SETTLERS’ GRIEVANCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5604, 2 June 1905, Page 7

SETTLERS’ GRIEVANCES.

THE CRY FOR ROADS. (Special to “ N.Z. Times.”) STRATFORD, June 1. Certainly the Land Commission will have no reason to complain that it did not see'and feel some of the difficulties under which the back-blocks settler labours. At this time of the year the road from Whangamomona to Strathmore, over which the Commission travelled by coach to-day, must be one of the worst of its kind in the colony. A portion of the way from Strathmore to Orvtru, near Stratford, is frightful. The surface in many places has been thickly strewn with ti-tree scrub, afterwards covered with half-churned mud. The result is then called “ a road.” This awful track, by the way, is part of the great East road which has been the subject of so much discussion in the House for years past. TTp to the present a sum of about £IOO,OOO has been spent on it. Metal is scarce, however, shell rock being the principal material used, and a great deal of money will yet be required before a tolerably decent way to Whangamomona can be made.

The cry for roads is heard all over the district, and it is not surprising that the system of loading for roads on Crown lands came in for a good deal of criticism by witnesses who appeared before the Commission at Strathmore to-day. Mr Michael O’Neil, who farms 650 acres of land at Huiakama, about three miles from Strathmore, described the system as "the most one-sided practice that could possibly be imagined.” Settlers on the main road in his district were loaded to the extent of £1 per acre, while those say five chains back were only loaded on a basis of 9s. In many instances the latter people made just as frequent use of the road as their, more heavily-taxed neighbours. The said:—“ I will relate a personal experience. At present I have a section, which originally had a frontage to the main road, but the Government evidently discovered a better route, and a deviation was made from the original way. Despite , the fact that my section does not now flank the main road, I have been unable to get any relief from the imposition of £1 for loading.” Witness added that he considered a reduction should have been made to 9s per acre, and he believed the Land Board would have given him, redress if it had had power to do so. Another witness, Charles S. Gatton, one of the Palmerston Special Settlement settlers, said it was manifestly unfair that land should be loaded, for roadmaking for all time when the debt could be extinguished if a loan was obtained under the Local Bodies’ Loans Act. Thomas Hastie, a member of the Stratford County Council, said his wife had for eight years held 598 acres on lease-in-perpetmty which was leaded for roads. There was not yet even a track within thirty-five chains of the property.--