The meeting expressed great dissatisfaction and a total lack of confidence in the organisation which, it was alleged, had not materially improved the position and had pursued no definite and consistent policy, although it had had a long period of absolute and unfettered control and the expenditure of large sums of public money. Stockowners had given every assistance in eradication measures and Melsetter farmers had been the first in the Territory to adopt compulsory dipping, yet many farmers were on the verge of financial ruin and the position was very serious.

The Chief Veterinary Surgeon considered that the measures taken at Nooitgedacht were adequate: from a study of the schedule of mortality it was evident that infection was deposited considerably more than a year before an outbreak was determined, and it was probable that the spread was due to infection disseminated before the existence of A.C.F. at Nooitgedacht was suspected, and that there was no connection between the outbreak there and the one at Springfield as the intervening country was impassable for cattle.

 

The shortest time in which, in most favourable circumstances, A.C.F. could be stamped out was twelve months, and Melsetter was the biggest proposition the Department had had for ten years. A little later he said that the recrudescence was not serious; he had expected it, as in Melsetter it not infrequently happened that several successive dippings were rendered practically ineffective by constant rain.

 

Prinsloo lost all his cattle, his wagon stood abandoned near the homestead, and he had difficulty in feeding his family: when he visited Naas du Preez he saw a ham hanging in the rafters and immediately exchanged his wagon for it. About 1917 John Meikie bought Albany for a small wagon and mixed span of bullocks and heifers, and the Prinsloos moved out of the district.

In 1917 attention was drawn to the exceptional advantages which the district offered for the establishment of soldier settlers provided a railway were built, but the Government said curtly that nothing further could be contemplated.
After the years of battling, with hopes being raised at times, Melsetter accepted the fact that the Government would not build a railway and Melsetter and Chipinga farmers decided to take matters into their own hands and to build their own from Chipinga to join the Beira railway. Work was begun and the track was levelled for some distance, the layout of the line may still be seen on some Chipinga farms and on Uitkyk, which appears to be as far as it got before the whole idea was abandoned.

There was a road from Chipinga to Wolverhampton for vehicular traffic and from there a bridle path had been cut through Vermont and Ngorima Reserve to Bloemhof where it joined Meikles road, today�s Nyahode road. Farmers repeatedly asked the Roads Department to make a wagon road along the bridle path, and in 1917 a road party spent three months making the road as far as Knutsford. The financial position did not permit of the employment of a separate road party and it was proposed to do a portion of the work each year until the remaining seven miles were completed, but the road was not finished in spite of continued appeals.

Farmers asked for the Nyahode road to be proclaimed a public road to Bloemhof, and Longden objected to the track crossing the Nyahode river below the homestead on his farm Nyaruwa and through his lands on Nyhodi. He had no objection to its passing through Nyaruwa to connect with the Melsetter-Chipinga Road.

Louw Kleyn worked on the road from Lemon Kop through Heathfield towards Voorspoed, where a section with bars of rock and boulders made wagon traffic very difficult.

The Secretary for Mines & Roads said that there should be two road parties for Melsetter, one to work continuously between Umtali and Melsetter, and the other from Melsetter southwards, but funds did not permit of this.
Dr. and Mrs. Rose moved to Lemon Kop, from where the doctor carried on his practice with weekly visits to Melsetter and other calls when required. Some feeling of the isolation was brought home to a later-coiner who told Mrs. Rose in rather an aggrieved tone that she had not been to Umtali for nine months, and Mrs. Rose replied: �My dear, there was a time when I did not get to Umtali for nine years .�

English and Longden owned vast acreages, and they thought up a scheme for selling large tracts to wealthy businessmen in America and England. Besides their extensive Melsetter holdings they owned land in the Umtali district, where most of their Ranching Scheme was directed. It has little direct bearing on Melsetter, but gives an insight into their activities.

They submitted details of the Scheme to the B.S.A. Company and invited it to join in with some of its unalienated land, which they proposed to buy to round off their boundaries and create Blocks to be run as individual propositions but under one management; Company prices would have to be low, bearing in mind the indifferent character of the land and the fact that there was no probability of its being applied for by intending settlers. They asked for a six months� option to make sure that they would be able to resell.

The Directors of Agriculture and Land Settlement said the Scheme was sound and deserving of encouragement and that English and Longden could include certain farms at 5/ 6d per morgen. The Commercial Representative recommended that the options should be given but it would be preferable for the Company not to join in the Scheme.

 

English owed �3lO for quitrents, some of it dating back to 1911, and the account had been placed in solicitors� hands for legal action if necessary; Longden had recently paid a portion of arrear quitrents, but still owed about �90 for 1913-1917. The London Directors agreed to the option being given provided that English and Longden paid up arrear quitrents, furnished proof of being able to secure adequate capital to develop the land, and undertook the necessary stocking conditions.

The option price was brought down to 4/ 6d per morgen, but the partners did not manage to sell the blocks as they had hoped, and renewed the option every six months until the end of 1919. They continued to be hopeful of selling, but met with various setbacks and the scheme fell through. English still planned to sell land, and set up in Umtali on his own as Auctioneer, Sworn Appraiser, Land & Estate Agent. Livestock and Produce Dealer, and advertised for sale over a million acres of farms and blocks of land suitable for ranching.

 

~~~000~~~