The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 230, 24 September 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1873.

Mr Curtis' new Loan Bill of which we received information for the first time late yesterday, afternoon, has rather taken us by surprise, but we certainly are disposed to look upon it as a move in the right direction. Of the particulars we are as yet ignorant, and know nothing of the security to be offered, or any of the details, but, viewed in the abstract, it seems to be a measure likely to produce very beneficial results. With the small revenue at our disposal it is impossible to do any great things in the way of opening up the country and rendering it fit for settlement. Departmental expenses, the repairs of roads, and the up keep of existing institutions, is as much as can be undertaken wilh the very limited amount that the Provincial Council has to vote away every year, and until something is done towards offering larger inducements to settlers than those we already possess, it is hopeless to look for any increase of a revenue which, small as it is, is gradually decreasing every year. Under these circumstances the only available remedy is the raising of money by loan for the purpose of carrying out such works as promise to be reproductive, and should the bill pass through the Assembly it will be for our Provincial Legislature to say which of the proposed works are really essential to the advancement of the province, and which may be looked upon as luxuries. Under this latter designation, it is quite probable that some of the undertakings will be classed by the Council. Not one of them but would add greatly to the convenience and comfort of those residing in the districts to be specially benefitted by tbem, but this will not be the question for consideration so much as whether they are likely to add to our population, and increase our revenue. The road from the Wai-iti into the Buller, and thence down that valley to the Inangahua we look upon as one of the most important of the proposed works. We have heard it argued that the construction of such a road would militate against our chances of obtaining the railway, but we are inclined to take quite a different view of the matter, and believe that a good road down the Buller valley would tend to the settlement of tbe district, that with an increased number of persons interested, our demands for railroad communication would carry greater weight than now, and that the mere fact of settlement following the making of a dray-road, would in itself prove a powerful argument in favor of still better means of communication. The General Government talk of a mineral survey of the district. A good road, leading to a large increase of tbe mining population will do more to prove the existence of minerals than any number of surveys. Again, a road which might suffice for the wants of the settlers in the iuterior would be utterly useless for tbe heavy traffic caused by a large coal and timber trade, and therefore we have no fear whatever of a dray road proving a rival of the railroad. There are other works proposed for the West Coast Goldfields which will also tend to develope a country rich in gold and other minerals, and will, we feel assured, prove remunerative in tbe end. Golden Bay, too, will present far greater attractions to settlers when the proposed sum of £2000 has been expended on roads, always supposing that the money is laid out in a careful, economical, and judicious manner. The Rai Valley is a district to which our attention hae been for some time directed as an outlet for the hundreds of young men who are growing up in the Waimeas, Motueka, and elsewhere, without knowing where to settle down, and £3000 spent upon that road will go far towards converting the wilderness, not perhaps into a garden, but into a number of small farms, each of them providing a comfortable living for the proprietor and his family* With what ia

now useless bush land furnisbjg* supplies to the timber market, and everrroally being, turned into grass paddocks and corn fields, the general condition of the town must improve, and a more prosperous state pf things may fairly be looked for than that which at present exists. With regard to a new wharf wo are not quite so sure that such a work, greatly needed as it undoubtedly is, should be constructed out of funds i raised upon Provincial security. Either ! the Municipal Corporation which will shortly be in existence, or the Harbor Board, a body that must ere long be formed in Nelson, should undertake this, the necessary amount being raised upon the security of the wharf dues. On the whole, with the limited amount of information we possess on the subject, we are disposed to regard Mr Curtis' proposal •with favor. If be succeeds in passing the Bill through the Assembly he will deserve well of the Province. [Since the above was in type we learn that £55,000 is the limit of the amount that Nelson is to be permitted to borrow.]