Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9th, 1919 A RETROGRADE MOVE.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XVII, Issue 7150, 9 April 1919, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9th, 1919 A RETROGRADE MOVE.

A petition to the Acting Postunaster-

(General is being circulated asking for the reinstatement of the former

| through mail service between Taura- | nga and llotorua via Oropi. It is I: pointed out that the withdrawal of the f-service causes hardship to many sct"itiers. The petition is being signed by

'settlers and business men in Rotorua, J !Ngougolalia, Tc Pu, Ngawaro, Oropi, j Gate Pa, and Taurangn, mid a laige j number of signatures have already 1 been appended. From what we can

gather the position is that a mi il sev-

vioc is beiug run from Rotorua to Ngawnro. and a weekly mail service from laurauga to Oropi, but there is no service between Oropi aud Ngawaro. To say the least the service as : now constituted is absolutely unsatis- ; factory to tlic people of Tauranga and Hotorua and the numerous sct- | tiers residing on aud adjacent to that \ route. For a period of probably forty

years there has been a good direct mail service between the«Bay of plenty and llotorua, via Oropi, and

now the Department has cut it out

and substituted an apology for a service which is intolerable. Is the Department's action calculated to help in the further settlement of the many thousands of acres of idle land between the coast und Rotorua ? Decidedly not. This latest retrograde step can only result in retarding settlement-. One lcoks naturally to the Post aud Telegraph Department to exert itself to the utmost to improve the lot of country settlers, but

the cutting out of the old service is, to say the least, ungenerous aud decidedly unfair to the pioneers who have enjoyed its benefits for so many years. Obviously the service that the district has enjoyed for so long luis been dis

continued owing ro the fact that the

m»ih between Rotorua and Tauranaa are not sent via Paengaroa daily, ljut

is this a sufficient reason to deprive

the settlers on the road between here •and Roiorua via Oropi of a reasonable mail service, No amount of argument can convince us tint once a week is an adequate service, or that no service at all is what settlers have a right to expect. It is utterly useless to expect anyone to take up laud in the remoter districts unless there Is a, reasonable prospect of being kept in regular touch with civilisation. The Post and Telegraph Dcpartmenc may argue that it is no part of its duty to provide a service for a limited number of people at a cost disproportionate to the service rendered, but it is the obvious duty of the Government to do something iu the matter whether through the Post and Telegraph Department or some other Department. Any Government that doe-5 not provide un adequate mail icrvico for country settlers will cry and seek in vain for people to settle on the land. It bad roads are at the bottom of the trouble, then what does the Government intend doing to make them good? To ask a handful of settlers in any particular locality to make them good is futile. The settlers along the Oropi Road are entitled to much better treatment than is beinc meted out to them. That they should have a reasonable service h also a matter of importance to business people and others both iu Rotorua and Tauranga. The petition is at tin: Star Hotel and will no duubt; be exteusivdy signed. That the Govern, aient will, as a result, do what is their boundon duly to do is vrry much to he dfsiivd