THE WEST COAST AS A PENAL SETTLEMENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 110, 27 April 1863, Page 3

THE WEST COAST AS A PENAL SETTLEMENT.

[From the Lyttelton Times, March 18J. The West Coast of this island, also nominally divided between the provinces of Nelson, Canterbury and Otago, is for the most part a country far more distant from the inhabited part of these provinces than the North Island, and infinitely more inaccessible. It is true that here and there gold diggers have penetrated through the passes of the snowy mountains to a few valleys on the West Coast; but for aU'practical purposes we cannot look on that portion of the island as belonging to any existing province as long as there is abundance of land open for occupation on the fertile plains and valleys extending from the East Coast to the foot of the snowy mountains, there will be no inducement to the ordinary settler to establish himself on the inhospitable shore that streches along the western slopes of the Southern Alps. If the western gold-fields pay, fence will be opeu’at once into the auriferous valleys ; but -whatever traffic there may be on these roads in summer, they will be closed to the traveller for half the year. At the same time the harbours are for the most but the mouths of rivers half-closed by shifting bars, dangerous at most times and often impracticable. The climate, though healthy, is comparatively rough and severe, while more rain falls than in any other part of the two islands. Yet with all these drawbacks, the West Coast is likely to prove a mine of wealth to the colony. We do not yet know to what extent gold may bo found in the numerous valleys that rnn down to the sea from out the mountains ; but it is known that notwithstanding all the hardships incident to golddigging in a hitherto unopened country, the West Coast has temptations for a considerable number of adventurers. But putting aside the gold-fields, and the export likely to be derived from them, a far more valuable mineral than gold has been found on different points of the“ West Coast in profuse abundance. It is known on tolerably good authority that deep beds of most valuable coal extend for many miles in comparatively accessible situations, and that there appears to be practically no limit to the supply. If this be true one of the most important elements of the future wealth of New Zealand has been discovered. For the development of this source of wealth and comfort we must look to private enterprise. But at the same time there are means by which the Government, without any illegitimate interference, could foster a most useful but difficult undertaking. In our last issue we dwelt upon the neces-

sity of a central penal establishment for New Zealand. Without such an institution it would be impossible to carry out rigidly , the sentences passed upon the worst criminals. In determining the site for such an establishment, certain necessary conditions must be considered. The convict settlement must be removed from the centres of population, and must at the same time be in such position that the slave labour may be made useful to the colony. As the expenditure on the establishment will be contributed by the whole of New Zealrnd, the work done by the convicts should be as much as possible useful in an equal degree to all the settlements of the colony. In England, the erection of a harbor of refuge on any part of the coast is looked on as a boon to the whole country. But in a thinly-populated country like New Zealand, where the centres of population are distant from each other, it is hard to persuade one province thatit isreapinganybenefit bytheconstructionofharbor works in another. The West Coast of this Island, however, is so far no man’s land at present, that no one Province could be said to reap any special benefit from its being made habitable, while the Colony would be a large gainer. Some spot on that Coast might be found, sufficiently remote from a settled population, but sufficiently near the great future coal mines of the country, where a good permanent harbor could be built to advantage. If such were once determined by competent authority, and a gaol built there, there need be no fears for years and years to come of a want of occupation for convicts condemned to really hard labor, and instead of our central penal establishment being a heavy loss to the colony, it might be made a very paying institution. A harbor, roads, tramways, all the necessary works preliminary to opening the coal mines might be effected by the slave labor. In order to succeed in such a scheme, a carefuj survey of the coast should be intrusted to competent hands; for on the selection of the site a great deal would depend. In such an out-of-the place, with plenty of hard work and no luxuries, a criminal might learn the danger of outraging the law. If the settlement were properly conducted, he would more than support himself, and appreciate on his return to ordinary social life, the blessings of free labour.