Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-06-13
LONELINESS IN NEW --.LAN
Great Stretches of Country There with
Few HOUSES and Towns.

Macmillans Magazine. As nothing
in Europe aston.shes the New Zeal
ander SO much as the crowds. so moth
ing in New Zealand is SO surprising u
the Englishman as the vast stretches
/ of uninhaHted land
Even the tourist on the coach roads
may easily travel twenty miles with
road leading TO one of the most popu,
| l2r resorts of the North Island. along
| fifty miles of highw9y there is but one
small inn, where the horses a"e
changed, and one Moari village. with a
solitary white teacher for its school
The rest is scrub or swamp where
| wild horses roam. or cleared brush
where blackened stumps still stand.
Or fern land with patches of rough
pasture.
And to reach the far famed lakes of
the South Island. beautiful enough
when they are reached, the coach tolls
| for two whole days through inches nj
dust or mud. according to the season,
| dragging its slow way past miles of
| seeming desert, where even the yellow
tussock grass is supplanted by this
ties or by patches of green lichen re.
sembling nothing so much as ye-d&
girls.
/ in New Zealand they appraise Ian I
| by the number of sheep it will cav
and this is five or six acres to sheep
and a merinO sheep into the bargain
The driver as he passes filings ont
letter bags at the little wayside post
offices or tUclls them into wooden box
| es perched by the highway. In this
way the post is delivered twice or los
! stbly thrice a week in summer and
once in winter. But this is along the
coach roads-and even they are often
impossible for wheeled traffic in
winter. Then the post cart, sunk to
its aXles, Iumbers along at the rate OF
! two miles an hour or the postman
rides in mud up to his horses girths.
and thos who have business abroad
do likewise or wait at home for better
weather
Luckily, III no part Of New Zealand
are the winters 50 long and so severe
as in England; but material for road
making is scarce in New Zealand anu
labor is scarcer and dearer. When
one thinks of all that has been done
and Of the fifty years or 50 that il
has been done in, the wonder IS moi
that the roads are bad, but that there
are so many roads of any kind.
On many big runs, which years OIL
ter's stores must be housed not later
than April, because when the rains
| come only an OK dray or a pack horse
can travel along the road to the town
| ship, and that with difficulty: and tie
storekeepers must bring all their
wares from the nearest railway sta
ton or coast town before the weather
breaks. standing out of their money
, for many months, or else they must
suffer the loss of oxen and horses
, begged or exhausted with the heavy
winters work.
! No wonder store goods are dear
I -Four foot deep and four foot wide.
is the familiar description OF roads in
the roadless North which has d
prominently evil reputation in thai
way: but even in the old settlements
southwark walking is often out Of the
question, not only because there i
! nowhere to go within walking dis
lance, but also because of the road
and the unbridged rivers. Nor is that
the worst hat can befall, for in many
districts even yet there are no roads
only bride paths, or foot tracks ending
at the waters edge whence a boat
can be rowed to the nearest port Oi
call for coasting steamers.