THE TRUNK ROAD BETWEEN AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 89, 13 February 1847, Page 2

THE TRUNK ROAD BETWEEN AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON.

Ever since this Colony has been founded, a war of words has been carried on without interruption by the advocates of concentration and dispersion as colonising principles. Experience, and sad experience, too, has at length decided a question which the disputants found it so difficult to adjust. The principle of dispersion has been tried in the southern district now for a period of seven years ; and the misfortunes of the settlers, the bankruptcy of the Company, and their violent quarrels, sufficiently prove it to have been a decided failure. It must be admitted, too, by all reasonable men, that, in and out of the Colouy, the balance of argument was on the side of the advocates of concentration. Indeed, in the case of New Zealand, the Native inhabitants of which have been long renowned for their martial propensities, the advocates of the latter principle stood upon vantage ground. In the general question, moreover, without reference to this or that particular country, the consideration of time is very much more involved than has been supposed. In the few first years of a colony's existence, concentration is, un« der all circumstances, advisable, and afterwards dispersion ought not at least to be checked, when the interests of the settlers require it, and tho circumstances of the country favor it. These observations bear immediately upon the question of the Trunk Road between Auckland and Wellington. It is intended to connect these settlements by one main road from which branch-roads may be afterwards made to any settlements that may be established along the coast on either side of it. A branch road to Taranaki, for instance, would become necessary, immediately after the formation of the main road. The timid and cautious will at once exclaim, that there can be but very little traffic for a long time to come between Auckland and the southern settlements— that, even if there were, the conveyance of it by the main road would be quite out of the question — that even ordinary travellers would in every instance prefer the seavoyage—that there are no emigrants to settle either along the main road, or along the coast on either side of it — and, finally, that roads ought to follow and not precede settlements. All these statements, with the exception of the last, are perfectly true, but do not even touch the question at issue. Hitherto the towns of New Zealand have been almost entirely commercial. Auckland in particular has been supported by Native trade. The real questions are, whether the country is ever to be colonised ? and, if so, when and how ? Assuming, that it is the intention of the Imperial Government to convert New Zealand into a Colony properly so called, the present moment seems to be highly auspicious for commencing the undertaking. The idea of British power has been indelibly impressed upon the minds of the Natives, and there is no part of the world in which life and property are more perfectly secure than they are at this moment in New Zealand. The opening of the country by roads is the only thing wanting to make this conntry the most desirable field for emigration in the world. Many thousand persons in England, Ireland, and Scotland have had their thoughts long fixed upon New Zealand. When they are informed, that they can live here as securely as in any part of the world, and that when they come to the Colony they will not be compelled to shut themselves up in the towns, but that on the contrary they will have a clear and open stage for their enterprise, they will come here rather than to any other Colony, on account of the genial nature of the climate, the abundant supply of cheap labour, and the extraordinary resources of the country itself. In fact, intending emigrants in the mother country have a very large field to choose from, and they will come to New Zealand when we are able to present to them a* better bill of fare than our competitors. Now we have been always able to do this, with the solitary exception of security and roads; and it is of course highly reasonable to conclude that when the country is opened (for there is already perfect security) emigration and colonization will go on together upon a firm foundation and at a healthy pace. As to the merits of the particular line rccocn-

mended by the Surveyor General, and the views and feelings of the Waikato and Matta Mata tribes respecting it, we beg leave to refer our readers to the letter of the Surveyor General himself, published in another part of this paper. We are not aware that the line of road is yet definitely fixed, and we could not conceive any greater piece of indiscretion than the fin.il determination of the line, before the whole country between Auckland and Wellington was thoroughly and carefully examined. The object of tlie road is not to connect Auckland and Wellington, but to develope the resources of the intervening country. We have no doubt that the part of the line proceeding from Auckland to a distance of some twenty miles into the interior, has been judiciously fixed. We would merely suggest an examination of the whole intervening country, and, in the firtt instance, of the country aboui the other end of the line, as absolutely necessary preliminaries to the success of a truly grand undertaking. Far the greater part of tt c very little knowledge which we have of this country, has been gleaned from the diaiies kept by the Bishop of New Zealand and the Chief Justice, in their occasional travels through it.