"A COMPLAINT FROM THE BACKBLOCKS."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 333, 21 October 1908, Page 10

"A COMPLAINT FROM THE BACKBLOCKS."

Sir, —Under the above heading I notice a letter signed "Ohura Settler" complaining of a proposed doviation of the popularlynamed Stratford-Ongarue railway. I fail to find that tliero has been any specific breach of agreement on the part of the Government. The carrying of tlie lino to Ongarue has never been absolutely promised, and with tho growing up of-larger towns both north and south of it I should bo much surprised if the railroad is taken there. Tho fact "is, Ongarue is 110 plaoe at_ all, and tho land for twenty miles west of it is not of much account. . ■ The Government has been tho object of attack by irresponsible, unscrupulous partisans becauso the railroads aro . not - paying (that" is "tho allegation). It 'becomes it' all tho moro to carry the lino whero it will pay -best. . If that happens - to bo . twentv or forty miles north of Ongarue so much tho worso for poor Ongarue, which has stagnated all these,years.while, other places have shot ahead. I venture to assert that northward it will serve a larger number,of set-tlers-than it. would by. going to Ongarue, it is therefore the duty of the Government to consider:.the : majority. It is,to bo hoped tho extra'quarter of a million pounds will, help-,.t0, put tho, Ohura district roads-in good order. I venture to say' hot, many Ohura: settlers .will..throw' up' their-sections becaviso of any deviation of the. railroad.- , I am quite sure the road.'will, not be deviated. because a few large runholders are agitating; it will deviate because it will thereby subserve the oonvenionco and interests of tho greater number of people, Our member, Mr Jennings, cannot bo blamed because ho 6ces that it is so. There is' an old saying that stances alter' oases," and -the conditions today, Xro'/jui to different to what they wero when (the r'rajlroad . was first proposed, as 1 am.-iquito.sqre.your correspondent would admit.- —I-'.am,- etc., --. : -, E, SAIL October 7, 1908. ,

Sir,—l have just read a letter in-to-day's issue of your valuable paper under the ; above heading, and signed ''Ohura Settlor.'-' • The writer olaims that tho Government hold out as a special inducement to settlor? the promise of the subsequent construction of tho railway through their holdings, Now, let us have tW truth though the heavens fall. Tho Government did no such thing. In tho preparation of a'lithograph-it .is necessary, for tha information of settlers/tho .office and out-door staff of the Lands Department, solicitors, and the public generally, that every parcel or section of. land delineated should boar some kind of designation, whether it is Crown, Native, or privately-owned land, or whether it is a reserve for road' or railway purposes, Scenery or forest preservation, metal, travelling stock, munioipal or other purposes. Many, years ago a trial line was run from Stratford to Kawakawa, the old name for Ongarue. Tbo route rail 'for - gome 21or 22 miles through tho Ohura valley, and when the Crown some years ago threw the Ohura landu open for soleotion, - sufficient land was reserved along this trial lino for tho construction of tho. railway, should it ever bo made. Tho: land so reserved was marked "Stratford-Ongarue Railway" or "Proposed Stratford-Ongarue Railway," I do not remember which, though the point is unimportant. It wag marked so to describe the reservo, and not as an inducement to settlor mont. Consider the liability tho Commissioner would have imposed upon tho_ Government if ho had not reserved tho railway line, but sold tbe land, which will probably sooner or later bo, required, to the settlers! If the Government has no power to abandon a railway route, then it has none to abandon a road, which would bo an impossible state of things. Reserving a railway route on a lithograph is certainly not an express promise, and can hardly be claimed to bo an implied one, and when "Ohura Settler" states that tho lino was promised, ho states what is quite untrue, since it was ■ never promised. As for the merits'of'the rival routes, I do not pretend to judge, though the Waitewhcna route certainly passes through better, if 'more difficult-, country. Both routes.must como' in time, and it is only a question which comes first. - "Ohura Settlor's" veiled threat to Mr. Jennings also strikes mo as particularly unfair and unreasonable. That both routes are in Mr. Jennings's electorate does not aggravate the poor man's offence, but very sufficiently explains it, and. to oxpect the- Member for the district to become a partisan in such an issue is surely asking too much. "Ohura Settler" complains of the miseries of tho back-block life. Wo know they have often enough a hard row to hoe, but the back-blockers have some very solid advantages denied to the city toiler, and it is a question whether, for the great ! majority, thoy:aro not in-tbo end the more fortuuate. My 'chief'object; however, in seeking the indulgence of your columns is to deny the burden of your correspondent's complaint, and to denounce it, tis specious and misleading, and'distinctly^'.untrue,—l am, etc., , NOTHING BUT THE TRUTII.