HEREKINO VILLAGE SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9173, 1 October 1888, Page 6

HEREKINO VILLAGE SETTLEMENT.

H■ i . "•r .'' \b > --- ' -' r 3 1 '•>■ \ A "Land Nationalist" writes Having noticed in your issue of the 25th of August a latter from a Herekino settler, signing himself "Veritas," in which he asks to be permitted, in the interest of the general public,' to give a brief ■ and truthful statement of affairs here, I ; deem it incumbent upon me to give a truthful and explicit statement of affairs here, and then leave you and the general public to draw conclusions. There nave been letters innumerable written concerning this settlement, sufficient to make it the bugbear of New Zealand, which' so far have not benefited either the writers or the grand scheme, but rather miltit&ted against it. But I presume you have heard that old saying; when there is shells about you can guess there has been eggs. " Veritas' is altogether totally unfitted for pioneer life, has never been accustomed to such work, is pretty far advanced in years, and is physically unable to stand the amount of hardships that must necessarily follow. Secondly, he seems to think that the old system of " five-; bob-a-day-go-as-you-please" kind of style working on the roads which was the custom in the early stage of the settlement would be much better than the existing circumstances. Why, if I were only to inform the general public what that experiment cost the country, it would be the death-knell of day work throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand as far as public works are concorned. ; Not one .solitary individual would be employed on day work where it could be dispensed with if the whole truth had been made public, but that period has had its day, and a good job too. We have a large debit to village . settlement expenditure through the very same thing, and if you wore sent out to look at the work that should have been done,: i I feel convinced you would return and distinctly declare that you could not find it. "Veritas" fails to see that a good deal of the hardships that he speaks of is largely con-! sequent. I must say that it is with the greatest reluctance that ' I now write this, but when the name of our road inspector has been introduced in the matter, it is sufficient to cause any lover of truth and justice to show both sides of the question. Mark, . I am not giving to take sides, but give you facts, undisputable as they occurred, being one of its earliest settlers, and also a staunch advocate for the entire scheme. Our present road overseer has, l > am informed, tendered his resignation, which has been accepted, but altogether through an affection in his sight— lam sure, on the account of the department being dissatisfied, on the contrary; and the following facts will show you the reliability or otherwise of " Veritas'" statement. From my own personal knowledge there have not been six men in the whole settlement who have not been employed more or less on the roads, and a very difficult task it was for the overseer to discriminate as how to apportion the work best. Day work, as I nave before stated, was a white elephant. . Calling for public tender was worse, as it brought the young men of the settlement into: competition with married men with large families, which was simply ruinous to the latter. The shrewd overseer hit upon the best plan, and I think you will admit so. He gave out the work in small seotions—each one or two a small piece,; and placed his price on it to enable them to tide over difficulties, each according to their several wants; and as his hands were pretty tightly tied re money to expend, I am sure no right-minded person will say that a batter system could have been adopted. In conclusion, I have a word to say in reference to being in favour of ; the storekeepers. Is it downright cowardice, or is it through respect or fear of .his fellow settlers that Veritas" does not disclose the naked truth ? If he has failed to do it, as he should have done, I will fill up that vacancy for him. At the commencement ,of this settlement, and I am heartily sorry to say that such is the case, yet cash has not been very plentiful, and the limited amount of money at the disposal of the road overseer for expenditure and the lengthened visits of the village steward, have caused it to be rather difficult to make ends meet. But that is not all. We have had five > commercial deaths here within the last eighteen months. Through what, say you? Well, I'll tell you. At the beginning of the settlement our storekeepers, as they have been pleased to call themselves —but, alas, they are extinct—were not over scrupulous about giving £2, or £3, or £5 credit to any settler working on his section, or on the road, pending payment when the - time came. But to the honour of the poor storekeepers that time has not come yet, and I question if ever it will; and, mark you, the storekeepers were all mortal creatures like ourselves without 6d to start with, and the loss eventually fell on the shoulders of thoso outside the settlement. lam sorry to have to make this disclosure, but justice demands it. True, there are one or two persons hammering away at storekeeping m their own tinpot way, and I think the death of their predecessors has been a warning to them not to walk in the same paths, and they do business in quite another way; although you might term it legally wrong, you will admit that it is morally right. Instead of trusting to their neighbours conscience, which I am sorry to say has got terribly stretched since they came here, Mr. Brown, storekeeper, says to Jones, " Give me an order or a note of authority for the overseer or village steward to pay me the amount, and then we ' shall deal." I think, when the matter can be mutually agreed upon in such way, it has proved to be advantageous to a good many who have been trying to do right. I am sincerely sorry for the sake of "Veritas" that he was induced to forsake his natural element and plunge unfitted into pioneer life through Johnny's flowery speeches in the Temperance Hall. Our road overseer leaves here in a short time, and in doing so I am positive he carries with him the best wishes of the majority of the settlers, and the public lose a generous and trustworthy servant not easily to be replaced by one to fill such an unenvious position.