The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1948. WEST COAST DEVELOPMENT

Grey River Argus, 17 April 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1948. WEST COAST DEVELOPMENT

BECAUSE its pastoral content is narrow and hitherto has been limited mostly to river valleys; its area, largely under forest, and its climate damp, the West Coast, compared with the more settled parts of the country, has been developed only very slowly. Its original alluvial gold, industry is a thing of the past. Naturally the inhabitants have therefore looked always for any artificial aids to prosperity and to an increase in population. But it has been a forlorn policy to claim that such aids simply must be forthcoming because in the early days the gold obtained assisted the whole country. The history of gold bearing territory is generally only a reverie over departed days of glory, reckoned by at least some chroniclers to breed in survivors a characteristic merely of looking backwards. It might even be conjectured that there also is the temptation, in thus resting on romance, to expect benefit more from a distance than from places

which do provoke reminiscences upon a vanished heyday. Barriers there always have been —although the present generation is losing the reminders of early isolation — so that a prospect of any new link with other provinces is brighter to contemplate than the reality of existing links. The future .in this respect may be as much with aviation as any other means. For this reason the news that Buller ami also Westland can now count upon larger and better aerodromes will be welcomed on all sides. Not only has Buller in fact this advantage, but it is now anticipated that. Westport harbour is destined for no little improvement. Accompanying it there is proposed a cement works, a thing which might have been expected to have materialised on the West (’oast decades since. The district also is anxious tor a. lime supply, and in its vicinity that ought to be more than a possibility. If, moreover, the reported *|.)ian for harbour improvement is framed on the basin principle, it ought to be feasible for something of a similar character to be in due course devised here to at least the extent that it may promise an improvement. As already suggested, public works have come to be a staple element in the outlook of West Coasters, and they can at least reinforce their case for harbour development —not by an appeal to the past deserts, but to the dependency of the Dominion for centuries yet upon the only extensive bituminous coal deposits, located alongside the two West Coast ports. It is essential that the most shall be made of those resources which, we do possess, and none is greater than those deposits. To-day’s function in the fnangahua district, whore the opening of a hostel for miners points to a growing industry, is evidence of the wisdom of such an outlook. There has been some ■complaint as to other items upon which tire Government might engage in expenditure, but it is desirable always to put first things in the first place. Hokitika, in addition to its new aerodrome, is very soon to have a new post office, and it may be expected that as soon as materials and labour are adequately in supply. South Westland will be given a further impetus towards development, not only as regards reading at the southern extremity, but an extension of the railway through the northern section. The tvhole district has a future through pas- . ture and forestry, no less than through mineral and scenic wealth. If the outlook therefore, is brighter, the main reason is not I hat the West Coast depends on other parts; but that it lias its own foundation for great development.