THE LAND BOARD AND THE VILLAGERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 62

THE LAND BOARD AND THE VILLAGERS.

' TOUR THROUGH HOMESTEADS. Following up their conference at Mangatainok a last week, with the villager's, th'e members of the Land Board, accompanied by Mr Kavanagh, Crown Stands Hanger, made a tour through the jhomesteads. The inspection extended over the 14th, 15th and 16th. The object was to ascertain from the settlers individually their position, wishes and. suggestions. In several respects the result was agreeably disappointing. There were no tong faces j os'fcs/bions of xii©lancholy ; r and the Commissioners found in nearly- every instance a cheerful welcome. ‘ The first lot visited are, m one respect, three of the thriftiest settlers in the locality. The success of the Mangatainoka School is largely due to their enterprise. By a curious coincidence the heads of these families average forty years of age, then* children number forty, and their sections, which adjoin, represent forty acres in all. What an object lesson to the three grey-bearded old bachelors residing in the unpainted, dingy cottages across the road, ardently qualifying for an old age pension! A fine, shady avenue of macrocarp a leads up to a comfortable residence, nestled among flowers and shrubs and fruit trees. A mother and daughter meet th© visitors. The family is in love with their home, but they would like some more The Board is prepared to help them when an opportunity occurs. It transpires that the daughter, an accomplished musician, has just returned from the Commonwealth celebration. “Ah !” remarks Mr Stevens, “that accounts for the pretty girls of which the Sydney papers An olcf.man with furrowed features, and bare, bronzed arms, rugged with smews, that: look like ropes beneath •the skill,; meets his interviewers at the roadside; ‘t’'lnside the gat© are a few fruit trees, by no means overladen; and beyond -the trees are a little cottage, covered' with fast-decaying shingles. ; “Frurt trees won’t thrive on this soil.” he . says. “And the house don’t seem to thrive, either.”

“Ah!” h©, rejoins, “it’s an old rookery, but the nest will answer my purpose.” "Then, you’re satisfied with your home?”

"Oh, yes! It will do me right enough. I’m quite contented.” , The yenerabie.. roadman has .formed miles of-roads,, and drains, and ditches, and broken thousands of loads of shingle and. boulders, but he has had to abandon the hammer and shovel, and he cannot do a great deal with the spade. ~ ' ; • 1 • ■

A large employer of labour .is Mr BredowV His workers are too numerous to b© counted, raid be uses neither timekeepers nor pay-sheets. He has a grievance, but not with the Land Board. By constructing a road without a proper culvert the County Council, he says, is ewampiiig and rendering useless a portion of .'his bee farm. On a' fine piece of soil, eight acres in extent, fronting, the Mangatainoka River, is the homestead of Mr D. Smith. Some of the land is in grass, but a considerable portion has potatoes, onions, vegetables of various kinds, strawberries, raspberries, etc., etc. What, between fruit and vegetables, this settler has no meed to be otherwise thaar buoyant. And a more light-hearted, vivacious villager it would be hard to discover. - A large quantity -of his strawberries in neat little Jboxes find their way to Wellington. Here- is'a widow whose husband was killed years ago in the early days of the settlement. With the help of two boys—good grafters in the newspaper office—-she has managed to keep Ih© wolf from the door by diligently turning to account five acres of rather poor and gravelly soil. Her boys are scattered, and she must part with th© home, butt she has no regrets. It is evident that wherever her lot in the future may be cast- her village cottage, almost hidden by the tall hedges, will hold a sunny place in her memory. It has helped to tide her, one may hope, over Her worst difficulties.

Hot many chains off, with a good frontage to the road, is a small uninviting an,d| neglected-looking cottage. It has no ornamental surroundings, and its walls, doors and. windows are so tattooed by time and dirt that it needs no lively imagination to conjure up plenty of cobwebs within. It is the blissful: abode of all artist—a combination fff soldier, musician and painter, who is happy in the possession of a solid grievance. The Land Board will not let him sell his abode of bliss lest be gets out of the fryingpan into the fire. Poor ph his home may look, the Board fears that- if it were converted the owner would*.’h© homeless. Alongside of the abode of the barearmed, dark-skinned genius who revolts against the unsaleability of his little all! is a -residence that offers a singular contrast to the homes around it. The hedges are well trimmed, the shrpbs and 1 flowers are well cared for, and the nice-ly-painted commodious house, with its large, bright, cheerfully-curtained win-

doWs spell “ comfort.” This is the home of a well-to-do settler who would like to absorb some of the sections around him, if the owners anti tile Land Board would only facilitate the operation. Across the railway line, nearly opposite the Mangatainoka* Station, is the home of one of the first settlers —a tall, stately, intelligent old gentleman, whose furrowed face and patriarchal whiskers speak of large matrimonial experiences. The scone, it is said, of more than one honeymoon, but for the straight walk leading up to it, would be hidden among tall hedges and umbrageous trees. Behind, unfortunately, the hillside which comprises most of the section is rather bare andunprepossessing, hence, presumably, the desire of the owner to bid adieu to the nest he once immeasurably cherished. The section 1 is “For sale —a bargain.” A settler of the thrifty kind, with a numerous family, occupies the adjacent section. He has the reputation of a hard-working, sterling farmer, but his area he considers too limited, although he leases altogether nearly 100 acres. Within reasonable limits, the Board is inclined to treat his proposals favourably. How various are the tints, the lights and shades in the conditions of life among the villagers. The Commissioners enter the home of a poor woman, who lost her breadwinner a considerable number of years ago in a manner unexpected and tragic. Throughout the vicissitudes of early bush life, the widow and her daughter, still a young girl, have struggled along wonderfully. The bright-looking cottage, the vegetable plots, free from weeds, the pretty flowers that sway, their artless heads as high as the windows, the clean, tidy sitting-room into which, the Commissioners are ushered., the ornamented walls and tables, all betoken taste and thrift happily combined. The inmates have no complaint except that the soil is rather poor and tlieir little dairy farm far too small. Th© Commissioners are sympathetic. They fully realise the position, and should a chance occur, they will help the widow. Facing what is known as Girdwood’s road, leading from Mangatainoka to the Masteirton-Mangahao Small Farm Settlement, is a section recently transferred to the local timber merchant. The latter has used it for his horses, and built* a residence on it for one of his men. No one will deny that the section has been turned to useful account-, but- it is certainly not fulfilling the purpose that the Board intended. Next to this section is a small dairy farm with a neat residence on the crown of the hill. A good, thrifty family are occupying this homestead. A little further along the road is the home of John McConaghty, a fine, powerful worker, of whom everyone has a good word to say. He is handicapped with a somewhat rough piece of land, altogether too small for a man of his energy. A potato paddock, a hay paddock, cowsheds, outbuildings, besides a good residence, are all convincing: proofs of Mr McConaghty’s industry. A man like this deserves a bigger and a better farm, and the probability is that the present little homestead is only a stepping stone.

There are one or two other sections in this locality, but they need hardly be described. The opinion of the' Commissioners is that the land is badly adapted for village purposes, and the homesteads are insufficient in area. ("'V Northward along the railway line the land inside the railway enclosure;j between the fence and the ballasted track is green "with robust vegetables, cabbages, onions, rhubarb, potatoes, etc. It is excellent soil, and! its products look particularly good. Behind is the homestead of a single man, who has let his best cottage to a married couple. Presumably this is only a temporary arrangement, seeing the Land Board objects to sub-letting. Beyond this homestead is a twentynine acre section, occupied by a settler who has built a nice commodious residence for his family. He is a fine, tall, large-boned, sinewy, strapping athlete, still in the prime of manhood. “I have worked here for the last eleven years, twelve and fourteen hours a day, Sundays included, and never nacl a holiday,” h© tells them. A little nursery lines the walk to his cottage. “You'Ve been trained as a gardener,” a Commissioner suggests.

“My father was gardener for Lord Onslow,” he replies. “I was a gamekeeper before I came to the colony.” Then he took the Commissioners through his paddocks and up the hill slopes, covered with a mixture of luxuriant grass and equally luxuriant rushes. He had trenched acre after acre with the spade, made deep drains and wide ditches, but some of the land was a network of springs, and the labour and material required to make it productive can with difficulty he Up to this point, on no section visited, had anything like the same amount of hard' labour been expended. The occupier apparently had a terrific wrestle with nature before he could get his hedges and fruit trees and other crops to grow. He had to contend, as he told his visitors, with fire and water.

<r Six years ago we had the Easter flood ; that swept away and rotted my potatoes ; then, when I thought I was getting everything in order, a year or two later came the great bush fire, and everything was either burned or scorched. Again my potatoes were blighted, my apple trees suffered, and some of my cattle went crooked.”

The Commissioners listen sympathetically t-o the. tale of woe,;but no tears are shed. Here is a strong man, with a heavy burthen, but his shoulders and energy are equal to the strain. They admire his self-acting eowbails, seven in a row, floored with railway sleepers ; they view a capital sample of potatoes —a variety that suits the soil; they pronounce his gooseberry wine equal to the finest champagne, and they leave with elated spirits, bidding him good-bye and good luck. A little later the wanderers ride up to a snug little paradise or a- few acres. Adam is away from home, “making bay while the sun shines” with a railway ballast gang, and he may be gone fer months, but Eve-is cheerful and resigned, and.no wonder. The flowers that paint the walls of her cottage are at-tractive-enough, but they are neither so lively nor so pretty as the fair-haired, dark-eyed children that play about the, door-step and verandah. “Better step in and have a crip of tea’’ «Ts the frank and kindly invitation, after a few preliminary inquiries. “Oh, no! thank you. We are not thirsty,” is the chorus that follows. "But my eldest girl has just made it.” "Oh! in that case I must- have it,” exclaims the Commissioner of Lands dismounting. The others follow, and a minute later they are regaling themselves with homemade bread and butter, and jam and cakes, and cream and tea, all delicacies, with the exception of the tea and flour, grown, reared and made on the farm. “You would like some more' land?” the Commissioners suggest. “Yes! Oh, yes! We could do with some more, but it costs money to buy anyone out, and I’m not going into debt,” is the resolute reply of the head cf the house. What a heaven New Zealand and the other colonies would be if every husband had a wife like this!

The sun has sunk behind the hill-tops as the Commissioners make a run over the well-kept garden and orchard of Mr and Mrs Spain—a, homestead that has received more Ministerial visits than any other in this part- of New Zealand. Ten or eleven years ago poor Spain had an orchard and garden that were a. picture of neatness and order. Carting! vegetables and fruit to Pahiatua while Mrs Spain* delved, raked and planted, he was rapidly winging his way to affluence, when, just as he had driven inside his paddock, In's horse suddenly plunged, threw him below the wheels, and his head and neck were crushed so badly that for weeks he lay between life and death. When he recovered he was. a wreck. Th© side of his head, face and neck wer© paralysed, and his power of speech utterly gone. He is still strong in limb, able to work, active and energetic, but all he can do to make himself understood is» to point to his head and tongue, and cry out “Hi yah!” Before allowing them to leave he presented the Commissioners with a sample of his best apples and some choice dahlias.

Before Pahiatua is reached a visit is n ade to the homestead of a well-known colonist —the father of a prominent barlister; isr ;.a .rfilendly recognition . ancl .exchange of greetings between him and dne' of the' Commissioners, for they are both “horsey” men, . and the one - cannot 'giveitheiothen many points. X. “You find it hard, no doubt. _ to knock out a living on seven acres ?” is the ingenious suggestion of one of the company. “Oh, yes! Very hard! Just step along and have a look at my ploughed paddock,” is the brisk rejoinder. Th© paddock represents just half of the section. The three and a half acres have been stumped and ploughed, and are bearing their second crop. Th© land has been limed and it bears an evidently good crop of carrots and potatoes. A young man is digging the latter. The kind is well selected and the quality unmistakable. “I get £6 per ton for them locally,” say si the grower, r£ and the yield is over ten tons to the acre.” Then he goes on to show that this season he will realise £2OO from his holding. The land has been limed tin's year, but next year he will give it some bono-dust, ‘‘for if you starve the soil, it will starve you.” He is a gooff., practical farmer, and he is quite satisfied. Saturday is devoted to the Mangaramara Settlement. The Mangaramara is a tributary of the Mangatainoka river, and the flats on cither side of the steam are of superb quality. The settlement is still going. Ten years ago the Mangatainoka schoolmaster (Mr Wilson) called the attention of Mr Hogg, then member for the district, to the desirability of securing the land for close settlement, with the result that the Minister was prevailed upon. to extend the village sections in this direction. The sections vary from ten. to twenty acres ea©h, and with a, very few exceptions they are all occupied, and contain cottages 'of weatherboard and iron. Dairying is the favourite pursuit. The rental paid to the Crown ranges from 2s to 5s per acre. For similar laud leased for grazing purposes from the native owners" and others some of the villagers are paying 14s 6d to 20s per acre. The land is generally of first-class quality, and the villagers would be happy if they only had more of it. The settlers have several grievances, but they are mostly directed against the Pahiatua County Council. In forming the roads the Council has dammed back the water on

some of the sections and forgotten to put in culverts where required. In one place they have made a- metal pit Bft. deep against a settlors’ gate and fence, and fenced off a third of . the road t-o prevent vehicles tumbling into it. The local authority evidently considers asmash in the dark better than a. capsize. The Mangaramara has a very tortuous course, and the Council has done nothing to straighten it. . As regards the Land Board, jits only crime consists in having forfeited or surrendered sections revalued, and the rent altered accordingly. Some of the recent settlers cannot understand why they should have to pay 4s 6d per acre to the Crown, when their neighbours—original selectors —only pay 2s 6d. But as the Commissioners point out, the settlement has been improved with roads; fires have swept over it, the land has increased in value, and grazing on similar. soil is worth 20s. per acre. The settlers here are apparently thrifty, go-ahead people that will - not let the soil be idle under their feet. One old lady, the relict of a well-known road contractor, who died less than a year ago, is struggling along with her family bravely. “ Your husband, poor fellow, was a great politician; I will never forget him,” says the member for M&sterton. “ Yes! I used to row with him about it sometimes. He’d sit at the fire, and read the papers till he was frozen.” 4“ Never mind,” Mr Reese submits, “ but for men like your husband you would never have ha-d your nice little section.”

A little beyond is a well-fenced homestead; at one corner a cottage, cowshed! and garden well stocked with vegetables. Incredible though it* may seem, the improvements are largely due to a somewhat delicate young lady—formerly a. school teacher- —but now the wife of an invalid husband and tho mother of three little children. Yet she values her home, and has no wish to sell, exchange or part with it. On the whole, there appears to be a brighter prospect for the Mangaramara settlement than the Mangatainoka. The soil is generally of better quality, and it is well adapted for dairy farming. Where the process is possible the Land Board will, however, be justified in allowing an amalgamation of holdings. This applies to both settlements, The bee farmer, the poultry farmer and the skilled fruitgrower may clo fairly well on a few acres, but the family tlia-t depends on dairying must have sufficient land for fifteen or twenty head of cattle -in order to make a comfortable living. At Mangatainoka, unfortunately, the smaller sections have usually the poorest soil, and this augments the difficulties of the lessees. Of course, it- was never intended that the whole of the villagers should depend entirely on the few acres around their cottages. The scheme was devised to provide homes for the wife and family free from* the private landlord, to the improvement of which (he bread-winner could devote his time when not working elsewhere. Men like Rollest-on, Ballanee and McKenzie have realised the parable of the sower. Some of the seed sown has fallen on stony places, but, on the whole, the crop has thriven, and the yield cf good works is fairly satisfactory. .