SOLDIER SETTLERS’ PLIGHT.

Wairarapa Age, 7 October 1926, Page 5

SOLDIER SETTLERS’ PLIGHT.

AT TUTURUMURI. DIFFICULTIES OF ACCESS, The difficulties of access to the sefi-' tions of soldier settlers at Tuturumuri, Wairarapa, many as they are in good weather conditions, are greatly added to in times of heavy rainfall. Some of these settlers at present find their only available route to the outer world by way of the bed of a creek which rises from a mere trickle to a broad stream three or four feet deep in a few hours. Bare of bush, the hills shed their water like the roof of a house, and after a flood has subsided, which it does almost as rapidly as it rises, there is the' silt to be reckoned with. A bridged road is being constructed, and quite a number of the bridges are up, but the formation between them is not yet complete, and several motorists who ventured into this locality after Sunday night’s and Monday's rain had most unenviable experiences, having to be towed by horses through the worst of the fords. Loose silt made it impossible for the driving wheels to grip, and the water, at more than one ford on Monday, was well over the top of the radiator, in places where it would scarcely have more than wetted the tires on Sunday morning. Mails and other communications are unavoidably delayed in delivery to the settlers under these conditions, which become worse after the road forks at Tuturumuri to Tora and White Rock Stations; Tora Station, where the Opua went ashore, is some ten miles from Tuturumuri, after passing which the creek becomes deeper and steeper banked. The formation of the road is already •being continued towards White Rock Station. The sailors who came out from Tora proved rather a heavy load for brakes in the circumstances, and had to walk until the road became firmer.