CHEVIOT REVISITED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7330, 17 February 1902, Page 1

CHEVIOT REVISITED.

■ . : — ; — , — 4. A HOPEFUL OUTLOOK. A representative of the "Star" who had visited Cheviot, ab the time of. the earthquakes in November, returned from Cheviot again last evening, and has had an opportunity of seeing the altered appearance of the district since that time. Then the settlement was virtually in a state of chaos, and the people were all very muck unsettled, the majority of them living in tents, and the women, being in hourly dread of a recurrence of the heavy shocks experienced on November 16, and during the following week.- Although slight shocks still continue to be felt at intervals, th| settlers now speak' of them as tremors, and express themselves as ; confident that it will be a very long period before it again becomes the turn of their district to have another visit ; from the earthquake fiend. With the exception of those who had: their houses absolutely demolished, moat of them had the necessary repairs to their homes carried out, and the: majority of the-chim r neys have been rebuilt, many of the^ settlers, however,' having erected them in iron. The Relief Committee has now obtianed the £1500 promised by. the . Government, » nd ' this, with the public subscriptions,: gives them a sum of about £2700 to distribute. The bulk of the money has already been allocated, and from conversation w£th a number of the sufferers, the way ii^yhich the committee carried out its arduous, task appears to have given general satisfaction. jOh the whole, the people appear tb have quite settled down again, and are very hopefnVasto the future. . It may be noted that several of the smaller holders who suffered slight losses, andwho did not make claims oil the fund,, declined "to accept any relief when it was offered by the committee, preferring to stand the loss fcfeema^lves, and *hds -may be taken as showing tho independent spirit of the people whom his Excellency the" Governor spoke so highly of when he was entertained at Gheviot. on Wednesday evening, when he said that theclass of settlers that had taken up, Cheviot had. had a great deal to do with its success. \_ , , In November the settlement x had been visited by a serious doroughtwhich had xen'dered' feed very scarce, and promised to ruin the- green- and xoot crops. So serious was the ppsitipn that the settlers expressed the opinion .that the consequences of the drought would be.ten times more disastrous to the settlement than the effects of the ■earthquake. One- farmer then said that there would -be. no fat lambs s&nt off Cheviot this, season unless the drought broke up speedily, fl nd the general opinion was that even ; if rain came then it would be too late to be of much service. However, fortunately, early in December, copious showers" fell, and this has completely altered the appearance of the country. Since that;. tinie feed has been fairly plentiful/apd the grain "crops tciok a -fresh, start. .'The Jesuit is that now the pastures are green, there is an average harvest, and the rape and turnips have done .well. In fact, some of the earlier crops of turnips, 'especially on the Hurunui and Waiau flats, are especially . good, the turnip' crop at Messrs Robiqson , Brothers, Waiau Grasg« estate, being is good asf anything likely to be seen in the colony. Fat lambs are now .being sent aviray, in large drafts, and from present, appearances quite as many as usual ."will ''be sent from -Cheviot ;tbis .year. .-■ The -bulk of tb^ wjiite > crops are bats* <if wbiclr there- arg. some very . good yieldif -''an'oV" ex- v cellent-stfinple^ - The .wheat', too, is above the ordinary, and there are a few crops of good barley.' The farmers are now busy with, harvesting operations, and threshing has already commenced. It is noticeable that a number of the smaller holders are going out. of dairying and devoting themselves' to grain growing and sheep raising. This has caused the dairy factory to be rather short of milk, and' it is a pity that, in a district so suitable for dairy farming, more interest is not taken in this pursuit. The settlers, of course, are very much .upset at the "stoppage of, the construction ofjthe Waipara-Cheviot section of the railway, more especially when so little work was required to allow of the fourteen-mile section from Waipara to Scargill being opened. However, they are endeavouring to make the best of the situation, and have asked the Minister of- Public Works to erect temporary loading yards at the railway crossing about nine miles from Waipara, and to rim two stock trains per weekThey state that the last day's drive on the road to Waipara takes fully 6d per head off the fat sheep and lambs, which nave to travel down from Cheviot. It has beem estimated that fully 40,000 fat sheep and lambs will come off the estate this year, and that fully another 20,000 will be. taken from other places north of the crossing. The Minister has replied that he will •favourably ■ consider the matter, and asked for information as to the quantity of stock likely to come forward during the next three months. ' f The work of cleaning the Bluff cutting from the landslips on the direct road to Port Robinson is proceeding slowly. About thirty men are employed by piecework, but the progress is very slow. The men have to lift the earth % into high-sided wheel--barrows, and .then take it to. the side and tip it over. At the present rate oi : progress the road will not be ope© for traffic for fully three months. The woTk could be much more expeditiously performed were horses and scoops employed. , . Some few months ago, a number of lea<U, me Cheviot settlers decidea to erect m the centre of the McKenzie towsship^ a serviceable memorial to the late Sir John McKenzie. Minister of Lands, under whosecapable administration their holdings were acquired. Fusdswere promptly forthcoming and after considerable discussion it was resolved that the proposed memorial should assume the form of a public lamp, which should be both ornamental and useful Accordingly, a suitable design was prepared by Mr J. B. Mansfield, monumental mason, of Manchester Street, and submitted for approval to the committee having the matter in hand 1 ; and meeting their requirements in every way, its execution was entrusted to him. -It is now completed, asd will shortly be removed to Mckenzie and erected; its formal unveiling being fixed for March 21 next. The memorial comprises a massive square Port Chalmers-stone monument, set on; a Victorian blue-stone base ; the latter resting on a solid bed of concrete. The monument is capped with an elaborately-carved canopy upon which will be secured a richlymoulded iron pillar or lamp-post supporting a handsome lamp, inside of which some serviceable luminant will be placed. 4, marble panel has been, sunk into the die or front of the monument, and on this is cut in lead lettering, the following inscription — "Erected by the Cheviot Settlers to the memory of Sir John McKenzie, Minister of Lands for New Zealand, under whose administration the Cheviot Land was acquired for settlement." The memorial •will be about 14ft in height, will be enclosed by Port Chalmers stone kerbing. carrying a handsome oast-iron fence of floral desizn, which, with the stone-work will be 3ft 6in high, and the total cost of the memorial will be £100. Advantage was taken of the vi«t to Cheviot of his Excellency the Governor to lay tire foundation stone, s duty which his Excellency kindly undertook. The committee of the Settlers Association is making good progress with the arrangements for the annual show, which takes place on March 21. and it is expected thut visitor? from Christchurch will be 1 taken about nine miles up the new rauVay line from Waipara, thus shortsbing thie coach jourpoy considerably. .

The settlers felt highly honoured at having a second visit from his Excellency the Governqr, and were greatly pleased with the ton£ of his remarks at the social gathering at which he was welcomed. Lord Ranfurly has evidently a good practical grip of matters generally, and the manner in which he went about and mixed with the people has certainly left a lasting impression behind. His Excellency was evidently pleased with the progress the settlement had made under tbe trying circumstances which, ifc had gone through. He was evidently much impressed with the injury suffered <by the settlers through the earthquake, and from his remarks, is evidently disappointed at the stoppage of the railway works. ' ' ■ . •. ■•