THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4281, 9 December 1874, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Otarjo Daily Times, Dec. 3.) Although we do not forget the proverbial difficulty of predicting, with any approach to accuracy, what results will follow, not only frem any great legislative change, but from any great public work, especially in. a new country, we feel tolerably safe in anticipating at least one important consequence of the completion of the network of railways that will connect the remotest portions of these islands within a very few years. The commerce that has hitherto been distributed, more or less equally, among a number of small local centres dotted up and down the vast seaboard of New Zealand, will ultimately he concentrated into two, or, at most, three emporia. The most accessible seaports—reversing the dream of the lean and the fat klne—will devour their smaller rivals, who will gradually subside into the position of mere villages, or, at most, market towns. Justus Melbourne and Sydney tower pre-eminently above all other, cities of Australia, so will Dunedin and Wellington, and it may he, in a much smaller degree, Christchurch and Auckland, overshadow all their less fortunately situated neighbors. But the causes of this superiority will be by no means identical. The greatness of Melbourne and Sydney is due entirely to the fact of their being the possessors of the only safe and accessible harbors to be found along hundreds of miles of an otherwise shelterless coast. , Whatever may be the case in the greater part of the North Island, the same cannot be said of the northern. and western portions of the South Island. ■ The western shores of Otago are deeply indented by a succession of magnificent sounds and fiords, one of which—Milford Sound —would itself shelter all the navies of the world. But so effectually are these inlets cut off from the available laud in the interior hy the rugged harrier of the Southern Alps, that for all purposes of commerce they might almost as well he non-existent. It is not improbable that a more intimate acquaintance with the almost impassable intervening country may yet show that: practicable passes exist, through which tolerable hill-roads may be driven ; but their distance from any habitable stretch of country will always prevent our western sounds being used for much more than harbors of refuge. Precisely the same objections apply to the cluster of fine harbors at tho northern extremity of the provinces of Nelson and Marlborough. We do not think that it would be possible to find in any other part of the globe such a group of first-class harbors in such close proximity as Port Hardy, Port Underwood, Crorxelles Harbor, and 'Queen Charlottc’tr Sound. But all of these, except the last, are absolutely destitute, not only of any level land around them, hut of any access to the interior. A railway running through a long, narrow ravine does indeed connect Pictou with the plain of the Wairau, but the tortuous and often windless approach of many leagues in length to. the admirable haven at the head of Queen. Charlotte’s Sound must always debar ships that depend entirely upon wind for their motive power from frequenting Plcton Harbor, which is suitable for steamers only. Now, although Dunedin cannot at present pretend to. vie with any of the harbors we' have enumerated, yet, remembering what art has done for the Clyde within the memory of living men, we are justified in anticipating that this inferiority will diminish yearly, and that the matchless facilities that the completion of our railway system will give to Dunedin for transporting goods of every kind to and from the agricultural, pastoral, and mineral districts of the greater part of this island, will alone suffice to attract 1 and retain almost its entire commerce. We are aware that Lyttelton harbor might also be greatly improved hy dredging, but the terrible squalls by which it is constantly swept render Lyttelton a most insecure anchorage, while nature has so stinted the supply, of laud that can by any possibility be built upon, or used for the transaction of business, that we do not see that there is room, for a very extensive trade there. Indeed, we rate the capabilities of Dunedin for , transacting a greatly expanded business as hardly second to the advantages afforded hy tho security of her harbor. We see, indeed, no other possible rival than Lyttelton to her commercial supremacy in the South. Wellington in the north is equally favored with Dunedin in the south. ■ With the exception of Auckland and the Bay of Islands, both of which are too remote from the bulk of tile best land to affect the question very seriously, there are no ports in the North Island that can ho called even second-rate, to compete with the glorious harbor of Wellington.'. The whole of the west coast, as far as tho dangerous bar harbor of Manukau, may be said to be without a decent port, and it is clear that before many years elapse the whole produce of tho fertile plains of Taranaki and Wanganui must find its depot at Wellington. None of the unimprovable bar rivers that have hitherto done duty as makeshifts, for ports will be able to compete with a railway traffic that has .a first-class harbor fot its terminus. On, the’ oast coast there is,nothing like a harbor till wo come to the tiny harborlet of Napier. ' Whether it is desirable that so much of the life and activity of a country should be absorbed by two or three overgrown centres, instead of being more generally diffused, is not the question at present before us. There can be little doubt that serjous evils, both political, social, and economical, flow from tho aggregation of such masses of human beings as now throng New York, 1 and as, wc suppose, will hereafter throng the Melbourne of the twentieth century. Our present concern is merely to point out what is pretty sure to happen, whether we like it or not.