PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1896.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 10655, 2 July 1896, Page 2

PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1896.

The deputation of Ohuva Road settlers who left Stratford on Tuesday for Wellington will carry with them the best wishes of all interested in the development of Taranaki in their mission to obtain Government assistance in metalling the Ohura Road. This road will eventually become one of the main arterial roads of tho North Island, connecting as it will the provinces of Auckland and Taranaki. At present it is metalled only a short distance beyond Toko, nine miles from Stratford ; beyond that a dray road has been formed for a distance of forty miles, which is serviceable enough in summer, but in the winter months is almost impassable. For the next fourteen miles a bridle track has been formed, thus making it possible to ride a distance of fifty-four miles from Stratford. Tins leaves a gap of some seventeen miles to connect with the point t» which road formation has been carried at the Northern end. It will thus be seen that we are within measurable distance of the time when it will be possible to ride with eorne comfort from Stratford to Auckland. The immediate object of the deputation to Wellington, however, is to endeavor to get a sum put on the estimates sufficient, with the amount proposed to be raised by the settlers themselves, to complete the metalling of the Ohura Road as far as the Whangamomona Saddle, a distance of thirty-seven miles from Stratford, or twenty-eight from the end of the present metal. The claim that these settlers have upon the colony 18 an undoubted one ; the road, as we have pointed out, will, when opened through, be one of the main arterial roads of the North Island, and the settlers, besides having many of them already incuired considerable liability for roading, now offer to raise about one third of the estimated cost of the work they ask for. For that reason alone their request is entitled to favorable con- 1 sideration, but when we take into account the very large area of country which is tapped by this road, and the large number of settlers already interested, it will be admitted that their claim is a just one. The Ohura Road passes through the Toko, Huiakama, Mangaere, and Pohokura blocks, all of which are closely settled • Beyond those it, runs through the Taumatamahoo Block, which is also closely settled for 6ome four miles, as far as the metalled road is now asked for. Further still are the Whitiangi, Maraekowhai, and Ohura Blocks, all of which are tapped by the same road, and in which settlement is proceeding, there being already some two hundred settlers, including women and children, resident in those blocks. We think we have said enough to show that the claims of these settlers are entitled to special consideration, and we trust the Government will see its way to comply with the request of the deputation, ,

There have been, during the last year or two, so many counter attractions in the way of Armenian atrocities, the ChinaJapan war, South African troubles, the Venezuela boundary incident, and the Soudan expedition, that the attitude of Russia towards Great Britian's Indian Empire has faded out of sight. That Russia has not overlooked the question we are now reminded by an expression of opinion by the St Petersburg Gazette, a paper of considerable influence, though we believe not an official organ, to the effect that the provinces of Turkestan and Afghanistan must be re-united to Bokhara even at the cost of war. Bokhara was conquered by Russia in 1868, and is now practically a Russian province. It has a population of two and a-half millions, and the Ameer is allowed to maintain an army of 20,000 troops for administrative pwposes. These, however, are drilled by Russian instructors, while the trade of the country is mainly in the hands of the Russians. In other ways steps are being taken to Russianise tho province, such as by the exclusive use of Russian money and instruction in the Russian tongue in the principal colleges. Tho message published in our cable news to-day mentions Afghanistan and Turkestan, but probably this refers only to Afghan Turkestan, a province lying between Bokhara and the Hindu Kush Mountains. The acquisition of this territory by Russia would Dring her a step nearer to our Indian Empire, and the proposal now made is probably a counter move to the friendlyjrelations whioh have recently been confirmed between the Ameer of Afghanistan and Great Britain.