HOW TO DEVELOP THE RESOURCES OF A COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 625, 3 November 1858, Page 3

HOW TO DEVELOP THE RESOURCES OF A COUNTRY.

(From the' Globe.')

It is an old maxim that if you want to civilise a country and develop its resources to the uttermost, you mv.st cover its surface with a network of roads. The road not less than the legion made the Romans masters of the known world. .Roads in England have not only promoted internal and external trade, but they have destroyed that sectional hostility which, within the memory of man, virtually separated the north from'the south, Roads will regenerate Ireland. How much do the low countries owe to their water ways. " When roads shall have connected the almost isolated Provinces of Spain, then Spain will resume her place in the European family as a great power. If Italy h ever to be united into one country it will be by the construction of iron ways which will fuse the population, and, by their imperceptible influence on the habits of the people, bid defiance to the police regulations of the stranger, and break down the antipathies of the people. Could we have intersected Hindostan with roads, after the fashion of the Romans, not only would the productive power of India have been doubled, but our grip upon that country would have been twice as strong, and we could have kept down revolt and mutiny with a smaller European force. Important as they are in military operations, roads are essential to extensive commerce, and that prompt and compete interchange of commodities and intercourse of people which goes so far to promote what we call civilization. Nothing breaks down prejudice like facility of communication with, peoples and countries strange to us. Nothing stimulates production so much as the certainty of a market. There may be a great demand at one point, and great capability of meeting it at another; but if there be no road between the two, or onty an inconvenient road, the demand will be only partially satisfied, because the means of depositing the supply in the market are defective. Hence it is that the road makers are such valuable agents in civilization. Now the Eastern Question is to a great extent a question, of roads. To make the people inhabiting what we call the empire of Turkey strong, its vast resources must be so developed as to make those people more industrious, united, and public-spirited. Roads are essential to that end. Capital would be uselessly invested in agriculture, manufactures, or mining, unless the forthcoming products could be deposited in a market, where their sale would reward the exertions of the cultivator,manufacturer, and miner. Without roads, the scheme of colonization devised by the Porte succeed. With roads^so lich' and fertile is Asia Minor, for instance, that we cannot foresee limits to the result they would effect by facilitating colonization, which is the introduction of capital, and "stimulating the native cultivators to produce to the utmost extent of their means. If it pays Armenian merchants to drive large caravans along mere tracks for hundreds of miles, how much more would it pay the same enterprising people to forward their commodities by road or railway! Nor would these be all the benefits conferred by the road makers. The interchange of goods and the intercourse of persons iuhabiting widely separated districts would go on in an increasing ratio, would improve their manners and habits, and would fetch out,that spirit of industry which is the life-blood o;'. a great nation. The firsc locomotive ever landed in Asia Minor made its appearance at Smyrna on the 22nd February. A short line of rails had been | laid from the shore inland. The work of constructing the line had been performed by the natives of that place, who, by judicious management, had been converted from idlers into firstrate navvies. They had been led to take an interest in the novel employment, and they looked forward to the arrival of the engine with feelings of children, expecting some new and wonderful toy. Crowds of people watched them at work. Very few of the persons present had ever seen the monster which was to run and shriek without external aid. Sceptics, of course, abounded, and prophets of evil. Smyrna had its devout believers in the impossibility of the promises of the Franks, just as England had its believers in the destructive effects of free trade. The day long looked for came. The vessel bearing the iron Jin of the West entered the harbour and dropped its anchor. The Jin himself was landed by a simple contrivance improvised on the spot,, much to the astonishment of the beholders. But their astonishment at the landing was nothing compared to their j childish delight and wonder when the iron j monster coursed along the rails, bearing a l>and of musicians, and decked out with the Turkish flag and Union Jack. The whistle of the locomotive drew responsive yells from the crowd, and at the risk of life and limb the navvies of the East clung on to the locomotive wherever they could find anything to cling to, for the pleasure of a ride upon the strange thing. A spirited individual had begun a "Railway Hotel," and was anxious for a painting of a locomotive as a sign, a proof that the people enter into the spirit of the venture. Can we foresee the etl'oct of this invasion from the West? A locomotive whistling iv Asia Minor' is a "' great fact." It seems to have given a filip to the whole population of Smyrna, but its greatest eiledts will be produced when tho shrill scream of the locomotive is hoard in the country districts. Tho railway begun at Smyrna under such fair auspices, is intended to run as fur ns Aidm, tho great entrepot of the tnule of Asia Minor, It has been conceded

to a company on favourable terms. The Porte guarantees six per cent, on the capital, all profits over seven per cent to be divided with the Government. All the land and materials belonging to the Government that the company lrmy require it can take for nothing. The railway, seventy miles long, will bring Aidin and Smyrna within three hours of each other, instead of from two or four days. One-half' the cost of transporting produce to the sea will be saved by the railway. The certainty of effecting such a saving will cause proprietors to send more of their produce to the depot; and to send it more cheaply than heretofore, no doubt the roads in the interior will be greatly improved. An example will be set which is sure to be followed ; and from the small beginning made at Smyrna, who can say that our children will not have to date the resurrection of Asia Minor, and an unlooked-for solution of the Eastern question ?