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Evening Star, Issue 3434, 23 February 1874, Page 2

It is unfortunate that the Luna could not have spared more time than that al’otted for the examination ol the sounds on the south-west coast of Otago; and more especially is this the case when Captain Hutton happens to be on ooard, and is travelling through a portion of this island, of which we are comparatively ignorant, and of the character of which information is badly needed. There are only two Btrios of country in the Middle Island that remain unexplored. One is that inland portion of the Province of Nelson extending from Collingwcod to the Lyell and the loanthe other that country west of the vVaiau river and the Te Anau Lake and the western beach extending between Milford Sound and Preservation Inlet. All that is known about this portion of the Province of Otago is what was learned when it was surveyed by H.M.S. Acheron, and may be summed up in the following brief manner. Between the points indicated north and south some ten or twelve sounds or inlets have been surveyed and sounded; the country at the back, however, has never been travelled over, the streams running into them never traversed; if any information is required about any of their peculiarities, save Alilford Sound, Preservation Inlet, and perhaps one or two others, the New Zealand- ‘Pilot’ has to be consulted to assuage cariosity—a source of knowledge proving more precise than interesting The whalers and sea’ers who fished and found shelter in these waters thirty years since knew more about this portion of our Province than their successors, while the knowledge that at one time could have been collected about this country from that source has been lost. We have the authority of Dr Hector for the probability that another goldfield will be fouud in that belt of conntry between the Lower Waiau and the heads of the southern sounds; while the existence of gold at Urepuki, the Long Wood ranges, and other portions of the country contiguous to the Waiau river, confirm the likelihood of L)r Hector’s hypothesis. Another .reason why this country should receive examination is to ascertain whether any of the original Native people once inhabiting the West Coast, and driven south by invasion, still exist among the heads of these sounds, or what traces can be discovered of their past existence and mode of life. • Their is every reason to believe that the portion of the Province here indicated is rich m mineral wealth, It has been urged frequently against this opinion that there is no larger scope of country west of the Waiau to explore ; and that the spur radiating from the mam range above the head of Lake Wakatip, occupies nearly all the space between Te Anau and the sounds ; but it should be remembered that, from a small piece of mineral country, large amounts of treasure can be exhumed, and that in the valleys leading into the southern sounds, there may be rivers that will find employment for hundreds of alluvial miners, and portions of open country where sheep and cattle may graze and fatten. The country cannot be as impracticable as it is imagined. Natives have frequently travelled from Parika and Jackson’s Bay to Wakapitu, and some of those still living .who have made the journey, retain a recollection of patches of open country of considerable extent, and several lakes. Little more than ten years since that portion of Canterbury ftpw .called Westland was an uninhabited waste, gonsjdgred of no value by the Province or its Native owm rs. What a large amount of wealth and labor it has since produced and maintained, is now a matter of history. There is reason to sunpose that, when the south-western portion of this Province becomes known, such strong inducements for people to settle at the heads of some of the sounds may be discovered as to considerably increase our revenue and resources. If Captain Hutton could have had time, with the Luna at his command, to have made even a cursory examination of the country at the head of the southern sounds, a great benefit would have accrued to the Province, while the uncertainty and ignorance attaching to this portion of Utago would have been partially r moved. If this portion pf the Province could have been explored by land, our gold-mining population would have overrun it several years since, but unfortunately this cannot be done, and only a strpng party with a whale boat or steam launch could with safety wander about the sounds, carrying provisions and tools necessary for thoroughly examining the rivers ami valleys \

at their back. It is to he hoped tho Provincial Government will take such steps as will cause this piece of our Province to become as well known as the Taieri Plains or the Frankton Plat.