PROPOSED NEW SETTLEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 215, 28 August 1862, Page 5

PROPOSED NEW SETTLEMENTS.

(From the Yeoman, August 16.) . There is a vast deal of absurdity manifested in proTranwav "w e*e °f Can>e«tark-to contract .1 rail* ay right across the continent to it, &c. From one quarter we hear of thirty residents in the neiinSatthii? 1 ,* Cr -' f°r S°me Ume ir)spector of medial adviser at all rather than an inspector of Jhit »i. ! neve, rcan considered, unless by of tfij? to ■tasL & ts ri n ch ,a graces winch aUoand more or less over t£ S Sl^H11"0"^ -yet exP lore;l furai*h 'ood for Si % imt ]om of tlme an<* witho«t labor and exSuKVeaSof M 3n agncuttural settlement would reawl a patient waiting for results which might never ££»;«s?' all ,the,Gul. f oouatiy.now * fK *t5 colony of Queensland, will be titled in a very short As to the project put forth in the columns of the ! Argus, by one signing himself " Northern Light," a ' grand mistake is committed by the projector m pro I prosing to take a railway to tie Gulf P * a!L What would be the use iv ranniS • railway so near and almost parallel to the eastern coast 1 If a railway were constructed to the Gulf of Carpentaria at once what would be the advantages gained superior toKS rn'X^lM^^r 083 S" m which all the southern colonies are not deeply inwrT^^ 1 therS™ n ** <™ at no distant day we firmly believe The opinions expressed many months ago m this journal, that the present generation would see a railway from sea tolea Steffi tff* "*& Ul^' PiSSd ~ rect. iiut the proposed terminus was not at the UnK but on the north-west coast, opposite to Timor and in a direct route for India. Let a settlement be called into existence somewhere on tbe north-west coast, where, as we have often proved, a country far superior in all respects to the gu.T country exists-let a flourishing colony-be fin* established there, and a railway will be made across the "continent at a much earlier period than we can have any conception of now. The direction indicated is clearly that which a railway to facilitate communication with'lndia must take; but it would be premature to think »f such an undertaking till a new colony is founded on the Victoria, or some other river better adapted, if such can be found. Whenever a n?w colony is formed there a mil way may be taX tbSrtthe mere increase in value that wA^JKtaK would give to pastoral country along fiSS^SSJ

more than cover all the expense of constru :tin» a railway. It. is clear, however, that uutH a settlement is formed on ths norrh-west coast, there cannot be such trafiis hoped for as will make so vast an undertaking remunerative.

In the meantime, we cannot but regret to see so much thought and so much enterpriza squandered on such a place as the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is far less worthy of attention that the north-w"esfc an<;]e of the continent; where there are millions of acres of the finest pastoral country and the richest soil near to the coast, whereas, at the Gulf of Carpentaria, the best, land is some hundreds of miles inland, with the exception of a narrow strip b?vk from the head of the Gulf, and behind marine flats liable to luondation, lined wij/a mad banks corered with mangrove scrnb., We may shortly hearof the return of Mr. Stuart', and if he has been this time successful in reaching Ul.f, Vlctom, the: stockosraers of South Autsralia will not be long in taking poN>ession of the districts of tue^north-west coast.. Why could not we join in the enterprise, aud why should W a now ba cowtiatr the Gulf country, which belong to our neighbour 1