BUSH SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5729, 26 October 1905, Page 6

BUSH SETTLEMENT.

CARRIERS OP THE BACKBLOCKS. FDNISHKD FOR LIVING. HOW CATTLK ARB LOST. No. XV. “ That usod to bo tho best horse on ':ho rood. I hove seen him carry .llcv.'t ■ip to Tho Clcnrin"." The pony v.’ms one of down:; of Maorihred weeds that aro to bo found grassing vnywhoro between Strathmore and Ongaruhe. Tlscro may bo nothing aristocratic about tho Maori pony, but ho is worth thousands to tho back-blocker. Uo is small and shaggy, with a wicked little head, and often a hollow back, but ho ia just tho creature for mud and for getting about amongst tho logs on tho hillsides. When a Maori pony has boon over a road once he knows a great ileal more about it than anyone else can toll him. Ho is remarkably sure-footed and clever at picking his way, and he has a great deal more reserve at the end of a hard day than a larger-sized and bettor-bred animal. The Townsman approached the Maori pony with a theoretical contempt for his breeding, and loft him full of admiration for an animal that servos a useful purpose as well as tho town horse. His accomplishments appeal only to those tho share his circumstances. Almost everything beyond Strathmore is packed for the greater part of tho year, tho carrier driving strings haltorlcfcs ponies in front of him. Not long ago tho mail came through to Tho Blearing by pack-horse. Bven to-day it /toes through so to Tutu, in tho King Country. McCluggago Bros., who pack stores through, have also used bullocks with great success. MEDIEVAL TRANSPORT. But every kind of transport that is tieen beyond Strathmore at this time of year dates back to the oldest times that wo know of. Tho roads date to equally ancient times, and the Settler has to bear all tills double punishment and expense, and endeavour, smiling, to compete with the man who is lying up against tho railroad in Wairarapa or Manawntu. His provisions cost him something Mko 50 per cent, more than the same things in town. Butter made in tho valley from butter-fat that cents Td is sold at Is 7d. “Why.” said a young Selector, as ho pointed to a few empty half-hundrcd-ivoight butter-boxes tbat had come from the Taranaki downs; “wo can send out and have a pound of butter posted to us for -threepence a pound less than wo pay for it hero.” “ But you have potatoes,” said the Townsman, looking at a heap lying under a bunk. “ They aro costing us a pound a hag in the towns.” “ Oh. well,” was tho rejoinder, “ you nro just paying now what Whanga’ has Veen paying all along.” Cheese costs 10d, broad 9d tho 41b loaf, salt 2d, a clothes-line Is 6d. When a man has his land readv for sow inn- he sends out for oat seed at 3s 9d a bushel, and it lauds ou Ids selection at its 2d. Ho looks to his ’ neighbour across tho road for sympathy; and the neighbour says; “My chimney cost £28.” There is only one com Port—beef und mutton aro only 4jd a pound. And the Townsman went out full of learning and was shown the spots where a horse pulled his shoes clean off in the suction of the pug: and where a Settler brought a spado to dig his horse’s legs out of the road. And before he went to bed ho saw on the roadside a pair of clumsy harrows that were used for sorting out tho mud, and a wooden roller for flattening it. And ho dreamed •'hut lie was in the Terrace Gaol. CREAM ON PACKHORSES. In a moment of weakness the >V nangamomona settlers thought their district was suitable for dairying They know better now. Follow urn too closely in the wake of the Taranaki downs, the' settlers erected a butter factory a few miles above the Clearing with a creamery six miles awav at VVhitianga. This would have been all right if tlio roads were such that an extended catchment area could he worked. As a matter of fact, it is only tho few miles of burnt papa that are .at all practicable for carting milk over. AndJthe area of flat dairying land along ■this road is very limited. Those farmers who live over the end ■of tlio papa have a tremendous struggle to get their cans through. Time after time the carts become fast in the mud, and tile milk is poured out on the road. That is happening occasionally to-day; though most of the selectors who are away from the burnt' papa roads have accepted the situation ami,burned to grazing. The Whitianga creamery is away from tho papa altogether, and its position can bo imagined. Last year the cream was packed down to Whangamomona in flat-sided cans on the backs of pnekhorses. When it arrived, lumps of butter wore sticking to the lid. Naturally, tliis was not very good for the condition of the butter. The Whitianga skimming-station has not opened yet for this season. When it does, the intention is to sledge tho cream to tho end of the papa, and cart it the rest of the distance.

There is no freezing chamber at the •Whangamomona factory, and the butter Btandrj a poor chance of keeping condition until it gets down, to the grading stores. It has to bo carted thirty miles by road to the-rail at Omni, at a cost of something under a halfpenny a pound, and considerable loss of condition.

Just now the Whangamomona factory is taking in three hundred gallons a day, and it expects to get up to a thousand during the season. Tills is not enough to do any good with. Even the ’two thousand gallons whicli it is believed could be collected if the roads were good would not be sufficient to stand the heavy expenses which the Whangamomona factory lias to face as compared with other companies. The property, valued at perhaps £OOO, has a debt of £2500 hovering about, and the suppliers aro providing a sinking fund out of 7d a pound for their butter fat! Worse than ever, there is a semi-private factory higher up the road, and the division of supply means loss to both. Is it any wonder if homo separation and dairy-made butter increase hero? DODGING WORK. At tlio. top of Huri Moana, where the ayo readies clear to the foot of Ruapehu and Xgauruhoo, there was a hard case sullenly towing a Maori pony that ambled along on the edge of tho mud. Out of tho sack that covered the packsaddle stuck tho charred handle of an axe.

“How far have you come ?" asks the ■Settler, cordially. The Hard Case snarls, ;;s if ho has been wakened too early : “Two hundred miles; round fi om Himlervillu.” ‘ Looking for work S'” “Yeas.” “There is any amount to be had here.” “’That’s what they all sny,” drawled the malcontent- “But yor can’t get a stroke unless yer crawl to the oflicial on tho Main Trunk.” “Oil, you’ll bo at the Clearing in another throe miles. You ask there, and you’ll get any amount.” Tlio Hard Case grunted, and tho Settlers trotted away. The Hard Case did not call at the Clearing. Ho secreted himself until dark, and slunk through during the night. It was a close shave. Any man who can slush scrub can get work iu the M hangamomona Valley to-day. The first tiling that happens when a man takes up; a section is to secure scrub-cutters at 2es an acre. Within tlio last few weeks Whangamoinoim has born sending all over the back-blocks, to the King Country, to Taiiiape, everywhere, for labour ot this kind. But it is not available, and tho younger selectors have been forming themselves into co-operative gangs to nil the breach. When tho scrub is down, tho selector units for it to dry, and then snatches the opportunity, after a, Few days’ hot weather, to get a ‘■burn.” If the spur lies up and down the wind, lie will get a good burn without much difficulty, and in a day or .so there will bo nothing but charred logs lying all over the blackened hillside, with a few of the best totnras still standing. But if his holding hairpens to Ho lip into a few of the sheltered corners that aro such a valuable feature of tho Ohura country, he may have to wait for weeks bulere he can get a draught sufficient to carry the lire rigid through tho section. The'totara trees arc left standing, to bo used when required for pests. Maoris keep an eye on them, too, tor canoes. In one ‘ gully ou the Putikituua track there was a tremendous totara, from which two hundred posts and ’twenty strainers !n;vc been cut. It was chosen by the TangaraKali Maoris for a canoe, and chopped soum but a bad “shako” appeared, wluch made it useless for the water, and iwas abandoned whore it lay. Directly tlio “burn” is over, the seed is thrown on Hie ground, and in an incredibly short time there is enough grass to keep a. cow or a sheep to Uie acre. Every selector has fifty or more cattle. CATTLE LOSSES. “Look out! She’s ‘tooted’.!” cried the Settler's son, as we rounded a tend and saw a heifer staggering in the middle of the road staring and flourishing her tail. Tho horses were pulled out of the road on to the bank, and the hsifci zigzagged past, going large and wide. There was no sight in her staring eyes, and she staggered blindly into a cutting. Her tail was -bleeding from a cross-cut near the root, and tho Settlor said it was all right; eho would getbetter. . ... Tutiv is ono of the liabilities of the grazior on new bush country. One cannot go a couple of chains without seeing its healthy olive-green leaves peeping out of the fern and scrub. Cattle like it, and for nine months in tho year they do not suffer from it, butjust now one meets a “tooted’ beast every day. “Where is it?” gasps the Townsman, as the horse wades knee-deep in a river through a smell of dead animal that fills up the space between the cliffs on either side.

“Look up the bank there. It's a black steer that got ‘tooted’ and rolled down tho hill through the fence.” If anybody happens to meet a “tooted” beast and is able to bleed it without getting himself hurt, it is all right. The anmal will probably he saved. If not, it rushes about sightless until it dies of poison or kills itself by running into a tree or over a cliff. These creeks are not safe to drink out of, because in nine cases out of ten an animal that is ill or poisoned will find his way down to water and die in it. “There’s a dead beast under there,” says the Settler, nodding towards a bend in the road whore the water lias piled up a tailing bed of papa and soil so that nothing can he seen. In a day’s wandering one may come across as many as twenty-five cattle that have died from tutu or logs. OX OUR SELECTION.

Tho Settler has more than enough trouble in tho fust few years of his tenancy. First of all, his fences have to bo erected. Many of the posts have to bo "stepped” to keep them from springing up when/ the strain reaches up the spurs on either side. The slips in the early days used to leave chains of fencing swinging in mid-air, and people know now that it pays to run tho boundary along a ridge, where the ground will hold. The “burn” comes, then tho grass, and stock have to bo turned in carefully ; enough to "hold” the country and prevent the scrub taking possession again; not enough to eat tbo grass out. Mustering cattle in this country is heartbreaking. It takes a whole day to muster two hundred head and shift them to the next paddock. It. takes two days to muster seven hundred sheep. Even a Maori pony cannot keep on indefinitely among tho logs; and a fewhours is enough for the dogs. Consequently, the Settler has to get down the gullies afoot and travel all day. It may mean half an hour to get a handful of cattle round ono largo log. Each must be taken individually to a track. Then, if the country has only recently been cleared, he will find cattle dead of tutu or logged. A beast will get into a queer corner after grass, and, unable to hack out of a couple of logs, will perish. A gale of wind amongst dead trees in tho first year or two is full of danger. A stump comes crashing down without warning, maiming and occasionally killing cattle. It is no uncommon thing to see bullocks with huge lumps on their spines. Horses, too, especially light ones, are rather a liability in this country. All classes of .stock are liable to bo buried in landslips. But all these things become gradually and beautifully less. During tho first few years a selector may lose from 7’y to 10 per cent, of his herds by tutu, logs, and landslips; hut every year these dangers become less. 'ln ten years Whangamomona will be what Toko is to-day—clear green downs—and there-, will be no more losses of this kind. Moreover, wild pigs and wild dogs will be cleared out or driven back, and sheep will be safer than they are now. In yesterday’s article tho number of persons who selected land in tho Whnngamomona Settlement should have been 150, not 1505 hs printed.