New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, MARCH, 9, 1878.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 317, 9 March 1878, Page 12

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, MARCH, 9, 1878.

Sir George Grey must feel highly gratified with his tour through the various centres of population on the West Coast of the Middle Island. Everywhere he was received most cordially, and expectant thousands have applauded when he spoke, and inwardly and outwardly blessed him for the promises he had made. There was no end of deputations, and it is almost needless to say that Sir George Grey withheld nothing that was asked for. If the promises are to be carried into effect we tremble for the justice which will be dealt out to other parts of the colony in the matter of public expenditure. Sir George Grey in effect told the West Coast people that when the loan was floated they would get everything they desired. The Premier, when in opposition, was constantly accusing the Atkinson Government of holding out bribes to road boards, municipalities, and public bodies of all descriptions. We will venture to say that Sir George Grey and his colleagues have promised more during the past three months than the “ continuous ” Ministry during the whole term they were in office. Sensible people will ask where is the money to come from to carry out the contemplated works, but that never troubles Sir George Grey. As a Nelson contemporary says, there is consolation in the reflection that those who are the most ready to make promises are, as a rule, well adapted to shuffle out of them. No longer will rapid torrents, dangerous to travellers, be left unbridged on the West Coast, and every nook of its at present impenetrable forests will be rendered easy of access by macadamised roads. Those rivers whose mouths have been the scene of scores of wrecks shall be converted into safe harbors for ships freighted with the commerce of many nations. Waterraces in all directions have been promised. The mining industry is too important to languish through the Government refusing the trifling expenditure of a few hundred thousand pounds. No part of the world is blessed with a more plentiful supply of water than the West Coast of the Middle Island, and no far-seeing Government, no body of men who had the interest of the country at heart, would delay in carrying out those necessary works for the supply of water to the goldfields. Goldmining was an industry which must be fostered. Now it is very hard to reconcile all this with Sir George Grey’s cry for retrenchment. Whilst he was in office great care would be exercised in the expenditure of the public funds. Times out of number the people of the colony were assured of this. Yet in no solitary instance has the Premier refused to harken to the prayers of the numerous deputations that have waited upon him. In no single case has he had the boldness to say that the work asked for was not of a colonial character, and should be undertaken by those directly benefited by it. Previous Ministers have brought upon themselves not a little unpopularity by “snubbing” deputations. Sir George Grey will never be guilty of making such a mistake. He forces no unpleasant truths upon the members of deputations. “Promising George,” the name given to the Great Pro-consul by our South Australian neighbors, is a title which was well earned. There is no data, of course, on which could be founded an estimate of the amount which would be required to carry out the numerous works which the Premier has almost pledged the Ministry to undertake ; but this much may safely be said, that the two million and a half loan would be absorbed on the West Coast alone. However, we are glad to see that Sir George Grey showed discretion in one instance. He was waited upon by the members of the Westland County Council, who pointed out that Westland had not been dealt with fairly in the matter of Public Works expenditure. The deputation, addressing the Premier, said:—“ We trust, under your administration, to see the claims and wants of the county more fairly recognised and provided for. First in importance comes the question

of railway communication. There is not, from one end of this extensive district to the other, a mile of railway yet made. We would hope that, during your term of office, a railway connecting Westland with the producing and older settlements of the east, thereby enabling our large tracts of valuable timber land to be made available for the daily increasing requirements of other parts of the colony less favored in this respect, and also affording increased facilities for the disposal of their produce in return, may beUndertaken.” Compared with constructing a railway across the Southern Alps everything which has hitherto been undertaken in the colony dwindles into insignificance. That the work will be carried out some day there is little doubt; but it is one of such magnitude that no sane body of men would dream of undertaking it under existing circumstances. When there are a hundred thousand people or so on the West Coast, then the question of a railway connecting it with the plains of Canterbury will be a matter for the.consideration of the Government. When Sir George thought of the country that would have to be traversed by that railway, the request of the Westlanders must have staggered him. But he was equal to the occasion. “To unite the East and West Coast by railways would be a great benefit, and nothing would delight the Government more.” Most persons will be pleased at the Premier’s ambiguity, and it is to be hoped that the members of the deputation were satisfied. We are of opinion that the West Coast of the Middle Island will be one of the most populous and prosperous iiortions of the colony, and that all reasonable aid should be given to develop its resources, but clamoring for the impossible can serve no good purpose. Sir George Grey visited the West Coast eleven years ago, when gold was more plentiful there than now, and when the population of Hokitika was almost double what it is at present. However, notwithstanding the decline in the chief source of wealth, great progress has been made in many directions. We know of no people who have done better under such depressing conditions. On this subject Sir George Grey said at Hokitika :—“You who have watched this town developing, itself day after day, can have no conception of the effect produced upon my mind by the change which I see in it now, as compared with what I saw eleven years ago. I have seen to-day a town which I remember as a town occupied solely by diggers ; a town which presented hardly a street in any perfection at all ; a town which was, as I say, surrounded by forests, that if I wandered but a few yards away I found myself in a swamp. I have now seen well-formed streets in different directions in this town : I have seen a settled community which might have drifted away at any moment ; I have seen stores and shops of the best kind upon every side of me ; and altogether I have felt surprised at the change I have witnessed. I have heard some persons still despondent as to the future of this West Coast. I believe myself that the West Coast will be onfe of the greatest countries in the world.” Sir George prophecies greatness for every community he has yet addressed. We wonder what he has in store for the people of Otago and Canterbury. They will expect something better than the claptrap which has tickled the imagination of the residents of Taranaki and Hokitika. Auckland is to be the Queen of the Southern Seas, the Waitemata commanding the trade of the Pacific, and the Manukau that of Australia. Wellington is to be the great centre of the trade of the North and South Islands. It appears to us that very little is left for Dunedin and Christchurch.