A NEGLECTED PROVINCE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1681, 22 February 1913, Page 7

A NEGLECTED PROVINCE

WELLINGTON'S RESOURCES. ITS UNEXPLORED WEALTH. [By Alfred K. Newman, M P.] . "A- city is like a. vegetable: it hath its roots in the .country." So wrote an ohcien.t .statesman. '* As is tho fertility ana size .of its back country, so is tho growth' of the city., Truo as this, is,.! nm often, amazed' by the fact that wo tlwellers in this city so utterly, so com-, - '"V!?,igKor6'. tho great undeveloped ro- _ of the ■\Volfliigton '.provincial district.. It is.trne we talk with some pride of thewool, meat, butter, and a few other exports from our back country, but how completely and solidly wo ignore every other soureo 'of wealth I ; Health and Pleasure Rasorts, .Go to Auckland. See how tho people of that-city valuo' their .health resorts and holiday playgrouncjs. look ,at tho wealth that comes to Auckland City from Kotorua, Te .Aroha, Wairakei,: and other Kealth and pleasure resorts, and see how they ftre .'developed. ; Wellington district has ihealing hot springs—are they developed?. ljo they attract invalids?, Our sick .to. far-away Eoto'rua, .whilst our hot'springs hf<J totally neglocted, and do not in a year .enrich .this city by a single' copper. -Taranaki has a mountain-, house hign upon Mt. Egmont, with a motor road to .it, which 'attracts crowds, of visitors. Our grander, volcano, liuapehu,ha9orie tiny galvanised /hut 1 ; : More Wellington: people by far trayol . the long journoy to '• the Hermitage at Mt. Cook than ever ,■ go to Ruapehu, 'Ngauruhoft, or Tongariro—only /a few hours' train journey trom- this city. 'Uur only Teal pleasure resort is the Wanganui River—all else i 9 neglected. Qui-volcanic wondors are slighted, 'our glaciers and ..enotr fields ; scorned. Otago, and Canterbury peoplo hqliday-mako and climb the Southern Alps: no one oyer explores our Ruahine peaks.. ■ .. ■■ ■ ; J Nejjlected Mineral Wealth. Auckland is always developing its goldfields,and its coal-nelds.~: Taupiri coal Is 'sold'.throughout this ! tho 'way from -the Waikato. ./Auckland has its. .kauri .gum. .:Otago dredges ..for gold and mine's its coal/; What does Wellington' kfioir or :care about "its. mineral ' wealth ?'. Does ;it oven. of the. great possibilities that may exist in 'its; hinterland ? In the Wairarapa a little, rich limestone is manufactured into quicklime. OhtsidA 'this, is'thcrt , a single'.shilljng of Wellington city money invested in exploring :'for : the- mineral ■' wealth that 'almost - certainly exists , within our pro-, vincial district? ; ■ •.' . If Wellington ■ is .to giw and Ijecomn 0 great city, it can do so only ;in one way • —by developing its rich back country, by exploiting its great natural scenic beauties, by permeating its back country, so rich' and .ble&6d .with 'sb fine & climate, by • good roads' first,' and then by running motor, bnses and motor effect bringing a Tailwny 1 to every ■ back-block . settlej's . door. Then ■ .our . back lands could all bo profitably and closely settled. I believo wo - have great mineral;, resources. . Natural- gas. exists' .in : vast quantities,- with every, probability of discovering oil-fields.: : have',; splendid' limestone areas. Wo haVo%il-permeated rocks. -We own' 'seains of coal., Wo ; possess largo quantities of puinice, yet 'bv " ony 'chance do: we ;think-'-of. the'mj .' much less. dreain of exploring to 'discover them. We .hAw many . ixcellent' ''•prospects of great wealth. :How ; the devfelbpihent'.bf our natural gas-fields enrich this city I Natural, gas .'would 'Rive us . cheap fuel for'out industries. Now we Import :our- power coal at great rxpense from Westland, Taupiri, anil Newcastle; - Reasons for Belief.Let tde give my reasons for belief , in our mineral wealth. . ; ■ VOi'erievor.l.Tvaxeiitiißsiastlcabbtrt'Wellingtou's mineral wealth 'my: friends seem j amused—not one. of : them ■hWa'iiyibelief in them.'-. Yet I anY 'so convinced' tliat I . care not. ...Of course a mere belief of this • kind is iiforth 'iiothinK, unless bacled up i by solid Svideniiq. . I.propose ...to, givj'BUch, Bolid r eyiderice. , as •!; have ric6umuhted, in the -Jiope of- arousing interest. -, We Wellington foik are iutenselv- proud of our .city, and 'Jet',most strangely- ig-. nore-itS many good .points.:- Many o p us 'decryiour climate. I r''like.it' the best in. Now? Zealand—taking ;it' 'all ; tte:'; year ■round.' .-This city in its-.-.'environs.has tlie • fittest naturiil.beauties,of any city in Australasia—and how few of us; realise - it.. Take oar' sea drives., Ktart in. a motor from i[uritni, ; ,cdmo i round' .via. .Vetoiio . and: the:Hntt-Epad, .:alorig .the - frontage to' Oriental Biiy, ...hence, ftom Evans Bay to Karaka Bay: ahdi ijeatoun, then from. to. Island Bay and Happy Valley.- .-: What 'city ,eanf.show its , equal?' ,Are thereyiiny.'.fiiier Views rerr any city, in the Doininio'n .tlum'.those from ,Mount Victoria, .'Oriental Bay.,'., VDgeitown,. tho tram ronto to Karori, tho top of the Tinakori; -ranee from tlio wireless Bfation; and from KclbiirneP^. Vast StOra of Natural Gas, i • So, in the. same way we utterly, jpnbio our mineral ,prosi«;cts. I Imve a positive i r':faith..irt. the. existence of a great liutiirul gas field in; North .Wairarapa. Natural gas is . the best and cheapest and easiest ■ to, htadlo' of all fuels. In the United ; Stat& over 23,000 gas wells have been.'dug. Whole cities are lightkl by it. It is the cheapest of fnols for hiachinery ot all kinds, -for' .triimways, etc.. Can tilt is ' largely .-exploiting, her natural gas. field. 1 believe in' the existence of 'ehorinotiJ.| supplies of'natural gas: in North' W'aira-I tapi, which should b's : exploited and the W' brought', to '. Wdllinytoa'iahil other towns by pipo lines. ■. Let us. take; the road from Mastei ton to Castlepoint. At Blhirlogie, at . Ica, at Langdale, -along .the iolite,. are natural gas springs.- whicli. ,l>iirn' ifrl'sjv.. ','i'iavel : north . the Aohahgh: and . Akitio, 1{ ivers, and hore 'are many natitial gas jets-all'burn .'freely. The: other.'clay a pile was being driven into the bed of the Akitio, for.the erection of a bridge, slud up bubbled natural iias which burned " freely:' I.et .us' go tip the. Akitio ifiver; A ; few..miles• lip, on'.the .right bank,,' U' a district'Honeyctfmbed with gas jets. When, tho.groiirid 'is soaked with, rain you can. see the water bubbling 'with'.gn?.'' .A' ■ party of men working here did their, cooking for months with this natural ,giw. Let us hark back to tho Mnngaoiio Valley, alwut faurteen miles ofist ;of Ekdtahuna. ivhere a local company is borins : for oil; '. At aboiifc . 300 feet 1 deep they struck a great flow, of natural gus. Travel . 'farther; .to North.. I'uketoi, where a cbm- . bo'i'ing: for. oil. . What is the - .motive;power '.tispd Natural gas from a spring hard by. This company, in bor- : struck a floiv of naturiil gas. - All oter this district can l>o found other gas jets.';; Surely here is'stroiig.evidence that in this area i>l North Wairarapa /exist large qantities of gas.;:'.,. _;;t' .... .. . There is alifi^a. probable giis field bi , Mannwatit iitid Eangitikli. s . Here, ogam* afe jets which biirii-freely; and an artesian -well'pours, forth writer and gas .'that burns.ln .the, district are brino springs. In a. sivamp at- Faraparaiimu - there is ■ said to oil. I have walkeil through a swamp at Bainesso v/liere beside a newly-cut drain the. air reeked with ;th/).sriiell of petroleum. , I am awaro that in other, parts of the world there is a surface creation of oil, and I am hot connectiiig.'theso oil-'smelliiig swamps directly,with the natural. ga« deeper down, : Still, for whatever they (iro worth, thero are tho facta. . ' Farther wtjt, at New Plymoilth" oil and 'natural gas ars (lowing -from the 6inio well, anil the gas is being used for oil.boring machinery.. So all the way from lipiiont'to East Wairarapa at:lnterval* '•ciri be found pas juts; and they abound In the country between Gisborne nrid tho East Cape. Add to this the existence of oil in Tariinaki and in"Poverty Bay; the presence of rocks saturated with oil in North Walrarkjiii, rtnd the evidence is very strongly indicative of valuable fields of natural itas in 'North Wairarapa, .Ind probably alscJ In Manawrtti! and "Rnngitikei,;and tho counties adjacent lying to the west of Buohine, (ill within the boiindtiries of our provincial district. Surely there is here, abundant evidence . ti make us take a real live, practical interest—tho rewards of discovery aro so enormous. . Last session I asked for; and the Prime Minister has promised to obtain, a.scientific geologl't, an ixnert in oil and gas, to report on these districts, and also to advise the public interested where aro probably the best sites for boring wells for gas arid oil—-jnd also where net to bore. I havo a really stron;; faith in the existence of good natural gas fields in this province.