The school moved to its new site, but the McLeods could scarcely look upon the house as exclusively their own private home: the sitting-room was the staff dining and recreation room; infants were taught on the verandah and other classes held inside the house; the school cooking was done in the kitchen and boarders fed in the house; and a teacher was accommodated.

�50 was spent on repairing outbuildings for the boys� accommodation and the girls� dormitory, with bathroom and one staff bedroom, was built. It was 60� long, 18� wide, with walls 13� high and 14� thick, and had a galvanised iron roof wooden floors and ceiling, and wooden surrounds to the sash windows. Gradually the two classrooms and another block, with boys� dormitory and bathroom, staff bedroom and school diningroom, was built, but until 1953 all food was cooked in the headmaster�s kitchen and carried outside over to the diningroom in all weathers. Outside latrines (p.k�s) were the only sanitary conveniences for over forty years.

A small location for African staff was erected, and school cows, bought with a Government loan of �50, were kept in outbuildings.

Although very little was ready for the school it presumably acquired a flagstaff very soon, for during 1910 the Chief Clerk asked the C.C. whether local arrangements could be made for a flagstaff at the school: a wooden pole of suitable height, fitted with pulley and cord, and properly erected, would suffice. The Clerk needed to be advised of the estimated cost before the work was authorised.

Besides having to run a school without proper accommodation, McLeod had many other problems in some of which he was helped by the School Advisory Committee which met monthly from October 1910. He was Head of a Government SchooL but the boarding establishment was not Government responsibility and was run by the School�s Hostel Committee and apparently financed largely by McLeod himself. Boarding fees were raised from �7.10 to �8 per annum, and by 1912 they were �28, but parents had difficulty in paying them. Quite half the fees were paid in kind: fruit, vegetables, butter, eggs and sheep, which were useful when at times there were 60 boarders, but by 1914 McLeod had lost �311 since taking over, and when he asked for this to be refunded he was told that the boardinghouse was not the financial responsibility of the Government, but was given a grant of �60 for the next six months.

Another problem was hostel supervision. In deciding that the Government would take over the school it was considered a good idea to have a Headmaster with a wife to supervise the boarding establishment, but it is not clear whether payment was ever made for Rachael McLeod�s years of service. In 1912 there is reference to the School Housekeeper�s wage of �88 per annum, but in 1914 a housekeeper was engaged hoping the Government would pay her salary and that hope was not fulfilled.

Some of the pupils were nearly adult, and Harris remembers learning his A.B.C. standing in line with those, to him, grown men, some of whom trained oxen and did other outside work in part payment of fees. Tom Williams the woodwork instructor made miniature houses and wagons to scale so that the boys could learn the correct way.

From Zaaiplaats the du Plessis children walked to school at the beginning of every term and walked home again for the holidays. Their father, Hendrik, was away a lot from the farm doing building and transportjobs, and when he died in 1910 Mrs. du Plessis struggled on alone. Mrs. Cronwright and Mrs. Wessels put two of the girls through school, and as Hester Cecilia (Mrs. Christiaan Olwage) and her brothers grew up they attended school up to Std. III, which was all their mother could afford. To pay for their fees she did the washing and ironing for the school and supplied vegetables, the loads being carried there and back by Africans. When the children were at home they worked in the fields doing the ploughing and everything and seeing that food was available, and during termtime Mrs. du Plessis did the farming herself until she died in 1920, by when the family had finished school.

The language question caused much dissatisfaction. Ever since the original school had been started there were requests that Dutch should be taught, yet in 1913 when it was laid down that Dutch could be taught for an hour a day to any children if the parents wished it, in Melsetter only one request was received. In 1914 the Rev. Mr. Badenhorst said that he had no fault to find with the staff, but totally disagreed with the too English Spirit at the School.

For many years annual requests were made for a railway. The Melsetter Railway Committee presented the case for its construction and was supported by the Umtali Chamber of Commerce, the Manica Farmers� and Landowners� Association and the Annual Congresses of the Rhodesian Agricultural Union.

 

In 1910 the B.S.A. Co. said that the construction of further railways was receiving the most careful consideration. In 1911 an eloquent plea was made on behalf of this district of vast potentialities which could not be exploited owing to the want of a railway to get produce to markets, and the London answer was that for the moment it was not possible to undertake further construction but that the Melsetter claims would always receive the fullest consideration.

In efforts to find some form of mechanical power for transport enquiries were made regarding types of traction power, and the Director of Agriculture sent catalogues of power tractions of various descriptions; he thought the crux of the problem would hinge on questions of cost and it was not clear that petrol or steam tractors would prove cheaper than ox or donkey transport.

In 1910,  57 miles of wood-pole and copper wire telegraph line was completed between Melsetter and Silinda.
From Melsetter the road to Umtali wound round through Rocklands, Constantia, Msapa up to Msaps Nek and, through heavy cuttings with a steep cliff on one side and a deep drop on the other, climbed up to 7 000, then down and across Komiek Nek with drops on both sides, and from there it turned to the right across the hills, down Rutherfurd�s Hill, across Thom�s Hope and on to Thaba Nchu.

There is a vast amount of correspondence in the National Archives detailing the difficulties which repeated themselves at least every rainy season on this narrow, winding, climbing, river-fording, slippery road. Three sections gave most trouble: the first 40 miles from Umtali with heavy sand and many deep riverbeds; Rutherfurd�s Hill which was very steep and apt to get washed out; and the cuttings, which on the whole gave less trouble than had been anticipated: although rock falls did occur they could usually be quickly cleared.

 

When the C.C. reported that the worst parts of the road were between the 46 and 60 mile pegs, the smug Salisbury comment was that this was satisfactory and showed that the cuttings were holding well; in the sections mentioned there was nothing to be very alarmed about.

C. H. Zeederberg Ltd., Mail Contractors, Bulawayo, gained the contract for the postcart, carrying mails and passengers, in June 1910. Their Umtali Agents were Barry & English, and in Melsetter Meikle Bros. acted for them. Complaints about the very bad state of the road flowed in from all three to the Postmaster-General, who duly handed the complaints on to Public Works Department as being responsible for the roads.

The dispute whether the roads or the vehicles were responsible for delays and breakdowns carried on steadily over the years. From Zeederberg�s side came urgent complaints about the very bad state of the road; they could not guarantee punctual delivery of mails, found that their repairs account for vehicles and harness was enormous and the wear and tear on the animals was serious, and recorded some incidents.

 

Travelling in the dark the coach almost went over the side of a deep donga; two mules fell over, and great difficulty was experienced in extricating them by cutting the harness to pieces. A vehicle broke an axle under Rutherfurd�s Hill, and the driver had to send 15 miles to the Road Overseer�s camp for a scotchcart to take the mails and the lady and gentleman passenger on to Melsetter. The road at Thaba Nchu was particularly soft and troublesome and the Coach turned over there, the mails were very wet from immersion, and a passenger who was injured threatened to claim damages from the Government: a Road Inspector was immediately sent out, who reported that Mrs. Cashel�s water (sic) was again the cause of the bad state of the road, and his recommendations for improvement were carried out.

 

The other side of the dispute is shown in many allegations that the mailcarts were not roadworthy, illustrated in a Superintendent�s very detailed report on damage and immediate necessary repairs when he inspected the whole road. He travelled on the mailcart. an old Cape cart, which broke down 40 miles out of Umtali when the bush of a wheel seized; after repair the same wheel fell off the next day, but after that was repaired the coach got to Melsetter and back without further mishap. As a result of the delays the mails were 24 hours late in Melsetter and 14 hours late in Umtali on the return.

Reports on the worst parts of the road were frequently sent to Salisbury by Road Overseers on the spot, Inspectors sent specially to review the situation, and the C.C. Sometimes a Road Party under an Overseer carried on steadily with repair work, but at least once the only gang in the whole of the Eastern Districts was doing urgent work near Penhalonga when there was a crisis on the Melsetter road: in circumstances such as these the CC. or the N.C. had to recruit labour locally for temporary repairs. Finance was very short, and work was spread thinly over the whole road. In 1912 the coach fare was �3.13.6.

The town water supply was a matter of concern, and George Heyns, intending to take up residence in the town, asked about the furrow. Longden replied that the public furrow had been closed about 15 months previously owing to an outbreak of enteric, and on the advice of the D.S. the water was not allowed to flow through the township; it was impossible to say whether the sources of supply were contaminated, and it would be unwise to bring water in until the medical authorities considered it safe.

 

The only furrow in operation was one which had been cut to supply water to the gaol garden before the town was surveyed, and when this was done the surveyor had laid out a sanitary lane on the line of the furrow: a sanitary lane was not the proper place for a furrow, and Longden strongly advised residents not to use the water except for irrigation. If the residents put forward any scheme for providing the town with water, to be carried out at their own expense, he would consider it if there should not be any objection on sanitary grounds.

In 1912 Dr. Rose reported that the sanitary conditions were fairly good, but that the water supply was in urgent need of improvement. All water had to be carried from the streams outside by natives, who appeared not infrequently to make use of the banks of the streams when getting water, which had led to pollution and all drinking water had to be obtained at a considerable distance, and as long as water was carried contamination was likely to increase. In 1913 he commented on the excellent health of the schoolchildren, which he felt might be attributed to the water being piped to the school, and pleaded again for improvement in the town supply. In due course the water was again brought through in open furrows and flowed in them for nearly another thirty years.

In 1912 five births were registered in the town and 17 in the district, which was about equal to the average for the previous five years. Five deaths occurred, caused respectively by whooping cough, abscess of the liver, cancer, goitre and malaria complicated with heart disease. A general vaccination of natives was completed, and most Europeans were also vaccinated. Native crops were a total failure that year, and the Government had to import large quantities of grain for distribution, but good rains in December brought on the new crops very satisfactorily.

 

A story of Dr. Rose�s practice which has remained in memories is of when he amputated Daantjie Steyn�s leg. He operated on a kitchen table on Deborah�s Rust in primitive conditions, attended by Cornelius Heyns and Petrus Odendaal, then C.C.�s clerk. When the doctor had cut off the leg below the knee Odendaal was left holding it, walking round the room, and he eventually approached the doctor and said: �What shall I do with this?� Dr. Rose�s terse reply was: �Put it down. It�s not a baby.� Daantje used to say that in damp weather his missing leg ached, particularly in the toe. He used to hop on one leg from his house near the commonage boundary to the church and back.

From 1913 the Magistrate went down for some days each month to hear cases at the Periodical Court at Chipinga, taking two days to get there with an overnight stop at the rest hut and stables on Cecilton.

Farmers had been running Rhodes Trustees� sheep at a loss from deaths and heavy expenses in medicines and handling. Worms were the main trouble and most veld was intensely infested. Regular dosing and consistent moving to clean veld was expensive, and few farmers could afford to establish new stations, build sheds and kraals, and arm herds to protect the sheep from wild animals.

 

The fact that under the agreement farmers were required to return double the number of animals issued frightened them as there seemed no likelihood of their ever being able to do this, and Longden said that if the agreement were altered so that the farmers would only have to return the number received they might be more willing to go with the experiment. Most farmers had asked to surrender sheep they still held, but Longden did not know of anyone prepared to take them whom he could recommend being given charge of such a large number.

Local roads were made by the farmers, assisted with grants when the Government thought the requests were for amounts very much less than they would have to spend in making the road themselves. They also supplied explosives and tools such as picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, axes, crowbars and drills. Many roads were considered, discussed, tried and sometimes made and sometimes abandoned.

Farmers asked for �100, later reduced to �50, for a road from Fortuna to Albany, but Jansen considered that Voorspoed could be connected more cheaply via Fortuna to the Chipinga-Melsetter road.

English was very anxious to get a road from Rocklands to Tilbury as he was receiving Government assistance for fencing his farm because of ACE. and had no road to take the material along. Residents subscribed �100 and the Government contributed �100 and sent an overseer to inspect and confirm the, route. There were various holdups, including having to ask for a further �100, and work progressed slowly, but by 1913 the road was completed through Tilbury as far as Springvale: the section between Tilbury and Springfield was known, for obvious reasons, as Antbear Alley until the 1960s.

Buffelsnek road was put through, with the Government contributing �60. Buffelsnek, a name which appears to have vanished, was 4.39 miles from the Post Office, and the road connected Melsetter with the existing Roede mountain road on Greenmount. Some landowners objected to the route, but the Roads Department passed the route they considered most suitable.