CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Herald, Volume XL, Issue 8994, 29 January 1891, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

+ [We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents. The writer's name, as a guarantee of Rood faith, must be enclosed in the letter.l THE COUNTRY THE EAST ROAD PASSES THROUGH. TO THB EDITOR. Sir, — It is satisfactory to those who had the administration of the waste lands in the past to find now that the Town of Stratford was located in the right place, and was not made too big, as some people predicted. It will in the futuro be the largest inland town in Taranaki, and its progress, though comparatively slow, has been, and will be, steady. It ought to have been the junction of the line from Auckland, South, but the opposition was too strong, and the original proposal has failed of achievement. Stratford will no doubt be the terminus of a branch line from the Main Trunk Railway at some not distant day ; in tho meantime a good metalled road will be sufficient to make it the depot, of a large trade. I look on the East Road as the main line to ultimately open up a large tract of country for settlement, and why it has not received a share of the loan expenditure more commensurate with its .importance, I cannot conceive. It has not been the fault of the Waste Lands Board, for that Board has over and over again urged the Government to open up this road and failed; the only reason assigned for not doing so being that it would only open up private lands. It might have been rejoined that these private lands had been first offered to the Government fpr sale, and it was only when the Government declined to purchase that private enterprize slipped in and attempted to do what Government organisation could have done better. At last, the • Government, when political death is drawing near, and the turmoil of a general election is about to agitate the colony, fiund that it is necessary to push on the East Road to open up blocks of Crown lands, which lie beyond the private lands which . hitherto stopped the way. It is a -pleasure to recognise cv.en at the last moment of existence a returning sense of a sound public policy exhibited by the Government, which now, alas !. no longer exists. I hope that this good deed in mending a bad road will mitigate to some extent former errors of neglect. To those who are not acquainted with Stratford, I may state that the East Road leaves the township to the north of the ■' centre, and through the suburban land and about four, miles of reserves. The first reserve is a native one, consisting of about 2009 acres. This, fortunately, is now, all leased in sections of about 150 acres, and'partly improved, and has several'resident settlers" on it.' Near the lower end of the reserve, on the left-hand side, is Mr H. Brown's new sawmill, which is driven by a Leffel turbine, the power being obtained from the Kahouri .stream by a tunnel cut through a neck of land. The - mill is in full working' order, turning • to> useful account timber trees which otherwise would be wasted by fire, and- affording employment to many workmen. There is also an educational reserve of 1200 acres, a portion of which is leased. The Kahouri stream, is bridged here by a substantial . bridge, built on concrete piers. From Stratford to the' Skinner Roal, half a mile past, the distance is 3 miles,, and the land is level or .nearly ao; for the next 2 milea to the Standish Road the country is more hilly and the grade steeper. The tendency is, however, to go down hill, for the fall from Stratford to this point ib 300 feet. The New Plymouth Borough reserves of 2000 acres, which New Plymouth was fortunate enough to secure from, a favoraMe Government, occupies some 2 miles of the road. It is now leased in several farms for a period of 42 years, and it is being rapidly improved by clearing, fencing, and buildings. .It is a very good block of land, and will, no doubt, in the future be looked on as a very valuable asset. At the end of the Borough reserve, which is about 5£ miles from Stratford, there is a block sold by the Government in sections about four years ago, which extends about 2 miles to the Ahuroa Road, where the road work now being" undertaken by the Government commences, and, I hope, will continue without intermission until the central railway route is fairly struck. The settlers on this small block, in the face of the great difficulties under which" they labored by being cut off by bad roads and big reserves from the civilisation which Stratford affords^ have done - wonders in the shape of making large clearings, con structing fences, anct building house?. I hope that in the future the discomforts they have experienced as farmers will bo rewarded in the right way. The land here shows signs of improvement, being more of the character of the Eltham land. The lip of the volcanic basin has been reached, and the tertiary clays of the interior are beginning to mingle with the volcanic ash of Mount Egmont. - Thomas Kelly.