THE BACK BLOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 10

THE BACK BLOCKS.

Sir,-—Reading a letter from the back blocks and others in the issue of October 15,' it seems time that something was done to alleviate the obvious distress now prevalent in certain of our back-country districts. The district I live in is in an exceedingly bad way, in fact, to quote the words of a commission which visited the district over 18 months ago, "The plight of the settlers is deplorable." Yet nothing was done to help. Again I quote Mr. McLeod's words. When our deputation appealed to him for assistance in July last he said, speaking to the Lands Committee at Wellington: "We have here three men who should obviously do well anywhere; there must be something wrong." Quite right, Mr. McLeod. There is something wrong. There have been three commissions here investigating matters during the last two years and es'en now, when you admit our claims are reasonable, you are just as diplomatic as you ever were in shelving an awkward question. Again, in spite of a definite promise that no pressure would be used by the Advances to Settlers Department until matters were investigated, two summonses were issued for arrears of interest, both in cases where the department dofinitely knew, from the commission's reports, that the people concerned had no hope of raising this money. In September last,' after recognising that the position was hopeless and that the action could not be justified, the summonses were withdrawn. Does the department think we shall ever regain confidence in their protestations of "sympathetic consideration 1" Is the department aware that the actual result of their action was to force us to leave our farms and compete on an already overcrowded labour market ? The worst I can wish anyone is to live as I do now, in a back-block settlement, and watch your wife and children exist half-fed, halfclothed, very sparingly educated and enii j !?" akcn ky the teachers of our socalled Christian religion." H. St. Clair.