CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13433, 27 March 1907, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents. The writers name, as a guarantee of gbod faith, must bo enclosed in the letter.

ROADS AGAIN.

(To the Editor.) Sir; — As a bacfc-blpck Bettler, I must thank you" for the persistent manner in which' you advocate our claim for better attention in the matter of roading the country. Is this roading difficulty to [tap always witli us? Through your columns it has "been, paraded over and over again, and still we get no forrader. It seems that the powers that be will have to receive. mor.e education On the •subject, fop jkhe conclusion -forces itself t\iat the present Administration does not understand the importance of tho qiiestion. Either "don't ~or won't. Which is it? It is not for want of information received (vidfe Land Commission's report on . spading) \ also the scores of deputations, and petitions that iave waited on,, .aijd /been pjpesqntcd to, the same powers that t)e. You, Mr Editor, have always hit the right naii on the head when you put out a plea for roads befor^ settlement. Therein lies the solution of the difficulty. The present method is roads any tinie from six to sixteen years after settlement. One would think we lived in the fifteenth century instead of the twentieth. Given a sane roading policy, the settleis of inland Taranaki would be prosperous insfceadf of struggling against odds that in a number of cases^atfe proving too many for them: 1 Anff New' Plymouth, as^th«^'P«p^*nd'C<nmneTci«l' < centre, would be a city of 20,000 inhabitants, and be despatching one or two ocean-going steamers every week. This would be possible with the proper opening up and development of the inland country. So the Minister of Public Works waxes indignant when reminded o f these things, which mean the very existence of the ba6k-blocK settler. The settler may make a mentar note of tins, and put in his protest at the ballot-box. Townspeople, generally speaking, have not the remotest ideaof.tlic hardship the pioneer has to go thrdugh. Ninety per cent, of "the troubles are caused through the inhuman. folly of settling the land before' roading it. There is » AYbangamomona case. Tile wife of one of the settlers on a b.»-road. anproucning confinement, is taken ill. The doctor, 50 miles away, is telephoned fot.

The woman in endeavouring to reach v, neighbour's house, thus reducing the distance the doctor would have to travel, and to savo +iino which might mean saving two lives, is overtaken in ncr trouble by the roadside. The child died. The nearest nurse was eight miles away, and this woman (since dead) risked hexlife in a desperate ride over what was little better than, a pig track in order to save . the other woman s life, which- she did. This case was brought up at the Land Board's Couference held in Wellington some two years ago. The Hon. Hall-Jones has also had full particulars. And yet similar troubles may occur at any time in the back country. The nurse m number* of cases is 12 ta 15 miles away, and the nearest doctor from 40 to (0 miles. Given good roads, we would have a thriving population and with that a doctor. In educational matters UlO baek-blocker pays another penally: Seeing tho Hon. R. MciSfab is paying a visit to the inland country in April we will be able to supply him with serious food for -«o?|*« o ?|*^ s a T m dcKWELL.