A NECESSITY.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15112, 22 December 1921, Page 4

A NECESSITY.

One of the most effective arguments in favour of the speedy construction of a bridge over the Waihou River at Kirikiri was made recently by the wife of a settler on the Hauraki .Plains. She explained that, in view of the Christmas seasbn, it was necessary for her to do some shop- t ping, and she had come to Thames for. that purpose. The journey by trap, launch, and train was trying, especially as a little child had to be brought along, but'the journey back, with several parcels, was a problem. s'Now," she said, "if we could have harnessed the horses and driven in when my husband returned from the factory, it would have been a simple matter and an enjoyable day. . And we could all have been home in time fof the milking in the evening." As she outlined it, the journey back to the farm meant the maximum of inconvenience, much carrying of parcels, and changes from train to launch, and launch to trap. Being impressed with the bridge proposal, as it appeared to a woman living in the country, we made inquiries, and that the womenfolk could support their ease with other arid equally weighty arguments.-' One farmer's wife instanced the ease of a woman from the Plains who had been in the Hospital for some considerable . time during the year. It was a busy season on the farm, and the husband's first duty was to keep things going. That being so—and with the'additional tie of most of the heavy work in the house—he could only get into Thames to visit the Hospital on three occasions. Had there been a bridge handy, our informant added, the man could easily, on a Sunday, for instance, have driven <ihto the town, and- have brought the children to see their As it was, they did not see her while she was in the institution, and a visit from them must have done' her good. "You people don't seem to realise," said a recent inmate of. the Hospital, "how women are' marooned on their farms, simply because it is so trying a journey to town. We discussed it one day, and a woman in the ward said that, she had only been into the town twice in nearly a year; but if there was a bridge, she could- drive in herself, any day." Proper access from farm to town, available day and night, will be a boon to the wholf) district, and to none more so than to the womenfolk, "who play such a vital part in the settlement of the land. This matter is the most important that confronts town and country. There must be concentration of effort on the Kirikiri" project, in order that the present handicaps may be removed. It is the outstanding matter for public attention in 1922.