WESTPORT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 9, 11 January 1868, Page 2

WESTPORT.

[from a correspondent.]

The progress of this rising town has been long delayed by a series of circumstances wholly unlcoked for by its enterprising Community. Experience is a good schoolmaster, and if the Government wiil only look at the requirements of the district, anJ attend to them in an intelligent manner they may d> much to further the interests of the province at large. I have no symp.ithv with those who try to buiidit one portion of the province at tlie expence of the others. as the West port people are about to elect a representative in the Provincial Council, 1 will endeavor to point out a fe"\v things thai demand his attention. A Town board is much wanted to look atier the interests ot the place, for the Commissioner cau do almost as he pleases. The Cemetery is stM expo.cd to the inroads of pigs, horses, and cattle ; no fence have yec been put round it, and t!ie vacant spaci.- ot ground in the neighborhood has been surveyed. An old settler, who Lias a house on the reserve ground, has received notice to remove it, whilst a merchant whose bonded warehouse hud to bo removed from the river bank, has got liberty to erect his bonded store upon the same reserve. The Qauy Reserve ground in VVestpurt occupied by the people under the Gold-fields KeguluUon Business Licenses, will give plenty of trouble, and cause some expense before it can he satisfactorily disposed or', surely there is no use in perpeiuati ;g these difficulties, when there is plenty of available ground to oe had elsewhere. It is high time that a stop was put to such favoritism and maladministration. If this reserve has been survey* d for ilie purpose of selling it, why shouid any one be favored by being permitted to erect a building upon it previous to its being sold. There has been a great deal of damage done to the river banks by the recent floods, caused in some m asure by the fallen trees along the river side, and tile accumulation ol a gravel bank on ihe south side of the river, which drives the force of the current to the opposite shore, and also by the iact that the subsoil is of a sandy nature. The late freshets have made sad havoc upon it. Large portions ol the river banks have been carried away, and it will take several tiiousand pounds to repair the damage done. Prevention is better than cure, is a good old maxim, and if the powers that be would get a large punt or two, and take the gravel from the point on the south side of the river, and sail the punts across to the inlet under 13eauchanip's wharf at high water, bringing the tramway along Herbert-street, they would have good gravel for the streets of the town, and the force »>t' the river would be diverted from the north shore. This, in my opinion, would be a much more economical way of making the streets than the present one, which, if pcrsiste 1 in, will lead to the formation of an inland lake at the north end of Pahnerstou-street. With the example of llokitika before us, it is sheer madness to lower the sea-beach by taking the urift wood and gravel from it, especially opposite the town. I have made these few remarks in the hope of drawing the attention of those interested in the ultimate welfare of the district to the subject, and 1 trust the\ will not allow any private interest or personal feeling to stand in the way ■ f the future prosperity of our western metropolis.