IN THE BACKBLOCKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3035, 15 May 1912, Page 13

IN THE BACKBLOCKS.

CONDITIONS IN THE CATLINS DISTRICT.

INDESCRIBABLE ROADS. ! Not the least important of the many disadvantages under which the back-blocks pioneers have to labour is the difficulty of getting reasonable educational facilities for their children. From the Catling district the Otago Education Boaid last month had no fewer than fivo requests for a&sa&tance in this connection, and a committee, consisting- of the chairman of the board (the Hon. T. Fergus) and the members of the Southern Ward, was deputed to visit the localities and report. On the 7th therefore the sub-committee proceeded by passenger train to Houipapa, and thence by ballast train to Puketiro (the present terminus of the ballast line). Here the party was met by a trolley and conveyed to M'Laehlan's store at Caberfeidh. From that point the members of the party journeyed by wagonette to Kahuika and the Papatowai railway site, where they took boat to the Papatowai township. On j the Bth inst. they returned by Lawson's coach, via the main trunk road, from Papatowai to Catlins station, and visited Pounawea in the afternoon. On Thursday they met the settlers at Glenomaru, returning to town in the evening. Mr C. R. Richardson (chief inspector), who was with the party, interviewed as to their experiences, said that oh ordinary roads this outing might be looked upon as a very pleasing jaunt, but with the extraordinary roads of the district it really was an experience. Seven miles, much of it down hill, in four hours, with a pair of strong horses in the shafts ! The members of the deputation were all men who had a knowledge of the early days of i Otaeo, but they were agreed that the Catlins roads are simply indescribable. "This is winter," said Mr Rjchardson, i "and we were assured by one of the de--1 putationa which waited on us that the roads have been in their present condition since last winter. They are not side roads, but

main routes. When the main roads are in this condition, what moist the side ones be like ? The whole system of settling this district has been a gigantic bungle. The railway should have been made the pioneer of settlement, so that the settlers, while making their homes, could have reaped the reward that Nature had placed there for them in the vast timber reserves they find on their lands. Instead, obey have been forced to burn this timber' and eke out a scanty'livelihood in the clearings they have made." On the journey from Caberfeidli to Papatowai the horses were knocked up on the road, and would not face the seas of mud. The waggonette at last became bogged, and the party had to get out to lighten the load. Both the horses and the members were covered with mud. " Nobody," said Mr Richardson, "had any conception of the conditions unless they had an experience of the journey. The Hon.. Thomas Fergus, who has a wide and varied knowledge of the roads in this and other counties in the early days, said he had never seen anything to equal the road we went over that day.'' Mr Lawson, the coach driver, stated to soma of the party that he has had to refuse to take passengers during a considerable part of this summer owing to the state of the main road from Catlins to Papatowai. Mr Richardson says that stoats and weasels are responsible for a marked decrease of bird life in the Catlins district. Robins are now rarely seen, aud parrakeets, kakas, tuis, and various native birds that used to make the bush alive with song have almost disappeared. He says that the settlers state that the native pigeon is also disappearing, and that the time does not seem to be far distant when the native birds will be a thing of the past. A suggestion was made by another member of the party that it would be a good thing if the members of the Catlins Rail-. way League were to organise an excursion to Catlins just now to see for themselves the difficulties the inhabitants of the locality have to contend against.