The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27th, 1921.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 December 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27th, 1921.

FOB BF.TTKII 01! WOHSH. I ill-: rapidly closing year has carried the district through a not unprofitable period and the oxperiomc has been rather tor the letter than woi.se. There have not been any very marked developments industrially, nor fresh discoveries of moment, hut Westland has held its own very well, and is experiencing on the whole what may he considered a comfortable time. The point is. are there many other places in New Zealand with a happier experience than has been our loir Industrially, sawmilling stands out as the chief avenue for employment, and the output is being well maintained, fluid

dredging lias nourished in this vicinity, and it does not appear out of plain to he sanguine as to the future of that industrial development, also in this vicinity. More prospecting is going ahead, and if the results are at all satisfactory, important power developments will follow. The farmer and dairyman are finishing up the year very well, solaced with good prices for their products, and looking forward to the market rates keeping up. Being holiday time, tourists and holiday-mak-ers are on the move, and Westland is reaping some of the advantage of the advertising resulting from the exhibition period of a year ago. All these factors to progress and prosperity are of a positive nature, with resources behind them to keep going strongly

while conditions are favorable. In such a happy position the outlook for the immediate future is good, and confidence may he reposed in the year to come. The position of Westland in the natural order of events, with markets at all favorable, must he ait improving one. The district is only coming into its own now lieeause it was so late in

lieing linked up with the South Island railway system. The advantages accruing from that will lie permanent, and are being realised more and more as time goes on. The future of Westland is pastoral pursuits is undoubted. As the dairying industry grows, cultivation will become more intensive.

Land will lie more valuable, and loss will be made to suffice. The large holdings at present spread through the district are a drawback, fur there is not the capital available to ilevelope them as they should be. A growing population will assist to solve that problem, and what the district has experienced in tlie success of dairying, is but a foretaste of the greater success to come when the industry is more universal.

Every year adds to llic importance ami value of tlie milling industry to Westland—destined /to become practically the sole source of ready supply for the "hole Dominion. There is a great stretch of bush country within the Westland County, and for long years to conic it will he the main supply for New Zealand as a whole. The need for a prospecting rev'val as affecting the mineral wealth of this territory has been the subject of many an article in this column. The enterprise is still lacking oil the part of those in authority, lnit the time must come when the authorities will realise their duty in the matter and have the natural mineral resources of this County more fully probed. So, too, must the authorities wake U]i to their part in promoting tourist traffic to Westland. For the present it is left almost to private enterprise or semi-public local bodies to perform the obvious. This lack of enterprise on the part of a Government department charged with the work, r a serious neglect, but despite all complaints, Westland remains the Cinderella province where tourist expenditure from the public purse is on the tapis. Looking further to the future than next year, there is the development of the far south to be considered. This "ill be a large work, but it will be worth while. It is to bo hoped that now that the initial work has been done of arousing public interest that in the coming year, a Canterbury party will he able to go south and spy out the land, and furnish an independent report on the great undertaking which will open up a new country. The future therefore holds out hopes all for the betterment of Westland, and the time is at hand when a material advance will be made in local progress.