The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, August 6, 1864.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 133, 6 August 1864, Page 2

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, August 6, 1864.

We have lately completed the journal of the expedition to the West Coast, written by Mr Barrington. Judging by the hardships they have experienced and the high ranges they have traversed, with occasional glaciers, and with no decided line of route, our readers will have to come to the conclusion that the track they followed—viz., across the ranges overhanging the Dart River—is by no means the easiest route to that part, whilst that followed by Dr Hector, and subsequently by the party who were wrecked in the Pryde, appears to be a real pass or natural high road of the country, with no ranges to cross, and nothing but'"a few dangerous sidelings and a long stretch of bush to contend with, and but one fordable river to cross. The first two of these difficulties are easily obviated by a road. The point arrived at is the same in both instances, as we feel convinced that the " Poverty and Plenty Lakes," of Mr Barrington are identical with the Wa-wai-i-wuk, of the natives and Dr Hector, and otherwise known as Lake Alabaster—the broken oar found there by Mr Barrington giving conclusive evidence that this lake had been visited by some party in a boat from the Western seaboard. Of late, Dr Hector's route to the West Coast has attracted but little attention, from the hopes we had entertained of a better route being discovered, but from all we have since ascertained, this, the Greenstone Pass, is by far the best route for walking, and the natural and easiest line for a high road. Many will say what is the use of a road, as neither gold nor land fit for sheep runs has yet been discovered there ? We reply, let it only be opened up by a road and an extensive country like this, with lakes, rivers, and good bush on level valleys, is sure to find occupants. We also confess tbat we are at the same time looking, as is our duty, to the interests of Queenstown. At present, Queenstown is, of all inland towns, the most populous and important in the whole island, and at the same time the most distant from its political centre; it is in fact the farthest out-

! post of civilisation, with the West Coast 1 country beyond, uninhabited, and serving as nothing but as a barrier to commerce, and which would, in fact, be more valuable to us at present if it were sunk down under the sea, and thus forming part of the highway of nations, and making Queenstown a seaport. However, as such a catastrophe is not likely to take place, we must suggest that it is best to make u<e of what there is, which thus brings us back to the Greenstone Pass. By the map drawn by Dr Hector and published in the Gazette with his valuable report, we t fiud that the line up the Greenstone and down the Kakapo river would be about fifty miles in length. This line follows a valley each way over a low saddle, but 600 feet above the level of the Wakatip Lake ; the only impediments being a few miles of side cutting and thirty miles of bush ; the road being practically a dead level, rising but 600 feet in twenty-five miles, and descending 1600 feet in the other twenty-five miles on the other side—our lake being supposed to be 1000 feet above the level of the sea. In fact, there is no road of the same length in this province which has easier gradients —it being about as level as the new road down the Kawarau to the Dunstan, and we believe it will be much less expensive than the latter, although of only equal length. Let us now look at the importance of this route to the interests of Queenstown. Instead of being an outlying settlement as at present, we should be right on the main highway and thoroughfare from the east to the west coast, and at a point of junction of the routes from both Dunedin and Invercargill to the westward. We should then be, instead of an outpost, a centre of commerce and civilisation, or the only thoroughfare from east to west upon the island, and com. manding this thoroughfare in two directions eastward. We are fully aware that the port in Martin's Bay has been denounced as unsafe, and that already one of the few vessels which have yet frequented it has been wrecked, but such an accident might happen at any harbor where neither) pilots are stationed or buoys moored; whilst our New Zealand " Lloyds" when published, will give us a melancholy list of wrecks at many other ports, where the harbor departments and steam have done their utmost ; so that one accident at a new port need not entirely condemn it, particularly when we consider that captains are so accustomed to having their vessels handed over to a pilot on arriving within sight of land, that the sailing of a vessel in or out of a port has become a branch of the nautical profession, quite distiuct from that of sailing in open sea. We have also heard that a land surveyor had reported on the impracticability of the track, or rather that he had been sent up for the particular purpose of reporting against it ; but in this respect we need only state that we beg to differ in opinion and agree with the first man who came over to the Lake from the West Coast—Dr Hector—who positively asserts that it is a good pass and natural highway, which could be easily made available. Of the correctness of this view we still feel convinced and look on the opening of this route as of the greatest importance to the prosperity of the Lake district, and as the track pointed out to us by nature herself—viz., that of following along two practically level valleys which together form the lowest known pass, aud taking advantage of the largest stretch of our national aqueous highway, formed by above half the length of the Wakatip Lake, and the whole length of the Kakapo Lake, with part of the Kakapo River, together about fifty miles of water way—the easiest and best of all communication. Queenstown, situated as it is between land and water and at the junction of the two routes from the east, conld not fail to be the emporium, and our own opinion is that only by the formation of this route can Queenstown arrive at its proper position—viz., the position which nature has clearly pointed out for it as an inland centre of population, civilisation, and wealth.