ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 16, 2 January 1863, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

VfE DO NOT IIOLD OUR.SEI.VE3 RE3POV3IB&T! %. I'OB THB OPINTOX3 EXPRESSED. BY OUR W CORRESPONDENTS. It \ To the Editor of the Invercargill Timss. &» Sir, — Can you tell ni3 if the government £ * intend taking any active measures in reference to increasing the accTn-no'latiori for facilitating the landing of L goals? or are , they going to take twelve months consideration about it, and ruin the pro3p3et3 of doing a trade that Invercargill ought to do ? unless something is done and that sharp, such will 4 be the case. For instance, does it stand to 15 reason that shipowners will keep vessels ma ] ' trade Avhere it take 3 four and five wesks to * i get them discharged, at the s.xme freight as r-, if they could come and go in a fortnight, i £ and is it reasonable to suppose that importers, < under such circumstances, can possibly cany * on business and keep up stock, enabling them to compete against Dunedin, whilo 4 they meet with such extra charges and de- , \ lays, at the same time continually incrensmg 1 heavy losses, in getting goods damaged by > I breakage of packages, and exposure to baJ , c weather, before they can be removed, in consequence of the present miserable jetty <iecommodation? Does it not stare everyone \ S in the face, that on an average, an additional n ten or fifteen per cent, has to be pat on to \& make up foe such losses, which the popu- *< lation has to suffer for, and is it || not plain enough to be seen that || c< unless the merchants and tradespeople p§ re can keep up stocks equal to the demand, % buyers from the diggings will become dis- || gusted with InvercaTgill for high prices and »|j j? short stock, which will at once cause them to |j| " find ways and means of getting goods from |f| F Dunedin. If such is allowed to take place, f^F. how will it affect Invercargill (query). Some fti|b] may laugh at this remark, but it is to be r| done, while we are labouring under such i:in { disadvantages ; for the business men of || , Dunedin don't stand at trifles when a trade is jj|°* to be done. Now, Mr. Editor, would it not M 2* be a disgrace to Southland, and particularly jgfl< ( to those gentlemen who are at the head of p affairs to allow such an event to take place, ||Cc wli: l an outlay of LI2OO, with a small j|[jj a amount of energy at once to be displayed, *$ would do the thing that is needful by |f b.iilding a shed 100 feet lengthway on the f'fP 1 be: eh, with two or three openings to receive jjSpe goods, and the other side open, by 25 feet in |fh v width, on the left hand side of the )etty, to be j||Hv be buil; on piles ; raising it say 2 feet 6 in. fere] above uhe level of the jetty, for the convenience :£a i of load ; lg drays, with a stage in connection f^pei sufficiontly wide to admit of working a crane jfej; a to hoist goods, and have 3 feet of water at ij^ a] high tide, so that large flat-bottomed punts Pi could and vjuld be allowed to come along- 0 ■ side and discharge their 40 or 50 tons at a trip, &l»* making two trips each tide, three or four of jfM' su<j.i set e-joing by private enterprise would j£tai; soon relic 3 shipowners, importers, the pre- |tre sent hampe ed state of the Jetty, and be one £j)r! of the greatest and most effective boons that || rj co.ild possibly fall to the lot of the inhabi- fe tants and welfare. of Invercargill; the whole i-Ar. , amir might be gone into and completed in o'>' eight weeks, if properly set in motion, y 1 whereas increased jetty accommodation for tin ( landing goods in like proportion could not be '[last done under six months. I may mention the (Got shed in particular is very much wanted for \{ o (, receiving goods in connection with the Jetty, J^j cc in such a climate as we have to contend jjar^ ar with ; also that the proposed scheme would \Sirn frcilitate the completion of further jetty ac- k-t co mnodation, and prepare Invercargill to pf m meet the trade that is daily increasing j$ A quicker than any other method that could bu Dec adopted. Jiyg I close, Mr. Editor, with the hope that you |q t and all others interested will add their voice iijini in agitating a matter of such importance to -ij|. c the prosperity of Invercargill and its inha- Eg v bitants. |^^ , I remain, clear Sir, >.x j. Yours most truly, }* '■ SUFFELUNG CoXSrC x :.r. T V Ist Januar3', ISG3. "Pse ■ Dim