"SHOCKING."

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1912, Page 3

"SHOCKING."

♦ BACKBLOCK SETTLERS. THEIR CONDITION DESCRIBED. [VX TELEGRAPH — SPECIAL TO THE POBT.] AUCKLAND, This Day. j The difficulties uriuer which settlers in the King Country are struggling are described as shocking by Mr. C. K. Wdson, M.P. for Taumarunui. ."There are hundreds of settlers in the Auckland province," he declared, in an interview with a Herald representative, "who are striving, against adversity, to win a livelihood, and many of them are 'barely keeping their heads above water. Settlement does not mean putting a lot of people on the land to starve ; yet that is the condition in many Crown settlements. "There are roads on the map, bub they have never been formed," said Mr. Wilson, "and in the winter it i 3 almost impossible to travel over* the trades with any degree of safety. The Crown settlements extend as far as the West Coast. The tenant* on the lands near the coast are m a better position, since they have access to water carriage. Those who are from 25 to 30 miles from the railway aro most unfortunately situated. The Government will probably excuse its neglect of these settlers by drawing attention to the votes for roading tho district, but lrEfle has been done, for there is no proper supervision of expenditure, since the Ministerial thumb is the force which - controls the expenditure of Parliamentary grants. The proportion of heavy country is small, and the roading of the district would be a simple matter. There are ample supplies of metal, conveniently situated, but they have never been broken down. "A great mistake has been made," Mr. Wilson said, "in putting small settlers on the poor land of the King country. Much, of the settlement land is bush country that will never be productive unless, it is enriched by much I cultivation and heavy manuring. The majority of the settlers' took up sections generally without knowing anything of the land, and with only email capital, which has been absorbed by the land, and they are now struggling to gain a livelihood, with little prospecb of becoming successful farmers. '* He considered that the poor 'lands should bo left to the wealthy men to develop, and that the small selectors should be placed upon the best land, from which, with reasonable means of access, they would have some prospect of gaining a satisfactory return for their efforts. The price paid by the Govern ment was generally so high that the set tiers were too heavily burdened, and they were further handicapped by the high cost of living ' and the high cost of labour. Stores are at extreme price* in the district, owing to the bad roada. The social conditions are so unattractive that labour can be secured only at wages that are beyond the means of most of the settlers. ■ > "It is impossible to find terms strong enough to describe the conditions' of these setlers," said Mr. Wilson. "Unless relief is given to them immediately they will be compelled to forfeit their sections. They have gon* upon their selections with assurances that roads would be formed at once. They waited in vain for better acce.se. 'Then the appearance of a < grant has encouraged them with the belief that something would be don© at last, but the winter has 1 come again, with no relief ; their condition is still the same ; they are miles from civilisation, their only means of comunication being tracks of mud, into which horses sink to the middle, and which are crossed by dangerous fords; their only hope is that they will be given roads, and that the handicap of the huge areas lying idle will be removed. With practical encouragement, this country would become "a great source of wejlth to the' province. At present, it is producing virtually nothing." j