OUR HINTERLAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 98, 27 December 1913, Page 7

OUR HINTERLAND.

A VISIT OF INSPECTION. Following is the conclusion oi tin article in the “Ohura Advocate, re yarding a visit by that journal’, representative to Tokirima, Marae kowhai and Roto: The road leading from Tokirima U Maraekowhai will eventually cross th ! ■ river near Blaramberg’s and lead o. to the Opatu Block and Taumarunui. This will go through the Native bloc, of light bush land on the opposite sub of the river before reaching the Opa tu settlement. This block is taken up by a Mr Gibbons, of Wanganui. 1 had not time to sec the Opatu, but one of the settlers, Mr McLeod, informed me that it is good and that great progress was being made with the land, but the only access at prc sent obtained is by using a canoe ii crossing the river and towing the hois behind it. A good bridge site ha. been selected, and the sum of £l2ot voted for the bridge, and naturally tin Opatu settlers are anxious to see tin Department make a start with tin work and have it completed belor the summer passes. The totara pile; will probably have to come from th. 12-mile on the Ongarue Road a dis tance of about 25 miles by road, am will either have to be taken by bul lock waggon part of the way anc then rhftecl down the Ohura, or carted about 35 miles by way of Harve;. Road. But, unfortunately, the up per reaches of the river may be tot low in the summer time for rafting purposes, and two serious obstacle; prevent the through carting by TurotRoad—viz., Nicholl’s cutting and tin Roto suspension bridge. To the novice, the hill on Which Nicholl’s cut ting is situated is not unlike othei low hills to be seen on tlie roadside, but it appears to have presented serious engineering difficulties to content with and finally given up in despaii —thus causing a block on the road The Roto suspension bridge, with it; spider-like, structure amidst the surrounding bush scenery ia very nice from a pictorial point of view, but this is not appreciated while crossing over it on horseback. The bridge is about three chains in length and is suspend ed by cables about 80ft. above the level of the river and is designed to carry, traffic up to five tons in weight. £ut in wet weather with the vioten oscillations of the bridge caused bj crossing over it, anithals have a difficulty in maintaining their footing onthe 1 ” Slippery decking.’ In a place like this, with itk'.dee'ii,solid banks to sustain the side-pressure; surely sonu fpjclm. of, soi(4. could lu>ve beeuj at ,a, Ilctfe mortj post. lam not aware of the pie-, vailing conditions at the time of it; prectioni, of transit of material had something to do with it: but it is now very evident that with the increased traffic on a main, thoroughfare like this will be, the Roto' suspension'bridge will soon become worse than useless.

A meeting of settlers to discuss road matters was convened for. tin ToKi«iiAa,fto M lapsed• o*o<waht ibf/ at>te»d#.n<so* R° B ' siblyV were' taking afiviuitqgq uh thu ‘gf>iemJM/ weather for,). shearing (whidi jiist mow :is at a . premium) as several settlei'fe wtere engaged in, that occupation at the yards of the Messrs Clarke ' rtn the previous day. .' | t ' The traveller in these, parts-need have'little fear of collision with n motor car, only three cars have invaded the Ohura ; the last one about 12 months since. Ami here in these isolated places I would point out the great need of finger-posts at the junctions df the roads, as a stranger, with no one near to guide him, may easih go astray. . • Fionf 1 Roto to Awarata the road follows alongside the, Ohura, part of it only a bridle track and comparatively dry and level and the country all settled. After many miles riding along this road 1 eventually pull up at the neatly kept homestead of .Mr G. Clarke, where, after some refreshments are pArtblten of, another start is made for home. The school and post office at Xwarata have been closed during the week for some time past; Mr MoSsman, Jim., the schoolmaster at Niho Niho, Combining the duties of schoolmaster and actingchief postmaster on Saturdays. As regards the quality of the land in the districts referred to, much of the open cohntry is ploughable; the hush land appears to he of good quality, with rich fiats here and there on the river side, in fact, the splendid condition rtf the stock tells its own tale. I was rather surprised to notice at a pi Ace near the road and river, a line of dairy cows in capital condition and‘which seemed to me trt he much above the average usually seen in the hack-hlocks, but I understand this settler is selling out his herd on account of the, at present, isolated position from the butter factory. And this, I presume, iA only one instance of what might he done on the dairying country near the river with better facilities for transit, and 1 verily believe that could Wi Haare have put his motor-boat service irtto use on the Ohura river from Tokirima to Niho Niho, ho would have become a public benefactor. However, this will all ho rectified in time with the aid of good roads and railway and possible use Of the river; and some of these old pioneers who now savagely enquire when the Government is going to give them any roads, may yet have time to forget those present hardships, and will have good roads, good farms, comfortable residences on the banks 'of the river and their motor-service and pleasure-boats on the Ohura.