald, in the course of a supplementary report regarding the I soldier settlements of Otago and Southland, states in regard to the Benmore runs, says tho Otago "Daily Times," that from the manner in which this laud was ! subdivided one- would imagine that those .'responsible for it had workers' homes in their minds rather than discharged sol- • dier settlements, as the holdings arc only large enough for the former purpose. , The areas require to be at least treble their size, and they must have a large . | proportion of sunny slopes on the hill icountry on which to winter their sheep. ( The men cannot understand how it is , that whilst a few hundred acres are con- . fiidcred sufficient for them, the manager [ of the Homestead Block was permitted to have, it is alleged, over 14,000 acres | as being necessary for him to make a living from. They further complain that the bolder of the Homestead Block picked the eyes out of the. settlement, by being | ' allowed to dodge his boundary lines in j and out and behind so as to include Within his boundaries the very best of | this land and leave the worst for the I : soldier settlers. So much was this done , that his boundary actually cuts right in i I behind two of the soldier settlers and takes all the sunny hill slopes from them, | ' leaving them ouly tho dark shady slopes ! . which are of little use. There is practi- i eally no wood on tho settlement, and in . such a cold climate the settlers are com- . polled to import coal at a rate of from ! £5 5/ to £8 per ton. The nearest market j " - for stock and produce is Duntroon, about (10 miles away. This cuts out everything , but stock, and although the settlers start for the market with their fat sheep, by . road, by tho time they reach tbe market , the condition has been walked off the sheep owing to there being no feed on the ' roads. It costs about £.1 per ton freight ! ' between Benmore and Kurow. There is j ' no doctor nearer than Kurow, about 40 j ' miles away. There is no school nearer ■ ! than 40 miles from tbe settlement, and ! he understands that the l'lunket nurses ! do not get within 40 miles of the settle- • ment. The predicament the settlers' • wives, about to become mothers, are in, i is simply appalling, as Oamaru is the " nearest place where they can receive proper attention. One case had to be sent I to Oamaru the day he arrived at the • ; settlement, and one a short time before. ! Tin* expense is enormous, to say nothing 'of the inconvenience. Unless much larger I areas are given the rentals of the hill - lands will have to be reduced also. i One settler's wife lost her husband during an nttempt, Colonel McDonald underI stood, to rescue his sheep from the swamps or creeks, where they had to wan- ■ dcr in search of food. His wife ran the - section, even to following the plough, i milking tbe cows and attending the ! sheep. She married an adjoining soldier I settler, who through war service became . practically disabled, and she ran both see- ■ tions. The day ho was there she was i prostrated with a nervous breakdown. ■ her daughter was dangerously ill in a i tent outside, and the husband was mmdii ing a little cigarette and tobacco store • about fliree miles away. How this place was selected to put men eta. he could not , understand. .1