WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE WEST COAST.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 3, 19 May 1863, Page 3

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE WEST COAST.

1 Perhaps it would be difficult, on .the whole of 'the earth' 3 surface, to find two' countries^ lying in such close position which differ so completely m all their physical' features, and which are so entirely separated as the East and West coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand. The one comparatively dry in its climate, open, level, and devoid of trees; the other steep, mountainous, rainy, and 'densely wooded. These two districts are Separated almost throughout theh 1 whole eitent, bra stupenddiis barrier* which entirely cuts them dff from one another for all purposes of trade and fcbmi merce except by sea. For the purposes of the merchant the West Coast of Canterbury is far more accessible to Nelson, to Wellington, to Southland, and to Otago, than it is to Canterbury. „ , i: • Now ,the physical featnres of a country have a ereat effect on the character of its inhabitants, on their p.ublic customs and institutions, as well as on their daily occupations and habits ; and all such differences which have displayed themselves in other countries, arising from differences of natural features, will, in ail probability, find expression in the cpndition. of society on the two sides of the Province of Canterbury. The population of the East will be pastoral and agricultural j that of the West mining and timber cutting. TBe land is occupied bn this side with peculiar facility ; On that side it will be occupied only slowly and with grent labour. On this side the plough folio vs immediately in the rear of the nre brand, and the land once ploughed may be said to be reclaimed from the waste. In the forests ot the West the saw and the axe must work a weary while before the earth will be open to the beam's of the sun, or can be followed by the plough, and harrow, the exports of the East will be wool cheese, butter, hides, and grain. The exports of the West will be timber, ccial and gold. These broad differences in natural capabilities, and the total inaccessibility of either countsy from the other, except by a long round-about track, rendev it absolutely certain that the two countries cannot bo kept under the same local Government. If there be any sense or meaning whatever in the Provincial system— if the Provinces into which New Zealand was divided, were so Separated, in obedience to real and substantial necessities of Government, then the East and West Coasts of this Island ought certainly to be under different Provincial systems. Above all, it is exceedingly likely that a system of disposing of the waste lands anplicable to the one may be found wholly inapplicable to the other. Our system is partly based on the necessity for using: the grass before the land is sold, by a systPm of squatting. The system on the other side will require some law which will admit of, probably, a great part of the population engaging in logging and mining, without necessarily becoming owners of the soil. Again, a high price for land which can be readily cleared and ploughed for an outlay of 30s. an acre may be very desirable, whilst the same price may be inapplicable to 1 nd whi«h it will cost £30 to clenr before it is fit for the ploujh. That the West Coast will be occupied by a swrm of settlers within the next two year 9 may be accepted as a very safe prophecy. It pos .-sses a supply of timber and of coal ; of enormous value, not to us, but to the whole of the Australian colonies. We shall see in all probability large saw mills, similar to those on the Streams in Canada, supplied with grist from thousands of acres of good timber. We shall see a tr?de in coal which will in all probability rival that of Newcastle in New South Wales. These colonists must b p governed, and locally governed; a it is very short-siffhted on our part to suppose that they will be satisfied for one moment with a Government residing at Christchurch, and incapable of communicating with all parts of their country except by one single, long, and round-about route. If we think over the thing an it is probably going to be, I not as we should wish it to be, there is no one who will not come to the conclusion that the West Coast must becoric a seprrate province in a very few years; in fact the very moment it is populated. If we once gpt so far as that, the next step in the argument seems to us irresistible : that the sooner the separation takes piece the better for all parties; certainly better for Canterbury, because we should not have spent a great deal of money sorely wanted on this side, tor the purpose of opening up ft country which will vritlidrawifcsland fund from our exchequer, the very moment when it is about to become of any value ; and certainly best for the West Coast, becauce, under proper management, adapted to the peculiar character of t''e country, its resources could be much more rapidly developed by n local government than by one resw dent on this side of the island. It is as well to remember that there is nothing in the Constitution Act which requires that the whole colony shall be comprised within the Provincial system. This is a point which is perpetually forgotten, and yet which is of great importance. It. was not the Constitution Act, but Sir George Grey's proclamation in 1853, which divided the whole of the North and Middle Islands between the existing provinces. It was quite ojv-n to Sir George Grey, had he been so minded, to h ive made the boundaries of the provinces to include only the country occupied, or shortly about to be occupied, by the Europeans. He did, in fact, omit Stewart's Island, which is not now included within any province, but is governed, so far as it is governed at all, directly by the General Government. Bearing this in mind, the first practical step would be to pass a bill through the General Assembly, simply repealing so much of Sir G- ortje Grey's p-oclamation of 1853 as includes thn West Coistin the provinces of Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago. The country so excluded would then be in the same position as Stewart's Island; that is to say, it. would be under the direct control of the General Government and General Assembly. It seems to us, speaking without a very strict perusal of the Constitution Act, that it would be competent to the General Assembly to create a commission for the purpose of colonising this part of New Zealand. That a loan should be raised payable out of the resources of the new country, which should be expended in the usual manner, that 13, in public works and immigration, and that that immigration should b; direct from England. The money which may be said to have been advanced out of extraneous sources in the foundation of Canterbury, did not much exceed £50,000, and the most economical means were certainly not adopted in the expenditure of that money. A loan of £50,000 ought to be ample for the purpose of founding a flourishing colony on the West Coast, and as soon as founded the work of commission 1 should cease, and a Provincial Government in the usual form be called iuto existence. Of course at first sight, the idea of cutting off half the Province of "Canterbury is very dreadful to a Canterbury mind ; but wa ask those who nre thus prejudiced in favour of tl-eirown provincial locality to consider the question in this point of view — that they have no choice — that the country is quite certain to be separated, whether we will or not, as soon as there is any population there — and that the only question is whether it shall be separated before we have expended a grea*" deal oi money upon it, or after. That consideration will, we should imagine, reconcile all sensible men to loss of the territory. But what course wi 11 be best for Canterbury ? Make it a Canterbury question, and still we assert that Canterbury will be greatly benefitted by the separation. Anything which will most rapidly open, any hatbot on the West Coast, and bring it into direct communication with Australia, will be a great benefit to Canterbury; and that is a result which will be sooner realised the more rapidly the West Coast country is peopled and developed. In speaking of not spending money on the West Coast we would not exclude the idea of a road to the Teramakau. Whether the country be governed fiom Canterbury or from the capital of the West Coast, a road is indispensable, and will of course be even more necessary if the country is more rapidly peopled by separation than if it continues a half settled outpost of Canterbury. We 1 o hope that in all the expenditure the Government of Canterbury engages in, a very careful account will be kept in order that every penny may be charged against the future province when it shall come to enter upon its inheritance. All our expenditure on the West Coast ought to be paid by the West Coast, though it may be very difficult to£,ct the r^oney out of it in the adjustment of 8i ounts. Again : it may somewhat reconcile us to the diminution of the magnitude of our province, to feel that if we lose part of the soil, we lose & corresponding portion of our national debt: for the loans having been borrowed on the security of the whole province, a portion proportional to its extent would of course have to be charged against the tfe\v province. The question is one which will we hope be fully discussed and considered amongst us, and will be dealt with, by the government in the next Session of the General Assembly.