A PEEP INTO THE PAST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 95, 5 December 1911, Page 5

A PEEP INTO THE PAST.

SKETCH OF A REMARKABLE SETTLEMENT. (To the Editor ; “Stratford Post.”) Sir,—ln the history of land settlement in this country, there is no more remarkable chapter than that telling of the settlement of Whangamomona. It is a unique record of the liberality of a state and the fight for a home on the land 'by the penniless settler. The success attending the experiment has fully justified the exceptional manner in which the Liberal Government met the pioneers of Whangamomona. When the Government started the improved farm system in Taranaki in i c 1895, Whangamomona was by far - the largest of all the settlements. The ■ Act was passed for the purpose of relieving the ranks of the unemployed, and was rapidly brought into operation. Whangamomona was then a dense forest with only a bush track from Pqhokura, which was about 12 miles distant from the site of the proposed settlement. Three parties of surveyors were rushed on to the Scene, and these made a hurried survey, dividing the district up into 115 bush farms. Within three months of the starting of the survey, every section in the settlement was taken up. The settlers. came from all parts of New Zealand, and cornprmeu all sorts and conditions of men Irom college graduates to a doll’s-eye maker. Probably not five per cent, had ever been in a New Zealand bush before. The Government paid the travelling expenses in all cases where necessary. In no other part of the world has such a liberal and absolutely successful experiment been tried in the interests of the penniless settler. The method adopted was as follows: —Each man was given a contract at a price - in advance of the market value—on -'account of the distance back and the \ high price of food—for felling twenty acres of bush for his homestead. When the contract was completed, the men were found employment on the formation of the roads as near as possible to their holdings. When the time for burning arrived, a day was selected, and each man received a day’s pay for attending to the fire on his section. Then the Government supplied the grass seed, and paid the settlers 2s per acre for sowing it on their own sections. After the burn a subsidy of £ for £ was given to each settler to enable him to build his house, and when the house was finished, the settlers returned to work on the roads. Finally, . when the whole of the bush on the

sections was felled, the cost including everything expended on the section was capitalised and added to the rest, which amounted to about 5.1 per cent. The total length of the settlement was about twelve miles, and the nearest point was 12 miles ahead of the ►. road, so that settlers at the far end wore 24 miles ahead of the road. In a settlement of 115 people ulaccd in such an unusual position and without ready money, it will he easily understood that the commissariat was a most serious matter. Stratford, the market town, was forty odd miles i from the nearest settler, and I think | I am not exaggerating when I say ' that the road was the worst in New Zealand. In winter* time, which meant 9 months of the year, it was a sea of mud from one end to the other. Two storekeepers started at Pohokura, twelve miles away, and packed stuff very irregularly over the track to the settlement. Many a time when the pack horses arrived the nearest

settler, being first to arrive, purchased all tiie Hour before the far back" ones reached tho scene; consequently they imd to return emptyhanded. 'i ids went on for some time,

and tho settlement was just about at starving point. The two storekeepers pleased themselves when they came as well as what they brought, anti would sell all they had to one man if ho had tho money to buy it, not caring two straws for tho women and children who would be left without the ordinary necessaries of life. But a new era was dawning—a better time was in store for the struggling settlers. Mr Joseph McCluggage, the father of Whangamomoua, was com-ing-relief was at baud. Well do I remember the first trip Joe made with about three pack horse loads of hour and tea and sugar. Ho had taken up a bush section at Pohokura, and was only a straggler himself but lie hoard of the manner in which the other two storekeepers wore treating the settlers, apd determined to try to serve them better. He was by far the weaker of tho three financially, and with far less experience in the arts and wiles of storekeeping. But he had a heart as big as a bullock, with tho courage and endurance of a Spartan, and he made up his mind to fight Ids way against all comers. The first six months was a terrible struggle. The roads were in a deplorable condition, and to make matters worse the other two firms reduced tho prices of goods with the object 6f cut ling McCluggage out but thqy little knew the man they had to deal with. Ho stuck to the track night and day, and it was quite a common thing for him and his brother Bob to negotiate that road in the middle of tho niglft. Any settlers who gave him an order could depend on receiving it at tho appointed time,even though lie had to travel all night to deliver ■it whereas it was just a chance whether the others delivered the orders or not. McCluggage’s time came when his opponents formed a compact and refused to sell except for cash. This practically meant the death of the Wliangamomona settlement, as it was absolutely impossible for the settlers to pay cash. A certain amount of credit would have to be given, or tho whole scheme must be abandoned. But Mr McCluggage continued the even tenor of his way, never swerving, and gradually the settlors recognised has sterling worth. Slowly but surely his business increased until at last the other two firms surrendered and left him. a clear field. There is no doubt in my mind that but for the timely arrival of McCluggage on the scene, Whangamomoua would have become a skeleton settlement instead of the prosperous and thriving community it is to-day.

Time wore on and in due course oceans of grass rose and fell in great waves’ from one end of the settlement to the other. The settlers were not in a. position to purchase sufficient stock to keep it down, and again McCluggage came to the rescue. This time ho built a dairy factory, and further than that, linanced the settlers in the purchase of cows. This last venture placed the settlement on the good permanent and substantial base that it now occupies, and every man in it was given a chance to make himself permanently comfortable and if they did ,not do so, it was their o\vn fault. Could anything he more liberal on the part of any Government than this? in a large settlement such as the ond .in question, there are always wasters'Hio he found, and to his credit bo, it said that even these the"genial “Joe” hover deserted, hut like 1 the famous “Father O’Flyn” could ho always found—- “ Scolding the lazy ones—chiding the aisy ones; ~; Helping the crazy one over the style?”

When McCluggage got properly on his feet in order to give the lastmentioned settler a fair start, ho wrote a'considerable,sum off his books. Ho always had the interest of the •.mail farmer at heart—in fact, it was not at all uncommon for him to travel ihaiiy miles at his. own expense to represent the case of some roadless settlor in the back blocks, or to make fresh arrangements ■ for renewal of somebody’s P.N. The back-blocks’ settlor will certainly never find a better advocate nor a truer friend!—l am, etc., A PIONEER.*