THE CHEVIOT ESTATE.

Waikato Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3602, 3 August 1895, Page 9

THE CHEVIOT ESTATE.

(Wairarapa Daily Times). ~ , l Not long since a resident in this district, whose testimony inay : be taken as thoroughly reliable, had occasion to visit the Cheviot settlement. He remained there about' a month, and during that time had ample , opportunities of seeing for himself the true state of the settlement. His was no flying visit made on a fine day; he did not put up at the Cheviot mansion or the best house in the McKenzie township, but mixed freely with the working settlers, saw them in their daily struggle for existence, and during his stay shared, to some extent, their hardships. But to tell the. story in his own words: 44 1 had been led to believe that Cheviot was a Paradise. One could not help thinking so, from the glowing accounts published in certain papers. When I set out for the place I little dreamt it was anything approaching what I found. The last part of my journey was performed in a coach, but such a road I never saw* In many places * the horses toiled laboriously through mud; and slush so deep that the pole of the coach wm often covered; Everywhere; the mud was knee deep, and altogether the prospect was so disheartening that I would have turned back the day after I reached Cheviot had I been able. ; Stilll thought I would not give up my object without a fair trial, and at the end of a month—with health rapidly giving way-I left again andfhayeysince been 'seriously ill; ;i Until I yisitetj; Cheviot)l did not know what wretchedness , was, and the majority; of the.poor unfortunates who are there are in such v sore straits thatiunless {they get Government laid I cannot see how theyj can hang the^ioter/oatf.There are some' very good houses scattered about belong-! jm* there are a. few. ouesj, v bni the'majonty ofiliose who deludedinto,, (taking,,j up. hpldings-jn! many cases without capital and not evenj the most elementary' knowledge of the' limy#"* through (this! winter, in one.'of .the bleakest spots! in simglyj in (tents,! mnd whares, and r even carta." - In "one! instance the beach in an old boat/with" a sack stretched of winter. . ?ancy," r "^,..a u family of! father, huddled, together 'iu , a wretched mud! sacking 11 the n furoiture, a 'few 1 boxes! AndJthisptaS, #itK t¥om ! two/ f to"three feet of snow on the ground. The great Kaf wia^M P b|Me | fact that, the settlement is almost timber, and with the exception of some fiUiitatiiontf (^htch 1 are bot be" td'ucii«d) fflf 1 homestead, there is. practically. no.nre; penaenof 1 ibringingilcoaU add»wooil l 'for fi^el^by it may' he,, a, poor,'fellow, tV provide 1 ( bread tml jmeat;r;hM ninotoTmnch apefod affatherr r littM "almost perishing with cold, In„Mastei^o r ifoneis^ld ; -by-goingto i Bjit;#ing it9ll)ed iat Cheviot, Murihg | month I going' to bed to get warinrbut going to l»d to get wet. Some ; : a|e living in carts with over the position.of.the. settlers is largely due to friW' and many are |utterly unable to pull [ through. Ouierstare sticking to it with great heart, bw Wey'wil£have an up* hillffi|htT ( lCertainly cJ the tdtn out a good anil ; successful 'settlement, but \P,ile f settlers and' left^thet ** r came under my notice; it'waslhat of an. wh^had I Be4i t "for his healttiVealcer to'giveupArmy jwork jind Wl^'Quietly fatrGKfeviot. I pale face, ( Bhall,,nptqeMily , (orget. I (told him tliat 'the iife .wquld kill him, jthat he had;l?ettep ,, "up. His reply iWa£ section, an^tH^hT-he^d r better hang lon a bit longerg not at jail isolated onesj and HvliatT say is easily ivenfiejlj., t Men^hjyrf r stanch, l that v it is no,.wonder that every? one is crying out against the Government needs comment; the sad story speaks for itoplf T/y-\ QTMnfi't /■ VU'JTI VtH/T