The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1448, 22 March 1873, Page 2

The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1873.

As the kesult of recent meetings, and judging by the nature of the telegrams interchanged between the Wellington and Greymouth promoters of the proposed Company to work the coal seams on the Westland side of the Grey River, there appears to be very little likelihood of an agreement being come to. As previously announced, the Wellington shareholders have made up their minds to rest content for the present with being the mere carriers and retailers of coal, whereas the original intention for which the Company waa formed, and upon the faith of which a large number of residents in this district were induced to take up shares, was to develop the coal seams now lying idle ; on this aide of the river, in order that the market might be independent of the Brunner Mine, and its obstructive pettifogging manager, Mr Oswald Curtis. The probabilities, asrecently expressed, are that a local company will now be formed to work the mine on the south side of the river, if a lease can be obtained, and also in conjunction with it the Brunner Mine, if it can be extricated from the Nelsonian Government grip ; but of this the anticipation is very slight, as every effort is now being made in Nelson to retain its hold on this valuable property. A few days ago we referred to the ambitions projects of a recently-formed Committee in Nelson City, called the "Inland Communication Committee," but | otherwise known as the promoters of the scheme to construct a railway from Nelson to Greymouth, with the special view of opening up the country and supplying the whole of the settlers and diggers in the Upper Buller, Lyell, Inangahua, and Grey Valley with goods direct from the city of Nelson instead of from the ports on the West Coast. A very voluminous report of the said committee has been issued, and widely circulated throughout the Province with, the view of enlisting sympathy with, and support for the movement. It is no doubt attractive to those who know nothing whatever about the country or the manner in which its inland j communication is carried on, especially since the Grey and Tnangahua Valleys were opened up by good roads. It is a mere chimera which can never eventuate in anything practical, but it may be as well that a few of the ideas entertained and promulgated by its promoters should be known in this district, especially at the present time when the coal question is occupying the public attention so much. In view of the construction of the line the demands of the Committee are a grant of 900,000 acres of the waste lands of Nelson Province, a lease of the Brunner Mine, the Nelson and Foxhill Railway, and the Brunner *nd Greymouth Railway, and also a vote of £5000 from the Nelson Government to cover preliminary surveys. The report opens in a very doleful strain, stating that — " The stream of immigration with which the foundation of the settlement began has gradually dwindled, till for some time it has virtually ceased, and it is lamentable to find that the last census showed a decrease in the population of the City of Nelson, and that the settled districts barely maintained their numbers. Many of our young men, sons of early settlers, despairing of obtaining in their native Province land they could cultivate with any prospect of a fair return for their labor, have been induced to seek outside its boundary places where they could settle. The want of access to our lands has thus not merely prevented any material increase in the extent of occupied country in Nelson, but has also drained off the choicest part of its population to enrich other districts of the Colony by its enterprise, skill, and labor. Even where some of the rich lands lying between Nelson and the West Coast have attracted a handful of settlers, their undertaking has exposed them to great hardships, and has bgen bub scantily rewarded. Costly carriage has had the same pernicious influence on mining industry, the great expense of living haviog alone prevented the extensive working of auriferous country, where returns are known to be safe, if not always large. If this cessation of settlement arose from a want of good land in the interior of the Province, it would be hopeless to attempt to force its resumption by roads or communication however excellent. That the contrary is the fact, is proved beyond dispute by the statements of Messrs A. D. Dobson and Thomas Mackay appended to this report, where it will be seen that an extent of unoccupied country exists between Nelson and the West Coast capable of carrying a population five times that now in the Province. Carriage at reasonable rates, would, from the fine quality of the soil, and the certainty of occupation creating a considerable market in the district, give the settlers prospects of success fully equal to that which has rewarded the labors of those who took up land at a short distance from a port." The following is the easy manner in which the absorbing of the trade of the West Coast ports is talked about in the prospectus, and with this we leave it for the present, but may return to it at another time : — "In estimating : the traffic on the proposed line, iti is important to remember, | that not only is it proper to take into

account the quantity of goods sent from Nelson to the West Coast by steamer, of which the share secured could not be less than 4000 tons per anuum, but that a large portion of the supplies for the Grey and Inangahua Valleys and Lyell are imported direct from Melbourne to Gre}'mouth and Westport in sailing vessels, and that most of these goods would be carried inland by railway in preference to the present costly, tedious, and hazardous transit by river or road. With the charge for carriage kept so low as to compare favorably with the freight by steamer, and in view of the danger and expense of shifting cargo off the Grey, it may be expected that most of the goods brought from Melbourne by steamer would, instead of being transhipped, be brought direct to Nelson, and forwarded to their destination by railway. A large amount must be added for the increased quantity of agricultural produce that would be sent to the West Coast from the settled districts of Nekon, when moderate charges, certainty, and rapidity of conveyance were assured, and also for the whole of the supplies required for Motueka Valley and its tributaries, and for the Upper and Central Buller. Taking these various sources of traffic into account, and strictly abstaining from adding anything for the increase of population that a railway must bring, it cannot be too much to say, that the carriage of at least 10,000 tons of goods per annum would be at once secured. The railway would in great measure absorb the passenger traffic at present conveyed to the Grey by steamer, and probably great part of that to Hokitika, while passengers by Melbourne steamers to Coast ports would entirely cease, in face of the comfort of a railway against the perils of transhipment in the open sea. A considerable amount of travelling between the coast and the interior already exists, and would be certain to at once increase ; that between Nelson and the mining districts — at present small, because difficult and dangerous — would rapidly become important. Keeping fares low, the estimated receipts from passengers could not fail to be realised, and with extension of settlement would in a short time produce a revenue several times greater. From the carriage of live stock to supply the mining districts, from timber shipped either at Nelson or the Grey, and from flax, large receipts are sure. The revenue expected from the Brunner Mine is far below one estimate, and it may reasonably be hoped will be realised and steadily increase."