COMMUNICATION with the INANGAHUA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 5, 5 January 1872, Page 2

COMMUNICATION with the INANGAHUA.

To The Editor oa? the .Nelson Evening Mail,

Sir — There is very little doubt now but that the Inangahua reefs will turn out a success, 'and, although I have not been on the ground myself, I believe, from what I have learnt from most reliable sources, that the Inangahua district will prove a flourishing one, and : it is .within the bounds of probability that it. may prove the Thames af. the. Middle.lsland. ■ J.; am therefore Bu.rprise.d, when I see the rivalry that. grists, between Westport and Grey mouth/ ae l'tp, whichjpjace shall be the emporium for the |parigahua, and the great exertions tfie,^inhabitants of both places are making to command the trade, that no effort is being made by the business

men iu Nelson to secure the trade to this town. . It is true the ports on the.West Coast are nearer to the reefs, but the difficulties of communication are greater than from here, and I believe that if a little energy were displayed, the bulk of the trade could bo secured to Nelson : but it requires immediate action, as it is very difficult to divert a trade when once in a particular channel. Tho distance from Nelson to the juuction of the Inangahua with the Buller (a point whore all the traffic must centre, whether to Nelson or Westport) is about 110 miles; for the first. 60 mihis from Nelson there is at present a road that a coach could travel ou, for the remaining 50 there is only a very bad pack track. I should propose commencing a light tramway with wooden rails at the end of the dray road and carrying it on to the junction; this would probably cost about £30,000, and could be extended to the reefs at one end, and Nelson at the other, or, it thought advisable, the line at this end might be constructed in a more expensive manner, but for the greater part of the way wooden rails would be amply sufficient for some years to come; in a country like this it is quautity and not quality that is require!; it is better to get 60 miles in h'x hours, than to go the first 20 iu one hour, and be all day getting over the remaining 40. I feel confident that the making of this 50 miles of tramway would secure the bulk' of the traffic to Nelson, but this would only be part of the benefit, it would open up a fine agricultural and mineral district, where, if provisions could be obtained at a reasonable cost, the mining population would increase ten-fold. Of the advisability of carrying out some scheme of this sort I have no doubts, but I have doubts as to whether the delay necessary in getting the sanction of the Government might not be fatal to the scheme, but I present .it for the consideration of those more interested than myself in seeing it carried out, in the hope that the matter may be properly ventilated, and some decided action taken at once, I am, &c., R. Preston Baix. January 4, 1872,