CENTRAL PENAL ESTABLISHMENT.
TO THE ED ITOB OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —As discussion on a site for the above establishment has already engaged the attention of the present sitting of the General Assembly, and as it is a subject on which I have written in the May of 1871,1 would respectfully beg again to submit for the consideration of those interested in determining on really the best site for so costly an establishment,. some extracts from the copy of that letter, now before me.
My first suggestion was that the penal prison should be erected in the Buller district, in favor of which I pointed out that tho time though slowly was surely approaching when the coal deposits of Mount Roohfort would be profitably worked, the quality and unlimited quantity of the coal being thejr well proved. As the establishment of' a oeptral prison will be costly, and as the whole'of the colony will have to contribute towards that cost, any return that came from it should be as directly as possible general and not local. The aiding and preparing for the development of the Mount Kochfort coalmine would be a direct and invaluable benefit to the whole of New Zealand. Another thing that should be secured is that the labor be permanent. Here it would be so, for as the district progressed its bar harbor (already the best on the coast), would require improvements—and on the colony this cost would have to fall. In most of the places suggested neither of those are insured. From the Auckland and Chatham Islands there could be no remunerative return at all. If lleroury, Resolution, Stewart, D’Urville, or Great Barrier islands were chosen, the remuneration would be lessened by the want of an established trade and the distance from a market; the benefit, if any, would also be local. Dr. Hector recommends a part of the West Coast, “Resolution Island;” and his really valuable report is baaed upon the promise that
the convicts would be employed quarrying ■tone; but the stone there would be of little value, because of the cost of conveying it to a place where it could be advantageously used. Here the same work could be done, and here the work would be remunerative because the stone thus quarried would be used near the place. , i ‘ The site that I would especially point out aa eminently suitable is the : Waimangorori Gorge. Mount Rochfort is thirteen miles from 'Westport; the Waimangorori Gorge is twelve miles. The place from where the stone would be got is four miles from : the ocean beach (or mouth of river), and two-and-a-half miles from the place - where f.he coals will bo taken.. Here pf the very best quality abounds-, and hr bdit a never ending supply. Sandstone, also of good quality, could easily be obtained from Mount. Rochfort. As; to the quautity and quality of the stoue in those places I am assisted in ; my..calculations from the department of the district engineer. . Following Hr. Hector’s plan,! name other advantages which occur to ■ me. Ist, accessibility and centrality.' Westport has, as stated, the-best entrance on the coast. It is also conveniently situated from Greymouth, Hokitika, and Nelson, while the distances from other places will compare, favorably with the site recommended by him. It is also in the line of ah already established trade, whereas to convey prisoners to 'Resolution Island special means of conveyance would have to be provided.
The climate here Is also good—better than that of Resolution Island—while the site could be chosen so that escape would, from the nature of the country, be almost impossible.
I would also respectfully point out that the improvements to Westport harbor, by the gradual construction of great works, would be a work to which convict labor could be applied, and would be of utility to the whole community—almost the only place where it would be so.
In conclusion, I believe that the late Mr. Balfour evidently had some such idea as I have endeavored to point out when he stated in the second part of his report, “ I think a harbor of refuge is much wanted on the west coast of the Middle Island, and if a place could be found near the rivers Grey and Buffer where a harbor of refuge, or even a good and easily accessible commercial harbor could be constructed, it might be desirable to the interests of the whole colony to construct a harbor there in the first instance, as thereby the coal trade of the adjacent country would be developed.” The Buffer bar is always good and easily accessible, and the lagoon on the south side of the river has years ago, in cases of a heavy fresh in the river, afforded safe shelter to coasting steamers and crafts from Melbourne. Since the date, of the original in 1871 (of which this is an extract), our railway has been completed aa far as the Waimangorori.—l am, &c., ■' James Arthur Maguire. Westport.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2
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831CENTRAL PENAL ESTABLISHMENT. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2
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