THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1477, 29 April 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1873.

It cannot be more monotonous to the reader to peruse than it is to the writer to pen articles perpetually upon the subject of Nelson Province and the administration of its affairs. The writer runs the risk of being considered a monomaniac, if not of becoming one altogether. In contemplation of this lamentable contingency, it is the case that, in these columns, often as the subject is referred to, it as frequently is avoided when there is strong temptation to do otherwise. We are certain that there is none better aware than the writers for the public Press on the West Coast of the slight utility of continually ringing the changes on that one subject, and that they only indulge in references to it in consequence of extreme necessity, andin the faint hope of some minute benefit being achieved. Notwithstanding the modesty of their hopes, and the strong excuse which they have for selecting the subject, pretty severe comments have been made upon their practice, as if it were one peculiar to themselves and altogether unjustifiable. It is necessary, therefore, if for no other purpose than self-justification, to quote opinions which are expressed elsewhere, ! and which are not open to the insinuation that they are dictated by personal feeling or by local jealousies. Recognising this, we have lately quoted from the columns of our Nelson contemporaries articles which fully corroborate much that has been written on the West Coast, and more might have been quoted but for the risk of prolonging the subject ad nauseam. Even at the risk of doing this, we think we are further justified in quoting opinions which emanate, not from the Coa3t, nor from Nelson itself, but from quarters in which a fair estimate of the .circumstances is likely to be formed. Wellington may be suspected, from the supposed connection between the opinions of the member for the Grey Valley and I those expressed in the columns of the morning paper of the colonial metropolis, but of Chnstchurch or Dunedin the same thing cannot be said, and, finding as we do in the columns of the Lyttelton Times, opinions and expressions very similar to those that are held and used in this district, we imagine we are entitled to exhibit how generally prevalent are those sentiments which are insisted upon by some to be simply local. The Times, in a recent article on a.subject which we hope to see again referred to — the West Coast Railway — thus prefases its remarks : — "The Sleepy Hollow of New Zealand— ■where dreams have been dreamed and visions seen, where there has been much talk and little work, where the settlers have been content to pass a sort of lotuseating existence — has of late shown signs of activity, but it remains to be scan whether, after a few efforts, Nelson will s: :il persevere or fall back into dreamy indolence, on the plea that there is no use in ' ever climbing up the climbing wave.' In the meantime, there appears to be an abundance of energy on the part of a section of the inhabitants, who declare that they must and will have a trunk line of railway to connect the port with the interior. An Inland Communication Committee has been formed, and, what is of more importance, it has prepared an elaborate and interesting report, the chief points of which possess a colonial interest. "In what we may call the preamble to their report, the committee make a con-

fession which does credit to their candor, t They state that the complete occupation o of nearly all the land available for cultiva- F tion and settlement in the immediate ? neighborhood of Nelson and the coast lino 3 of the Province, and the want of such means of access to the interior as would I not only permit travellers to make their . way through the country with comfort and safety, but would also enable produce to be conveyed to a market at such cost for carriage as to leave those engaged in agriculture fair remuneration for their labor, have led to the 'ail-but complete cessation of colonisation/ and prevented the advance of the Province in population and wealth, while most other parts of the colony have been steadily increasing in both. This confession, as we have said, is candid, but it is a question whether, even now, the whole truth has been told. The rulers of Nelson, it may fairly be said, have allowed the greater portion of the fine estate placed in their care to pass into the hands of a few individuals, and the revenue which they have derived from the residue has been chiefly, almost entirely, spent in the neighbourhood of the town itself. There has been no effort of any importance to reach the interior, and next to nothing spent on immigration. The committee go on to state that the stream of immigration with which the foundation of the settlement began has gradually dwindled till for some time it has actually 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. In point ot fact, Nelson became first stagnant and stationary, and then it began to retrograde. .At last we have the avowal, from this committee, that many of its young men, sous of early settlers, despairing of obtaining in their native province land they could, cultivate with any prospect of fair return for their labor, have been induced to seek outside its boundaries places where they could settle. The choicest part of its population, they say, has been drained off to enrich other districts of the colony by its skill, enterprise, and labor." In confirmation of our contemporary's remarks, and of the statements by the Inland Communication Committee, we may here appropriately quote, from the last Provincial Gazette, the figures of an extraordinary return relating to immigration, and "published," we are told, " for general information." That return is an abstract of receipts and disbursements of the Immigration Commissioners at Nelson for the year 1872-3, signed by Mr Greenfield as Immigration Treasurer, " found correct " by Mr Jackson, as Provincial Auditor, besides whom, it appears, there is a Secretary to the Board. As indicative of the extent of immigration to Nelson, it is sufficient to say that the whole disbursements for the year, and directly connected with that purpose, was — "Passage-money of immigrants from Melbourne, £39." The other disbursements were — Court expenses, viz., cost of summonses £15 9s ; printing, £1 lls ; duty stamps, £1 ; and — mirabile ilietu — salary to Secretary to Board, £50. And this is not the experience of one year only, but of a succession of years. To resume our references to the columns of our Canterbury contemporary, we find him thus accounting for these and similar facts : — "The answer is plain enough, and has been partly given already. Nelson has unfortunately been governed by men whose vision was limited, whose energy was spasmodic, and whose ideas were altogether conservative. They never attempted to ascertain with any degree of spirit and determination, the great natural resources of the country entrusted to their rule, and they seem to have thought that time would solve all problems, that their best policy was to wait, and live if possible within their means." The Times goes the length of admitting what has already been said in these columns, that, on this occasion, the Inland Communication Committee have done good service by " rousing the people of Nelson from j their Rip Van Winkle slumbers, and collecting a mass of information about the natural resources of the country which deserves to be advertised at length in the principal Australian, American, and English papers." It is to be regretted that, having taken up the subject of the proposed railway, the Times has not expressed what may be the public opinion in Canterbury on Mr Vogel's addendum to that proposal, but probably that will come. Meantime, and in reference merely to the j scheme as it was first propounded, including the acquisition of land, coal-mines, and railways, the Times briefly expresses its opinion in this one sentence : — " It is to be hoped that the Nelson Government will not accede to the proposal in its present form, or that if they do, the General Assembly will step in to protect the rights of the colony against the designs of the capitalists."