THE COAST CENTRES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2159, 27 May 1914, Page 18

THE COAST CENTRES

MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE.

THE TOWNS & THE FUTURE.

GREYMOUTH TO-DAY.

Greymouth is the largest town on the Coast, and is to-day a modern ami goahead provincial coutre, with a'population of dose oil 6000, aivtt'a large and growing trade in coal and timber. The jfarming. possibilities of, the valleys of tho Grey and its tributaries and the country along the Otira lino aro now being realised,- and each year sees more land devoted to dairying. The history of. Greynionth township dates practically from July, 1864, when the schooner Gipsy-arrived from Nelson, under tho command of Captain Leech, and rnado tho first passage over the Grey bar.. Mr. lleubcn Waite, who had come down from the Hiiller, was .the first settler, and even at this early date hajl a stor(K on what is now Mawhera Quay. Mr. Isaac Blako later on bililfc a store on that portion of the south bank of the river ■ which has ever, since been known, as Blaketown. When'the town was surveyed by' Mr. Kochfort, on behalf of the Canterbury Provincial Government, there was an immediate rush for sections, and sites on Jlawhera Quay fetched as much as £12-a foot. The land on the north sido of the river was in the Province of Nelson, which promptly set about laying out a rival township, to which it gave the name of C'obden. It was, however, unable to challenge the supremacy of Greymouth, and Cobden is to-day merely a suburb, though an important; one, of tho larger centre. The Borough of Greymouth was incorporated in 1868 and had as its first Mayor, M,r. .Edward Masters, who served 'again,: in 1869 and in 18(3. It has had an. eventful'career and has successfully carried out a number of' important .municipal enterprises. Eight years ago a fine block of municipal buildings was erected in 'the heart of the borough. The whole of tho interest and sinking fund on the loan of £87,000, raised for this and other purposes, has boon paid out of ordinary revenue and gas and water profits. The, borough, is thus in the unusual position of show-

ing £25,500 uncollected security rates on loans. The not indebtedness"of the tewn at the present time stands at about £80,000. The municipal buildings which constitute one of the features of a .substantially built town include a Town Hall, or rather, theatre, with a sized stage and seating accommodation for 1000 persons. Adjoining is the public library, towards the erection of which a grant'-of £2250 was received from Mr. Andrew Carnegie. In this is a large newspaper room, a magazine room,' a ladies' room, tlie lending and reference library; and an office for the librarian. The borough offices and Council found in tho. opposite whig, are also ,largi> arid ; roomy. The' buildings were erected at a cost; of■ £32,500. ' , ■.' Tho borough erected its own gas works at a cost of £22,700. There is an excellent water supply with a pressure. that.-fil!| an ordinary household bath in a very few minutes. The water, is drawn from ,the Grey Eivcr at a point .some, distance above tho town and is pumped to a storage reservoir with a capacity "of 800,000 gallons. Tho capital cost of the water service was £20,000. An efficient drainage system has been'.installed, at-a.icosl- 0f£12,000. : :■•. '■■ ■'.';.:', ; ,.. :: : Among the principal buildings of the town are a substantial' brick post omeo with a clock and chimes, the Courthouse, the Public Works and Haihvays building, and tho Public Trust and Harbour Board offices, the firo station, High School, Technical School, Opera House, Hospital,.and Convent and Jlarisf Brothers' School. There is as yet no tramway, service, but large motor-buses ply to and fro between the centre of tlio borough and the suburb of Karoro, two miles out. laxi-cabs and hansoms are always to be found on the stand in Tainui Street. The port of Greymouth is elsewhere described in,this issue, and some account will also be found of the railway system of which Greymouth is the The townspeople aro optimistic and wideawake, and- with the gradual development of the. resources of Westland, much <jf which, is tprday still a terra incognita, the future of *tlie'borough should-be a'decidedly bright one The present Mayor is Mr. G. E. Perkins; Mr. H. J. DentoH is Town , Clerk and Mr. W. J. O'Donncll, Jkrough Engineer.

WESTPORT.

BULLER DISTRICT AND ITS.NEEDS With :v population somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5000, Westport takes rank after Greymouth \ainonf tho centres of tho West Coast. It is the principal coal port of the Dominion, and its local railway is easily the best paying lino in the whole country. Tho town, sinco its foundation in the sixties, has seen many vicissitudes, and was severely hit by tho recent big strike. It is steadily recovering, but the experience has sot many of its citizens thinking. Tho area of coal-boar-ing country around tho town up tho Buller River is very large, and has, by no means been exhaustively explored. There is, however, a lack of good farming land in tho vicinity. A big stretch of open, flat country lies along the coast both north and south of the Buller, hub only a small portion of it is of value without expensive /treatment. Less than thirty miles away up the Buller is the Imingahua Valley, where a moderate-sized block of country suitable for dairying is to be found. "Somewhat, moro distant along the coast northward is the thriving, rural district of Karamca, which is stated to possess great possibilities of expansion. Karaniea is reached overland only by a bridle-track, and depends for its communication with the outsido world on the vagaries of an erratic bar. All business with' the district is done by the coastal steamer Mangapapa, which'runs, as regularly as may be up from Westport. Tho three essentials to tho proper progress of the district, it is contended, aro: —(1) The cxtensioif of the railway up the Buller Valley, to tap the coalfields at the Blackwater, and to junction at Inangahua with the lino which has already been built down from Reefton. (2) The provision of hotter communication with the Karamea district. (3) Finally, comes tho development of tho many thousand acres of waste pakihi flats, extending out from the town. Some account will lie fnnml elsewhere of the nature of the land and the experiments conducted on it by tho Department of Agriculture. Westport, as it stands to-day, dates from about 1872. Tho old town, after an existence of about eight years, was in that year shot. bodily out to sea by a sudden diversion iii the course of the Bullor. The borough was incorporated in J 873, the first Mayor being Mr. J. Humphrey. The present lown stretches along the eastern bank of the Duller, tlie main street being* parallel with the Ibnji, wharf frontage. The town possesses a handsome post office, a municipal library, an up-to-dato technical school, district high school, school of mines, convent, etc., and also the usual liberal supply of hotels to be found in most old mining towns. A water supply lms been brought, in from Jit. Itochfort. seven miles away, at a. cost of £42;000. "The work was rendered unusually expensive, as tun-

I nelhiiK had to iie const-rnet«d for a mile and a half. Tto water is brought W ■weirs from Giles's Creek to two storage reservoirs with a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons. Municipal abattoirs I wero some years rrso erected at a eost i of £7000. The boreusji gas works, on which £18,000 was laid out, are stated to supply the citizens at a |«wor rate (4s. 2d. |>or 1000 ft.) than is'tlio case in any other municipality south of the Line, with the one exception of Sydney. A pcibHc library has been built on a grant of £2000 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, to whom the two other chief centres on the CSoast aro indebted for tho hottsina of their libraries. A sewage scheme is at (yressnt under discussion, Several reports have ; been obtained, and the proposal is to place the outfall in the river bckiw \ the wharves, -where, it is intended, the '■■ discharge will bo carried clear out to , sea- by the great flow of the Buller. ! Tlie schemo is estimated to cost £27,000. , Excluding amounts borrowed from tho Government, and repftyaWo, in instalnieiits, the amount of the barougb loans outstanding is aiiout £40,000.

_ Tho borough hss a municipal recreation ground of eleven acres iii tiic csiitrc of the town, and in. a coninr of this 'area swimming baths have been built at a cost of £1100. Tlio visitor to tiie town should not fail ia maiie a trip out on tho Harbour Board's railway to tha local seaside resort and recreation grounds at Capo Foulwijsfl. A visit to .the remains of the old milling town of Charleston, 20 miies awaj, is' interestiiiß, and there is much to be kobh at the various coal mines on {fie Molukinui railway. Tiic B«llcr G-orgo, oh the main road in the interior, is one of the finest drives in New &aiand. The Mayor of Westport is Mr. ALeaver. Mr. D. Dobsoii, A.M.1.C.1., is Town Clerk anet Ensinocr, and Mr. M. A. Bevan, gas manager.

HOKITIKA

A TOWN AVITfI A HISTOUY

Hokitika is a towj of liiany ni-oinories, Tliere is a kindly oktavorld air asjout tho place, and in it t-he riotous days ef fifty years ago seem aot so far siwav. 'J'lio present and the past- go side 6y side along tho tortuous te»gtk of Hevei! Street, and the shades gf the old-timi> diggers seem still to feunt the town that knew them in their .lusty youtU, But it is- a long cry back k> 1863 S and it is a staid and prosperous Hokitika now that looks back en' the wild a.iid dovil-may-care days of tk> rush. 'fli& diggers have had their fling, and tho future belongs to the dais-y farmer, who promises- to "reap, a richer'.itarvest'from the surface of the soil than has for many years been dnfg otit of it, Ms£-lvhe-ro will bo found soma aceowrt of Hokitika in the early days. Tho.present town is the centre "of a rising farming district, and is'making st-e-ady pro* gross.' Tho borough has at present- a population of aboitt g-3'oo. and the general solidness of things'in the district is indicated by: the fact that there is somewhere in tire nrighbemrtrood of £250,000 on deposit'in tie local banks, £50,000 of which is in the, Hokitika Savings Bank. . . ■ " The town is-pleasantly situated, and in the beautiful -fino weather which tho district gels as compensation ioi- its heavy rainfall, the prosjieet from it is magnificent. On tho -west is tho long sweep of tho coast, ami eastward across the lowlands rise the snow-olii-d peaks of the Southern Alps. The main range is in sight for a distance of neatly a -Imfidred miles, and far away in the south towers up the mighty s-timmit of Mount Cook.

As befits the capital of the pr-flrince, Hokitilca has a substantia! Wqok of Government ' buildings, <tfc<tfed same years ago at a cost of £14/300, The arcliitcctural feature of the Mwrt, however, .is undoubtedly th© Free Litrary, towards tho cost of winch -a graat was received from Mr. Andrew Carnegie. Tho rcunicipnl headquarters arc in a Town Hall, a handsome woodcii tariiding whielr cost £3000. The barffegh watei , supply is brought from Lafeft 'Eaniori, twelve-miles away. Tiio sekenie, whicli included tho b-uilding of a storage reservoir of 260,000 gallons, absorbed £19,000. The town is in the- happy position of having no outstanding loans, ex» oept £2000 borrowed fram the Government. The gasworks are the property of a private company. A feature of tho town is tho wide streets aud public monuments.

Tho recent sea erosidtt at- the, back Mf Itevell Street is eatiwated te iuwo done damage to the extent of soffletliing lileo £10,000, but it is generally ed that tho protective' eroyrios now in course of erection will effectually settle tho difficulty. Tlie present Jlayor is Mr. 6. A. Pwry.

REEFTON

THE QUARTZ MINING CENTRE. Reef ton, though possessing a poprrlation of between 1500 and 2000, has never been incorporated as. a horougL The town, however, has not himi back- ! ward in obtaining municipal convent- j ences. It claims, for jftstanfie, to llav-o ! been the first in the Southern Hc&iisphcro to have been supplied with oieetrie lisht. Tho town, originally ealled : Rceftown, came into-being oh tlie discovery of quartz reefs in the vicinity in 1870. It is pleasantly situated on a Hat in the valley of the Inangrtlma River, and is surrounded by litlls which effectually, protect it. from'tho. prevailing winds. Tho town- is eaiiiiei'teti by rail with Greymouth, which.- lies 4" miles distant, and the railway Hue mow extends twenty miles further on to FnaiiKahua Junction, and within a short distance of the Buller River. la fact;, a Rap of only 17 miles i-ias paw to bo completed : to "ivo through railway communication with Wcstport. The town has a water system costing £13,400, aud" tho drainage is carried into the river. For financial reasons, Reef ton has foiind ' it wise to remain a county riding than blossom out as n borough. Tho principal revenue of the county is from the mining rate on tho property tut the big quartz companies, and fieeftoji, as si borough, would have littlo. .tevehae from this source. The'-mining rate,- for instance, brings in about '£8000 to Uw> county, whereas tho ordinary general rate produces only £1300. ■

OTHER CENTRES

Kumara, famous as the political birthplace of Mr..Scddon, has tVday a |)o|iulatiou of about 800. Tno. town was at its best in the latter part of 1876, when it is said there- trero eighty hotels in tlie district nil tfohig a good, trade. The most extensive sluicing grounds in New Zealand wqto in the vicinity of the town, and by the provision of extensive Gqvcrnmertt water* races, the miners were enabled to worts much ground that would not otherwise have proved profitable. ivuiHfira ■ iies four miles and a half from the railway, find one of its desires is for a; branch line. Some dairying is now being done mound the town. The Mayor is Mr. J. A. Murdoch. Boss, which since 1909 Jms been tho southern terminus of the Wcsttand railways, has a population of about 700. [t is lit with electricity, supplied from the Ross GoldfieUls plant, ami has tote* lv built a municipal swimming fatli. The town lies fifteen miles distant from Holtitikn by rail, and is the- jvn.ifit of departure for the coach service to South AVcstland. Near the town is the'famous Mont d'Or slltfciitß claim, and some account of the wealth of tho Ross flat will bo found in tiie ariide on the Koldfu'lds. The town has a goad water supply, installed at a cost of £3200. Mr. Joseph GrimAioml is the present Mayor. Bninnerton. which was formed into a borough in ISS7. was the scrtjp of t)ie oldest coalfield in New Zealamt. It lies sereu miles from Greyraoutli, aad

within tho borough limits aro Brumicr, WaHsend, Dobson, ami StUhvntel*.

Il'ie newest borough on (lie West Cons!; is Runanga, tiro township, Hear Greymouth, brought isito being by tho State mine, -■