RESOURCES OF THE WEST COAST.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1923, Page 4

RESOURCES OF THE WEST COAST.

A LAND OF PROAHSE. POTENTIAL WEALTH OE FINE DISTRICT.

(Lyttelton Times Commissioner). There can be no doubt about the progress of Hokitika. Building activity can be noticed on all sides, and last year new buildings, estimated to have cost £25,000, were erected within tiie borough. One notices new business premises, a la re garage, and several houses in course of construction, and, ill this particular at any rate, the new is much better than the old. But Hokitika retains more of the real West Coast spirit than the other centres. There is a spirit of optimism about ilie place, and there is good ground for it. In the north they judge the prospects of a town by “the country behind it." Well, South Westland is the country behind Hokitika, and the development of that extensive area, the closer settlement m the valleys, must beneficialL affect the town. To-day the capital value of the borough is £203,570, ami The unimproved value £05,000. It possesses, a splendid library, and large public buildings. Its churches, erected and proposed, are designed to to meet the requirements ol a growing population, and in many other ways Hokitika is developing. This is a period of transition and the next lew years should see very great changes in the town. In the first stages the place depended upon the goldinining activities, and, as is well known, goldmiuing towns are built solely to meet the needs of the day. Gradually mining gave place to the timber industry, still a most important. item in the industrial lilt' of the province. And gradually tanning operations are being extended. The excitement of the goldlields days is .riving place to the solidity, ihc greater stability, of a centre which draws its strength from the progressive development of the whole district. They take much more'interest in the Otira tunnel project there than they do in Greyntoiuh, and the local bodies, at a re<{ent <(lnference, expressed willingness to support the Canterbury Progress League in its efforts to avert l'ni'Hier delay in opening the new route. Then Hie request of tho Cantorbnrv Chamber ol Commerce For, at the most, a two-section charge on the through route is strong!;, supported here. The public men are alert and persistent and determined that, in the new order of things, Hokitika shall have a place on the map. HOKITIKA HOSPITAL.

Situated some distance from the town, and on a rise commanding a fine sweep of coast, is the Westland Hospital. At the present time building operations on a large scale are being pushed forward and a few monilis hence (lie local Hospital Board will have under its control a splendidlybuilt and equipped institution. The Alandl will'd, which will contain sixteen beds and four private rooms, together with duty room, pantry and patients’ dining-room, is approaching completion. It is a substantia! concrete structure, with ample light and in the front, overlooking the sea. is a most capacious covered-in verandah. Between the new ward and the present hospital the foundations have been laid for the new administration Mock. 11 will be a tivo-aloreye:l building designed on spacious lines. The nursing .staff's quarters will be on the second floor. The alterations made necessary hy those new buildings have enabled Ihe board to provide a little isolation block with a tour-bed ward and accommodation for the nttr-es. and a pari of ike old wooden structure lias been moved'back, and will serve .".s ;i drying room. In company with the energetic secretary, Air T. W. Knee, I went through the hospital, ii is intended to ere t an old people’# :i.'im on ti;r. adjoining bloC'k ol laud. Rians have been prepared. I underMaud, for a budding ill concrete capaide of accommodating forty aged people and the staff. The Hospital Heard lias ample loom oil tiie higher level for all its requirement, and proposes shortly to erect a large concrete valor storage lank for (ire prolection purposes. At the loot of the kill il owns ‘everal acres ot land, fanned lor I lie benefit ol ihe institution. Tin- total sum involved in the present and projected building programme is till,(lU,k but the indebtedness of the coni rolling authoriiy will only l.e increased hy £70(10. Tins idue to the splendid liberality of the residents of the district, who subscribed the sum of CUTi; I!) for hospital purposes. This carried a subsidy of a like anioiiiii. ami tho board lias only bad to borrow the sum stated. When finished the institution will ho one of i |;e oio-'t up l'o-dai e of Hie smaller ho- pil als ip the Dominion and n credit to Die district. TOURIST ROUTES. All .!•.•■ ii; i are-I created hy the ap ■pr; aehii'g opening of tiie Otira tunnel has not made some people overlook the continued itnporlaneo of tho road eonuooiion between Canterbury and Westland. Dr Teiiludmaun, a member of Die council of the Canterbury Automobile Association, and one of the most consistent advocates oi The scenic beauties of Westland, is among D:o number. The doctor is anxious Dial the intentions of tho Government with regard to the road over the pass should be ascertained, being of the opinion that, if it is neglected and

c.Mewod to fall info a state ol disrepair, it will necessitate heavy capital expenditure later on. Then, B the control of the road should he handed over to the local bodies concerned the maintenance of the worst and most costly part would fall on the Westland County Council and impose a burden that that body could not possibly carry. AVken asked what he considered were Die most important works to he undertaken in order to make the glacier district more attractive to tourists, Dr Teichelniann said that a bridge across the AYaihou River was very necessary. Ii was a dangerous river, and, when workable at all, only waggons and vehicles of that type could make tho crossing. Act. south of it, were thirty miles of good road that made travelling easy. The bridge was the door to the far southern districts. Years ago an unprecedented advance of the glacier had carried away a section of Hondo's track up the north-eastern bank of the V\ aihou. At the present time tourists went as far as the break, and a small expenditure at tiie gap would enable them to go as far as Robert’s Point. A hut was badly needed on Chancellor Ridge, at the Fox. There was camp site now often used, but a hut similar to one at Cape Defiance would be a boon. Some improvement to the Lake Knniori road was being made, and this with the three items he had mentioned wore tho most immediate needs of the province as far as the tourist traffic was concerned. ‘ Hokitika was the centre of the Westland goldfields, and it retains more real interest in mining ventures than any other centre. The successful dredging operations on Rinut Flat by an American Company have shown that the possibilities of Westland as a mining district have not been exhausted by any means, or even fully investigated. There is activity in many quarters and every prospect of a revival of the industry.

Perhaps the most important step will he the testing of the Mananui Flat, lying between Eimu- Flat- and Ross. Those who know the locality best are convinced that the alluvial drift extends right across. The importance of testing this area was brought under the notice of the Government, and 1 am told that the Mines Department intends to drill with a keystone borer. The old hands would prefer to see shafts sunk. They contend that, as the drift was found in the Ross Mine below the 350 ft level, it may be necessary to sink to that depth on Mananui Flat, and no borer of the type proposed is said to have readied half that depth oil this held. Just at present the boring plant is being used for prospecting purposes near Kiunara, near the main road, but when that work is done a start will l«> made on the Mananui Flat, and the result will be awaited with the keenest interest. They only have to prove the existence of the alluvial drift along this stretch of country and the West Coast will see a tremendous revival uf the industry that first made it famous. A dredge lias recommenced operations at Awatnna, working a flat near the month of the Waiinea Creek, and a big English syndicate should soon commence sluicing operations in the Ilolionu Hirer district on a large scale. It has constructed a race between ton and twelve miles in length, and old miners class its claim ns at good prospect. If operations prove successful other propositions will command attention. I was told oil good authoriiy that another English syndicate is coti-

Jdering the development oi the Mount Greenland holding, the Cedar Creek reel', some miles beyond Ross, so that the industry is not he any means dead. I'nfortunately there is practically no prospecting going on at the presellL time. A tunnel is being 'driven in a claim at Boss, and perhaps one or two old-age pensioners do a little. Inn. according to one experienced man. "you can't get the young cliaps to do what their fathers did. They all go for the wages.” Recently two men did apply for assistance lo prospect, the Jackson’s Hay country away to the smith, hut the Government olfer. in view of the expense of getting down that rugged coast, did not make the project feasible. A »‘t it is known that there is gold-bearing country at Jackson’s bay. And there is a known lode of copper at Copier Creel; Iliad will he developed some day. Ii is not generally known that there is coal ttl Faring;'., l it) milr-s to the south, and that samples from it were sent to the Melbourne Exhibition of I s.sj. 1 hate been dimni samples of mica, till and other valuable things found along this

coast. The bodies from which they originally came have not been located Imt as the country is opened up and tim various great valleys and gullies are more (arefully examined, there can be little doubt that much mineral wealth will he tapped. As it is, one can form no idea of what is being done. One meets a man who owns a small farm, but in the oil' season he gees tin some vallev where lie lias a sin a!! sluicing claim and works away. What return he gels is mi! known, hut it i- siiliii iciitlv good to pistiiv a continuance of the practice. There cannot be many places where farming ami mining arc combined.