Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-06-19
LONELINESS IN NEW LAND
Great Stretches OF Country There with
Few Houses and Towns.

Few Houses and Towns.
Macmilans Magazine. AS nothing
in Europe astonshes the New Zeal
ander 50 much as tie crowds. so moth
ing in New Zealand is so surprising 70
| the Englishman IS the vast stretches
Iof uRinhab4ted land
Even the tourist on the zach roads
may easily travel twenty mics with
Out passing a single house. On the
road leading to one Of the most popu-
l-r resorts of the North Island, along
nifty miles of highway there is but one
small inn. where the horses ave
changed, and one Noari village, with a
SOLITARY white teacher for it's schoo!
The rest is scrub or swamp where
Wild horses m, or cleared brush
where blackened stumps still stand.
or fern and with patches of rorgh
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 of
dust or mud, according to the season.
dragging it's slow way past miles cf
seeming desert. where even the yell y
tussoek grass is supplanted by this
ties or by patches of green lichen re
sembling nothing so much as verdi
girls
I In New Zealand they appraise land
by the number of sheep it will ca:sv.
and this is FIVE or six acres to a sheep
and a merino sheep into the bargain
The driver as he passes filings ont
letter bags at the little wayside post
! Offices or tucks them into wooden box
es perched by the highway In this
way the post is delivered twice or pos
81 bly, 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, numbers 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 ut home for better
weather
Luckily, IN no part of New Zealand
are TIE winters so long and 50 severe
as in England; but material for road
making s scarce in New Zealand and
labor is scarcer and dearer. When
J one thinks of I'll that has been done.
and of the fifty years or so that Il
has been done in. the wonder is not
| h. no l.,,E hot
are SO many roads of any kind,
On many big runs which years of
tor have gone to make. all the VIM
ters stores must be housed not later
than April, because when the rains
come only an OK dray or pack horse
can travel along tine road to the town
ship. and that with difficulty; and the
storekeepers mrst bring all their
wares from the nearest railway sta
ton or coast town before the weather
breaks. standing ont 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.
-Four foot deep and four foot wide, :
/ is the familiar description OF roads in
THE roadless North which has a
preeminentiy evil reputation in that
way; bur even in the old settlements
] southwark walking is often out OF the
question, not only because there is
nowhere TO 90 within walking dis
tance, but also because of the roads
and the uubridged rivers. Nor is that
the worst hat can befall for in many
districts even vet 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 or
call for coasting steamers