TOKOMAIRIRO.

Otago Witness, Issue 401, 6 August 1859, Page 3

TOKOMAIRIRO.

The following communication has been forwarded to us for publication :—: —

" Tokomairiro, July 19, 1859. "to his hosoe the superintendent of the

PROVINCE OF OTAGO.

" Sib, — Having observed in the newspapers the very unsatisfactory report of the Civil Engineer with regard to the roads in this district, 1 take the liberty, at the request of many of the settlers here, to direct your attention to a few facts.

" According to the last statistics published there were 25,982 sheep in this district, showing a larger wool export trade than most other districts in the Province.

" The district grows more grain than any district in Otago, excepting perhaps the Taieri ; but we have more need of good roads than even that district, because a great part of that district can send their grain to market without passing along the main road, shipping it as they do on the banks of their river ; whereas here, the whole must be carried along the main road to the Waihola Lake, a distance of from Bto 13 miles. It is estimated that there are 20,000 bushels of grain in this district to be carried by that road to the market, which must all be carted to the Lake.

" Now what is the state of this most important road ? It is not only impassable for loaded drays, but positively dangerous to be used ; already (I may state) two serious accidents have occurred — the first resulting in the laming of a valuable horse, the second in one of our respected settlers having one of his ribs broken. From the lake southward the road passes over numerous deep creeks, and by far the greater number of these are without bridges, or where there are bridges, they are in such a dangerous state that they dare not be used with a loaded dray. " Almost all the bridges were erected several years ago, of wood, by the settlers at their own expense, and are now worn out ; and although an immense quantity of land has been sold here, little or no public money has been expended in this district, excepting in erecting two bridges over the Tokomairiro river, but these, though a great boon to the people south of the district, were of little or no benefit to the great body of the settlers, who are almost all located north of those bridges. " On the Taieri road public money has been expended for years, but here not a shilling, till last year, and then the work was stopped before any real benefit was done. " A party of men, who were organised and at work under Mr. Oliver, were drafted off to Invercargill by, I believe, the Civil Engineer's special instructions, and yet he says in his report, men could not be got 5 and as to lodgings, I aver no proper effort was made to obtain them. Besides, I would ask,— how were lodgings obtained at Invercargill ? " But the Civil Engineer says that £2000 was set apart for 150 miles of road, that is, £13 6s. Bd. per mile. He says that he appropriated £800 for 50 miles of the inhabited districts, that is, £16 per mile for the districts which required good roads ; and £1200, or £12 per mile, for 100 miles of uninhabited country, where the roads are seldom used or required. Is that anything like a fair proportion— only £4 per mile more for the districts requiring roads than for the long tracts of country where no roads are required ? "The contract which the Civil Engineer refers to was never properly advertised ; it did not appear in the newspapers. I believe a written notice was stuck up in one of the public houses in the district, but only a few could have had an opportunity of seeing it. Reasonable tenders were given in— the specification required £900 to execute it. There could be no modification of the specification— no addition to the £800; nothing could be done even to repair the bridges, or erect new ones, which would not cost the fourth of that sum. Why was not Mr. Strain's offer (Mr. Oliver considering it very reasonable) accepted by the Government? But, moreover, such is the carelessness with regard to this district, that though months have elapsed, no notice has been given whether the tenders offered are to be accepted, unless it has been given within the last few days. The fact is, we have been shamefully neglected, and many must be ruined unless something be done to enable us to get away our produce. Our necessities have driven ua to speak plainly out. "Again, we erected, at our own expense, a store and jetty-at the head of the lake. The Council voted a sum for the improvement of the navigation, or in other words, to make such improvements as would tend to lower the treights. An application was made for part of this money to be laid out in extending the jetty, but not one farthing is expended, although at present every bag loaded or unloaded at the lake must be carried on the men's backs, sometimes more than knee-deep in the water, to get it out or into the boats; hence we pay 9d. per bushel freight, about one-fifth of the present price of oats. If the jetty was extended out so as the boats could load at it, we would ' get a deduction of one^third from the freight. Why 13 this work not done ? Why, siniply because, as we believe, the Civil Engineer thinks we should load at the ferry, giving us a distance equal to 50 per cent, on the journey andlOO per cent, on the carriage, as a bullock dray could not go to the ferry and return the same day— thus causing two days to be spent for one load, besides the expense of keeping men and bullocks at the ferry for a night with every load sent— an expense which would I fully absorb all the profits we derive from our produce. Besides the additional freight required from the present mode of boating, there is another severe loss from vermin in the store, as boatmen will not come to Waihola to wade knee-deep in water during winter if they can get freight elsewhere, and hence our grain often has to lie at the store for weeks. Again, we are credibly informed that a little effort and a comparative small expenditure would give two feet additional water at the entrance of the lake. Even one foot additional would enable boats to come to the jetty (if extended as applied for) of such a size as would enable the boatmen to reduce the freight one-half the present charge ; but the Civil Engineer's ferry whim, as we believe, prevents any effort whatever to give greater depth of water. " Thus our whole interests are sacrificed to the whims, caprices, and carelessness of the Government or their servants ; but I beg to assure your Honor that those wrongs will be borne no longer. We are sure they require to be only fairly brought before the public to

raise the whole voice of the country to our support; and if not speedily rectified, weinust adopt every legitimate means to that end. " I send a copy of this letter to both the newspapers.

" I have the honour to be, &c, John L. Gii-lies, "For self and fellow-settlers."