THE GOLDFIELDS PUNTS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2093, 20 January 1870, Page 2

THE GOLDFIELDS PUNTS.

This is a subject which urgently demands the attention of the Government. Until it has been placed on a more satisfactory footing, the Province never can derive full advantage from the enormous amount of money expended upon the construction and maintenance of roads. The goidfields population arc sufficiently reasonable to know that it is impossible every stream can be bridged over at once, and they arc quite alive to the fact that in moving about from place to place it cannot all be made plain sailing. Still the pontage system is one which might be greatly improved, and without compromising itself in any way, the Government could materially assist in forwarding the interests of the various districts. The road by Tuapeka and the Teviot is by far the best goldfields route in the Province. It is throughout a made road, free from awkward pinches, and certainly it is mnch shorter than that by Waikouaiti and Palmerston ; and yet the latter is preferred by the traffic, and this preference will undoubtedly be maintained until something is done to reduce the present exorbitant pontage rates. This road, as far as the Manuherikia, is intercepted by two punts—viz., the Beaumont and Manuherikia crossings ; and although these may be avoided by draymen taking the Waikouaiti road, there are other two further up country on the Queenstown road which cannot, under any circumstances, bo got rid of. The system, as a whole, demands attention ; but it is the Kawarau punts that suggest the question as one of pressing importance. These punts are in the hands of Government lessees, and although the lessees have fixed a tariff that presses heavily on the individual, it cannot be called exorbitant when taken in connection with tho amount of traffic. The sums exacted are these : For crossing—each horse, 2s ; each waggon, 2s 6d ; and goods per __ ton, ss. Now when wo take these figures in the aggregate, they amount to a very serious tax upon the traffic. An ordinary team carrying three tons of goods and drawn by six horses costs for crossing alone 29s 6d, which makes a sura of L2 19s for conveyance across the two punts on the Kawaru. What makes this impost look the more obnoxious is that both punts are situated within a distance of ten miles of each other. Large as the amount may appear there is perfect good reason for supposing that in the present state of affairs the rights held by the lessees are far from being a sinecure. They are two of the best wrought punts in the province, and we speak from personal observation when we say that neither trouble nor expense is spared in providing for the safety and efficiency of their working. The subject is one which affects the policy of settlement to a very large extent, and unless we are content to render some of the more expensive undertakings in the province nugatory, it is of importance that the matter should be placed on a more satisfactory footing. Admittedly the Wakatipuis ope of the finest agricultural districts in the province, and its cereal products are largely in demand all down the valley of the Molyncux. Messrs Robertson and Hallenstein’s Franktou flour mills have formed a connection between the Wakatipu and the lower district goldfields, which promises to be bfino small importance to the goldfields. But for these two punts this connection would ripen more rapidly. On the other hand they have driven the uptraffic towards Southland, so that while they are continued on their present unsatisfactory footing, the amount of labor expended on making the through road to Queenstown will in a great measure have been in vain. For more reasons than one the present is a favourable opportunitg for the Government taking action in the matter. In the course of a mouth or so the Shotover bridge will be open for traffic, and frqm what ye can learn the holders of those rights are anxious to make a reduction of a reasonable proportion, if the loss which such a reduction must in the first instance entail was provided for. A subsidy of a hundred or a hundred and fifty pounds a year would, we understand, he sufficient inducement to reduce the tariff to a figure that would meet the views of the public on the point, and surely the Government is not so indifferent to the free circulation of the main artery of the Province tp tolerate an obstacle which admits of such a simple remedy.