IN THE BACKBLOCKS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1910, Page 2

IN THE BACKBLOCKS.

co-operative labourers' experiment: POOR ROADS, NO SCHOOLS, NO ENCOURAGEMENT. A KING COUNTRY COMPLAINT. (By Our Special Reporter.) The operation of the "improved farmtenure" system, which is considered by some people to' 1 bo the most advantageous method for putting the man. without capital on the land, was made the subject of some enquiry by a Post reporter while in the King Country. In passing through a portion of the magnificent stretch of country known as the Ohura Valley, you* representative interviewed some of the tenants under this system. In the course of a trenchant criticism of the methods pursued by the Government in respect to the settlement one settler remarked that he, like many others, had been inspired with a desire to build a home for himself in the backblocks, by the action of the late Premier, who, while passing through the district, called a meeting of the co-operative labourers then engaged in pushing the Main Trunk railway line past Mangaweka. The then Premier informed them that in order to afford the men an opportunity of acquiring a homestead of their • own without capital, the Government had jesolved to cut up for their future occupation a number of small areas of rural land. THE OPPORTUNITY SEIZED. / As this was^ possibly, the only chance that many of the workers would have of ever becoming "landed proprietors," the opportunity was gladly .wailed of. The men became enamoured of the prospects, old homes were broken up, and life-long associations severed, and out went the little band of pilgrims. But how different, added the speaker, were their realisations from their anticipations. Struggling through the 'mire for over thirty miles after leaving the railway they came to what is now known as the township of Mangaroa. Here, contrary to expectations, another ten miles of virgin bush along the tracks on top of ranges of hills had to be traversed before the party's destination was reached. Seeing that it was an impossibility to get their wives and children out to the sections, many of them built whares close to the township — but far away from the holdings — where the only ruadwork was being carried on. The men, however, had all along laboured under the impression that plenty of road-work — necessary to , maintain themselves and their families during the "breaking in" process of " the farms — would be provided ; but they found that although such work was available it was at a distance of some nine or ten miles away from their holdings. "ROTTEN ROAD POLICY."Reverting to his own experiences, the settler said that he was compelled through circumstances to leave his family at Mangaroa, proceeding afterwards to carry himself and "a fifty of flour" to, his section. The work on the section was arduous and unprofitable, but comforted with' prospects of an early change in fortune, he had succeeded in time in felling the bulk of his bush. About seven years had passed by, but he had not yet taken a penny off the farm; indeed, as he facetiously remarked, he was one cow to the bad. "For this," he commented, with much emphasis, "I blame /the rotten road policy of the Government." The sections were too small for running sheep, ! being simply dairy, farms ; as suoh they would be a success if there were only j cart roads for the conveyance of milk and produce to the railway station or some other suitable outlet. Had' it not been for the belief that promises of N roads would have been kept, he averred that he personally would never have . staked his all and gone in for sthe 5 the ■ land. As a matter of factjjowing to the dangerous state of the quagmires — 1 misnamed six-foot roads — his wife and family had been unable until four years after the land was taken up, tO(. reside there. Even now the roads were in a primitive state, and the introduc- , tion of traps into the district being out of the question, his wife had had to wait five yeafis for the occasion of her first trip to town sind civilisation. As . an experiment, he had tried sending butter to the market per medium of the Wanganui River, but he found that the jolting of the pack-horses, combined with the effect of the sun's, rays and the generaJ lack" of adequate accommodation for transit on board the boats, had depreciated the produce both in weight and value. NO SCHOOL. "How do you get along for schools?" was queried. "Well, we don't get along at all," replied the bushman. "We have repeatedly been asking for< them, but all we get out of the Government were promises of relicf — now of severa^ years' standing. Tired with being bluffed any longer, we took the matter in our own hands, and scraped some £40 together, which the Education Department or board, however — with the only smartness of action they ever displayed — promptly 'took care* of. Lately we again rounded them up, and were then informed that the timber had been sent on ; but it never arrived on the scene, and after being carted about from one place to another, in search of a suitable place, it was finally deposited at Ongarue, where it now lies rotting." IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY. Was it surprising now, he added, that the intentions of the Legislature, in its endeavour to confer a 'material benefit upon certain of the co-operative labourers, had been gradually defeated, so that nine-tenths of the original settlers had gone. Given immediate access by good roads, and with plenty of road*vorjc for the settlers and proper schooling, the system of land occupation would, he concluded, be an admirable one. Several other settlers, when approached by our representative, confirmed the substance of the foregoing remarks, and spoke in a similar strain.