THE WEST COAST GOLD FIELD.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 93, 25 September 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE WEST COAST GOLD FIELD.

(From tbe Canterbury Press.) We have strongly advocated the claims of the great works of the Province as opposed to the present policy of what may be called — fov there is no more expressive words — pottering all our resourcps, current and borrowed, upon small undertakings. Is it possible that the trade of this place can be carried out for another year for the outlay of .£5,000 on a jetty at Lyttelton? Last year tlie Government were going to rush into a jetty recommended hurriedly by Mr Dobson. The Council insisted on having information, and the opposition to the Government produced the report of the Commissioners which is now before the Council. This year, after having had twelve months to consider the whole subject, and some weeks to digest the report of the Commissioners, it is proposed to expend £5,000!! Then there is the Itakaia Bridge whkih was talked ef six or seven yeais ago, — we are now to spend £200 or £300 on that; und, lastly, there is the great questioa of the West Coast diggings. J Every week fresh news comes to hand in : one way or another, showing the importj once of this question. Nuggets of several ouncps weight are frequently turning up, and there is a general impression amongst those who have paid attention to such matters, that the diggings on the Grey, Taramakau, and Buller, will, before long, rival the diggings of the South. The Nelson Government is fully alive to the importance of this subject. It is rapidly pushing on the roads trom the Waimea Valley to the upper streams of the Buller, I and down the Buller Valley to the sea, j It is projecting a railway from Nelson to the furthermost point at which it can be carried on the way to the West Coast ; and there cannot be the smallest doubt that before the end of the summer Nelson will reap the reward of the energy which it is showing in this matter. But Canterbury is comparatively indolent. There is no insuperable difficulty in the way of making a (rack in the course of a few months, by which a man could ride from Christchurch to the mouth of the Taramakau, or the mouth of the Grey. Numbers of persons are already on their way to the West Coast by that route. We have been informed that as many as 300 persons have passed through Kaiapoi in the last moath, on their way to the gold-fields. We have before us a certificate to the effect that one man found eight ounces of gold in five days, in the Taramakau, a few weeks ago ; and it is wellknown that several nuggets of considerable size have found their way to Nelson. Now what are our Government doing to prevent the whole of tho trade and custom ofthe West Coast failing into other hands ? We do not suppose that goods will, as a general rule, be carried from Christchurch or Lyttelton ; but if there is not a bridle track, our merchants will take no part or interest in the gold-field, and cur population will not reap the benefit of the inflowing gold. If there were a good track and accommodation-houses on the route, , hundreds if not thousands from Canterbury would go ovei for a few months in the summer and would return again, bringing their spoil with them for investment in this Province. An escort will be neces- i sary in a very few months if the anticipations of by no means very sanguine men are realised ; and the possibility of a gold escort will depend on having a good horse track ready.