THE BLIND RIVER ESTATE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXI, Issue 17, 23 January 1895, Page 3

THE BLIND RIVER ESTATE.

Disappointments are very often met with by all Governments who endeavour to extend settlement and get people to take up the pioneer duties inseparable from a fresh start m founding anew home, and every well-wisher of Marlborough must be sorry to find such a few applications lodged for sections when this estate was opened to the publio last week. We were informed that a good many men of the right sort were working m the neighbourhood of Blenheim who wanted land ; m fact, a big cry was raised not long ago that all the land m the Provincial District was locked up m leases, and was therefore unobtainable for the working men, and yet after the very large expense undertaken by the country m purchasing this estate under the Land for Settlement Act the only bona fide applications lodged with the Commissioner of- Crown Lands on the day appointed to receive them were two from the Wairarapa and one from the Wakamarina. Where are all these would-be settlers ? Echo answers, where ? Of course we admit there have been serious drawbacks, and not the least is the Awatere river, which has been m flood nearly all the time during the last six weeks, almost prohibiting intending selectors from visiting the land to inspect it, • and when we realise what a serious drawback such a rough turbulent river means year after year, we can hardly wonder at timid people who have seen it at its worst, being afraid to locate with their families on the southern side of it, especially without some assurance of the bridge being erected within a reasonable time. Then again, the difficulty of obtaining a constant supply of firewood, and on many sections the absence of water, has deterred a good many, m fact we are of opinion that it would have paid the Government to have had an artesian well put down on the property, so that each settler would have known for certain what he had to face with regard to the water supply; and the regulations might have been somewhat modified, so as to encourage even those who were not expert farmers to become producers.—Pelorus Guardian.