THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13910, 13 March 1909, Page 7

THROUGH THE BACKBLOCKS.

A FOUR DAYS' ROUND TRIP. .: (Continued from Thursday.) About 9 o'clock on Friday inqrnujg a fresh start, was made/this time in Mr Sheeny 's gig, in which wei drove the seven miles down to the Government cottage on the Mimi-Mokau Road, occupied by Mr Skiltrop, a foreman] -under Mr Murray. The valley continues of the same, rich description— pukatea flats, with papa hilte enclosing it— and the road is in. good order. Before starting "Mr Murray v haa asked Mr Sheehy, jokingly, whether ,'t he * fcrould take us down in a motor-car or a horse conveyance, which led to the remark i by our hostHlhat no motor-car had ever reached Okau, and he appeared to think it was a most unlikely event to jhappen yet awhile. Strangely enough, however, before we had gone far we met Mr Everard GiUnour in Jiis car, with Mr Fenwick M'Ailum and Mr Lichtwark, on their way up to see the latter's property higher up,J;he road. They had left town about- 4.30, and, alowing for ai^ hour's delay for breakfast, had covered the fi^ty^miles to Okau in about four hoiirs-^-excellerit travelling, considering that a great portion of the road is umnetalled and that Mount Messenger had to be climbed. Mr Murray having business with Mr Skiltrop, we had to await his return from Mount Messenger in the afternoon, and accordingly spent some hours at the cottage, where Mrs Skiltrop very hospitably entertained us— About 3.30 p-.m. Mr Sparkes's. coach, running from Awakino to Urenui, came along and picked us up. Our road lay over Mount Messenger, where the magnificent bush scenery somewha|r^pmpensates for a very toilsome ascent. Mr Murray points oui? how a great (deal of* this ascent might have been saved if the tfrad had" t come up a valley and a tunnel been cut through ,the saddle. , possibly, iihis wfl.l be done some day, but in the meantime the worst places on, the mountain are being metalled with burnt" papa. A short liaifc is made on the descent to sea a new kiln ofpapa which "was fired that morning. Trie process now adopted is very much cheaper and better than' the old style originally adopted at Whangamomona, 'where the first metal burned cost .over £1 per yard. Uruti is passed, and the beautiful Mimi Valley traversed, the progressTof the road construction ? being:~Tlolje3. The worst lo^-lying parts' a£»,be&g- raised, sand* stoke aadv gravel are" neing •laid' in places, and the settlers will be inucn better off during the coming, winter as a result. At last, about 7-30 p.m., we drive up to the hotel at Urenui, where the writer is fortunate enough to obtain a seat in Mr Gilmour's motor car, which is on the point of leaving for town. This last stag© of twenty miles is done in over the" hour — a remarkable contrast to the slow, travelling done during the last, four daysj. Before bringing thi^ narrative toXa close it is proposed to review the situation as it concerns New Plymouth. In four days, from Tuesday morning to "Friday night, the writer travelled about 190 miles, every mile in Taranaki, without once going back in his tracks. Roughly,' he encircled an area of a million acres of land, e^ery acre almost, with the exception- *of tlye Tangarakau Gorge, and "sope other thousands- of acres of -permanent forest reserve, fit for settlement. The quality . of, tb.e land varies from indifferent i-o-very rich, but scarcely an- acre Can be classed as bad. The best of ft will carry - four or five sheep to the acre, the worst from a sheep f to a sheep and a half. A very large proportion will be suitable for dairying, some for. agriculture, and in some parts fruit ■ will grow to perfection. v 'It is a splendidly watered country, generally spea&ing, and also healthy for cattle, sheep, and human' beings. Now, it is particularly desired' to emphasise this point, that except in* the vicinity ( of the railway line and the main roads, this vast area of land is practically virgin country whjch has /scarcely begun to produce yet. Tara- ■ naki ? s exports chiefly come* from' 'that portion of the province -which lies round the slopes of Mount Egmont ; the northeastern portion, which is tne part referred to, is in its infancy. In five years large quantities of wool, meat, and' dairy produce will be coming off this land. In ten years the whole face of the country will be changed, and a fleet of steamers will be required to carry away alljthe produce it will turn out. ' '* ' . Now, the furthest point reached was Mangaroa, the centre of the rich Ohura country, and \Ohura- is just 78 miles from New Plymouth, or 80 miles from the' wharf » Moturoa. Auckland is 190 miles from Mangaroa, Wellington 290 miles, so that the Minister of .Public Works had good grounds for saying at TeKuiti the other <Jay that "of one thing he was sure, and that was, that a& soon, as the railway connection was made with Mangaroa, Ijhe outlet for, the produce of that district would be Taranaki." That has long been. the writer^ opinion. By rail,^ via Stratforfl, Mangaroa will be about 110 miles from the breakwater, but even by that route we shall fiave an advantage of 80 miles over Auckland. Stock, however . and stock will be one of the principal products of the Ohura — will be able to travel by road, the Mangaroa-Tonga-porutu Road, to the -freezing works at Waitara, which is Jtess < than 7Q miles from Mangaroa. - , ; '. - The prime ' necessity in devoloping these rich lands ts roading. Roads! Roads! 1. Roads!!!, For, years this journal has persistently _ advocated a ' more active roading policy and complained of Ministerial incompetence and inactivity in dealing- with this matter. Now, however, it is a genuine pleasure io be able to record a marked change. Mr Murray has working under mm some, five hundred men, while heyond his district, in the Te Kuiti distinct, Mr Burd and Mr Julian have over 1000 men at work on the roads. In passing, it may be mentioned, that many of the works inland, completed, or to be undertaken, are such as call for no mean engineering skill, and it strikes one that the Government, does not fittingly recognise the immense responsibility or the aftobu^it "of work, undertaken by the engineers, who would do much better for themselves if they were doing similar work for local bodies or private individuals. Those who sit at home in ease ca-n have little cpnceptipn of what is meant by roading the back-blocks of Taranaki, where, as Mr Burd remarked at Mangaroa, the ranges»all seem to run the wrong way. the roads having to cross them, instead of following the valleys. To give an idea of what is being done, it may be , mentioned that Mr Murray, in, all seriousness, hopes that, if the preseitt rate of expenditure is maintained, it will be possible in about three^yearß . from now to drive a motor-car round the route described in these articles m a, summer's day.. On this trip four days was considered very good time. F«y of us in New Plymouth have

any intelligent idea of the great country Taranaki ,is and of what it will produce in a few years. We wonder whether, when the breakwater is completed, it will be worth while large, steamers coming here. Worth while! Why, ten "years hence the largest steamers will be constantly loading wool, and frozen meat, and dairy produce, and and other products at Moturoa. * So splendidly, situated is. the harbour that it will draw~ trade from four or five million acres of land — land the like. of whiefc. for average^ quality is not to be round 'elsewhere in New Zealand. Let the doubters go and see the back-blocks; let J;hem travel as the writer has done for tiay after day through splendid fertile country which will presently come into bearing and send its surplus flocks and hgxds, its wool and butter and cheese, to the coast here for shipment to the world's markets. Truly we Mo not realise our Eossibilities and the value of our ineritance.

In conclusion, let the writer again express his best, thanks to those who so kindly treated hinv during his irip,' especially Mr Joe M'Cluggage, who assisted him very generously in his travelling arrangements. Just a word to wind up with about £his gentleman, the father of the Whangamomona settlement. ' A traveller down the East Road saw a five-horse wagon carrying a great load of stores 'along the road, &;nd inquired to whom it belonged. "To Joe M'Cluggage," was the reply. Presently ,a bullock beam was passed; to whom did it belong? "To Joe M'Cluggage."j Here is a stor^htfuse by the roadside; whose is it, was asked, and again the reply was, "Joe M'Gluggage's." A nice homestead, a string or packhorses, another stor,e; whose are these? "All Joe M/Cluggage's." "Then who the d is this Joe M'Cluggage?" was at last put. "Don't you know Joe? Why, I thought everyone knew him ; he's the whitest man in the Ohura, and has done more for the settlement than, any other individual." That's Joe. Good luck to h^m!