OTAGO MEMBERS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

Evening Star, Issue 7356, 31 October 1887, Page 4

OTAGO MEMBERS IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

[By Ocb Pabliamentaby Repobteb.]

The fortnight's recess which was recently granted to Ministers to enable them to Formulate their polioy was availed of by members to inspect various parts of the Colony—many tf the North Island members running down to Christchurch or Dunedin, while the Southern representatives paid a flying visit to the Hawke's Bay district and the West Coast of the North Island, and were thus enabled to see for themselves the position of many matters on which legislation will be required during the present Parliament. One of the parties which left Wellington on the 18th mat. consisted of Mr Crawford Anderson (member for Bruce), Mr H, S. Fish (Dunedin South), Mr H. Pddwick (Invercargill), Mr Jones (Heath.--cote), Mr Tanner (Waipawa), and Mr Mar.chant (Taranaki), and they were accbmpanied by Messrs T. Morrison, of the * Hawke's Bay Herald,' and A. Cohen, of *he WAS.' PalmerstonNorth was reached on Tuesday forenooa,and Wanganui the same afternoon, ; and>hererwe were shown the " lions'' of the jtlaoe by Mr Marohant, member for Tar*.

naki, and other gentlemen. On the 19th a start was made for New Plymouth, Messrs Bruce (Rangitikei) and Scobie Mackenzie (Mount Ida), who had been on a visit to the Hon. J. Bryce at Waitotara, joining us en route, and remaining at Inglewood, where they paid a visit to Colonel Trimble, for many years member for Taranaki. Among the many political questions talked of, the North Island Trunk Railway route claimed most attention, Mr Bruce naturally waxing eloquent over the advantages afforded by the Marton, or central, route. Arrived at New Plymouth, an inspection of the breakwater was at once determined on, and regret was expressed on finding that recent heavy weather had made a serious breach in this costly work. While at New Plymouth a telegram was received from the Hon. Mr Ballance at Wanganui offering to place a steamer at the disposal of the party if they felt inclined to visit the Wanganui Harbor works on their return trip, but the members having arranged to visit Napier before going back to Wellington, replied thanking the late Minister for Lands for his courtesy, and stating that they were unable to avail themselves of his offer. A return to Palmers ton was made on Thursday, the 20th, and Napier was reached the following night. Saturday forenoon was devoted to the sights of the town—the HosEital, Botanical Gardens, and breakwater eing visited. The Tarawera having just arrived from Auckland, we were here joined by Mr H. Brett, of the Auckland «Star,' and the North Island Trunk line was again discussed, Mr Brett warmly espousing its construction from Taranaki northwards, and endeavoring to dispel the favorable impression which Mr Bruce had made respecting the cent»al route. The afternoon was devoted to looking round the suburbs of Taradale and Farndon. The Napier Park racecourse was of course visited. The grand-stand and appointments have evidently been copied from our Forbury course, but owing to its more recent construction the latest improvements have been kept in view, and these are specially noticeable in the comfortable dinirrg and ladies' rooms. In the evening we met Mr R. Gray (representative of Reid and Gray, of Dunedin), and were driven out to Ngapuki by him on the following day. At Tomona the freezing-works of Messrs Nelson Bros, are situated, and here.some 250 hands are employed. Some the extent of the undertaking may be imagined from the fact that the proprietors of the establishment have been guaranteed 220,000 sheep tiiis season. After leaving Hastings a number of fine station properties were passed, including those of Captain Russell, Mr Ormond, and Mr Williams. The soil is very rich—too rich, indeed, for cereals and the Otago farmers wil l be surprised to learn that most of it will carry nine or ten sheep to the acre all the year round. The member for Bruce, who is a practical farmer, was quite enamored of the country passed through, and emphatically declared that "it could not be beat for grass in the world." A halt was mad« at Omahu station, a delightfullysituated spot; and here Mr W. Broughton, its proprietor, who seemingly keeps an open house, insisted on our remaining to dine. Fully twenty strangers, including some tourists who were visiting the Hawke's Bay district, availed themselves of Mr Broughton's kindness, and a couple of hours were here most pleasantly spent. The Maori pah close by was next inspected, and Renata, a chief, well known in the Maori war, received us in the meeting-house, and allowed us to inspect at his residence several oil-paintings of distinguished chiefs. On Monday the return journey was commenced, a special coach being arranged for at YVoodville, so that the party might visit the Pahiatua village settlement. On the way out the driver informed us that he had taken through the Forty-mile Bush several persons who had come to New Zealand with the intention of remaining, but owing to their inability to secure good-sized holdings they had gone away. Just a year ago, he informed us, one gentleman had come to Wellington with L 50.000, which he had intended to invest in land, but the fads of the late Minister had presented him from finding a field for the investment of his capital. The object which the members had in visiting Pahiatua was to interview several of the settlers who had taken up village allotments, and ascertain from them their opinion as to the working of Mr Ballance's pet scheme—a scheme which he had described as "the most successful system of land settlement ever instituted." At Pahiatua there are sixty of these settlers, and their holdings range from five to twenty acres. Some of the men who possess a little capital expressed themselves fairly well satisfied with their position, but the majority of the settlers were unmistakeably of opinion that unless some employment were found for them to help them to maintain their families, the system would end in complete failure. The men professed to be willing to undertake any sort of employment—bush felling, road-making, or forming a section of the railway from the Woodville end. They also stated that other evils under which they suffered were the smallness of the blocks, the close proximity of the settlements to each other, and their being located in a district where there were no capitalists or property-owners close by to give them employment. The one cry was that they must have four months' work in the year, to enable them to keep a cow or two, and thus provide for their families, otherwise they would be compelled to abandon their allotments and go back to the towns again. They admitted, however, that the village settlement scheme was a good one if properly carried out, but in giving effect to it blunders had been made. On the occasion of our visit the village settlers were decidedly sore on account of a number of the unemployed having been sent : to Pahiatua from Wellington to take up work on the Toritea road, which they had asked to be permitted to do themselves; and had purchased tools for the purpose, and this they naturally considered a great hardship. The weather, too, had also been greatly against the settlement, which is founded on : the north side by the Mangaramarama Creek, and one man stated that he had been flooded out five times since June last. A petition, we were further informed; was then in course of preparation to Parliament, praying that some means might be afforded the village settlers, by employment or otherwise, in order that they might be enabled to continue on their allotments. On the following day the members returned to Wellington via Masterton, having been absent just a week, in which time over 700 miles of country had been travelled, and a deal of useful information elicited.

The members expressed themselves highly delighted with the quality of the land to the north of Palmerston and on the Napier side, and consider it far superior to that of the South Island. The impression that because the Taranaki line did not pay its eonstnuction had been a mistake was also dissipated, for a fine tract of country has been opened up, and settlement is all that is now required to make " the garden of New Zealand" thoroughly prosperous. The weather throughout was all that could be desired, and from Hawora a magnificent view of Mount Egmont was obtained. The only piece of rough travelling met with was the coach drive from Ekatahuna to Mangamahoe, where, owing to the removal of the surfacemen from the line, the road is in a horrible state. Close by to the road the work of railway-making is proceeding briskly, and in less than a year this section of the Wellington-Napier line is likely to be open for traffic. In the meantime I should advise people making the overland journey to take the Manawatu Gorge route in preference to that of the Forty-mile Bußh.