The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1864.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 80, 3 February 1864, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1864.

The claims of the Lake Country for separa tion from Otago, and for the opening up o Martin's Bay as the commercial entrepot o the district, are almost irresistible, and an now so well understood at the seat of Govern ment, as to be submitted to with the resigna tion due to an inevitable event. Isolatec from the capital of the Province, not only bj a great distance in miles, but by the physica features of the country, our relations wit! Otago are purely nominal and arbitrary Communication, "therefore, with Dunedin ii difficult and tedious, so much so indeed, that nearly all business between this district anc the capital is done through the medium o: Invercargill. If a speculator finds his waj to it with an eye to business —if a merchani buys his stores at the capital—if a judge comes hither to administer justice—all it done by way of Invercargill. Besides, oui business relations are not with Dunedin; we are under no obligations to Otago, and have received but little in return for the large revenue she nas drawn from us. The tie, therefore, which binds us to the Province oi Otago is purely nominal. Whether the district, with its large producing and consuming population, shall take up its own burden as a separate Province, or ally itself with Southland, is another question. We hold very strongly to the first of these opinions, knowing that the latter would less benefit the district. Martin's Bay is the natural outlet of the Lake district, and once settled and opened up, to it our traffic would flow, and continue to flow in spite of every attempt to divert it to a more distant port, and the supremacy of Martin's Bay as the commercial entrepot of the district would continue unimpaired. It appears that if we were in a position to obtain our supplies from Melbourne by way of Martin's Bay, not only would a considerable saving in time and money be thus effected, but consignees would be enabled to rely with confidence upon regularity and celerity in the dispatch of goods. The prospect thus opened up is a very important one, not only for the merchants and importers of the district, but for the whole mining community to be supplied with imported merchandize at a cheaper rate. Hitherto little has been done in the way of testing the richness of any but the shallow alluvial deposits. Deep sinking has not been tried, owing to the high price of labor, kept up by the dearness of the necessaries of living. No systematic prospecting, or speculative enterprise, such as copper mining—an ore with which the district abounds —can be carried on with profit until a nearer port shall have been opened, and land carriage become cheaper. Thus would the mining industries receive a powerful and permanent stimulus, and thus would production be cheapened by the diminished cost at which the agents of production tould be obtained. If, however, the material development and consequent advancement of the interests of the district be retarded by ow present condition and circumstances, we have only ourselves to blame; the cure lies in our own hands. We possess every essential internal qualification required by law to claim a separate Provincial Government. We have, therefore, only to represent our case clearly and forcibly to the General Government, in order to effect the partition of the province of Otago. And siuce no reason can be shown why we should not enjoy this right as well as other communities in the colony, we venture to predict that the Government will not refuse it. They who opened up and populated a desert country have an indisputable right to enjoy the advantages derivable from their skill, capital, and enterprise; and also to enjoy every internal facility for the full development of the natural resources of the country. This is all we want, and all we ask for. The mining section of the community is the bone and sinew of the Lake district—aye, and of the Province of Otago. Still its interests are anything but cared for; its legislation almost wholly neglected, and its most reasonable demands ignored. These things must sooner or later work out their own cure, to the humiliation of the powers that be. Indeed, we have strong indications of this already. The opening up and settlement of Martin's Bay is attracting consider-

able attention elsewhere, and a company is now in course of formation in a neighbouring colony to further that object. When once attained, and the main part of the trade of the district diverted from Dunedin, there will not be much further difficulty in obtaining a separate Provincial Government of our own. Indeed, circumstances are steadily working towards that end; the complete fulfilment of which is but a question of time. That this district, therefore, should be separated from Otago, and should exercise the right of Government for itself is a question now beyond all dispute.