WEST COAST TIMES. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28,1865.

West Coast Times, Issue 50, 28 September 1865, Page 2

WEST COAST TIMES. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1865.

There are certain occasions when repetition, usually to be carefully avoided; becomes a necessity to the journalist ; and in treating of sepakation we need scarcely offer an apology to our readers if we rapidly go once more over the ground traversed byus in former articles. It is necessary that we should do so, in order that the . public may have the whole case brought clearly and forcibly under their notice. We have seen, then, that the peculiar circumstances which attended the advent of large masses of population on the West Coast developed certain great wants, and that it was the duty of the Canterbury Government to have done all that lay in their power to supply those wants by a liberal and judicious expenditure of the revenue which abundantly flowed into their coffers.

Dense jungle and swamp everywhere abounded : and it was found that without the formation of good rough roads to the outlying districts, the settlement of the country would be materially retarded, if not altogether put a stop to. Numerous wrecks occurred at the mouth of the Hokitika River ; and principally from, these causes — the want of roads into the interior, and the difficult and dangerous character of the entrance to the harbor — the price of the necessaries of life rose in an almost unprecedented manner. An improved harbor, and roads from Hokitika to the various diggings were the urgent, the paramount requirements of the West Coast community. We will repeat the question we asked in our last issue. Have the resources of the Government been used in the manner best calcidated to supply those wants ? The answer must be, as every one knows, that the harbor remains in its natural state. No attempt whatever ha 3 been made to render it more accessible. No report has even been called for, to enable the Government to judge of what was necessary to be done, and how best to do it. The matter has, in short, been totally neglected. Even the press of the Eastern portion of the province has altogether ignored the subject. "With regard to roads, the Government have been equally remiss ; or, if anything has been done, it has been so miserably insufficient that it is a constant theme of ridicule. The Waimea district naturally supplies the first example. Many months ago a population of some thousands congregated in the vicinity of what is known as the Six- Mile. Gold was obtained in great quantities, and an immense area of ground was proved conclusively to "be sufficiently auriferous to support a still larger number of miners if provisions could be bought on the ground at something less than famine prices. A serviceable track from the beach to the township could have been constructed for a few paltry lrandreds, and the Government were frequently informed of the fact. It was not denied that the road was wanted ; it was indeed impossible to deny it, but nevertheless, the frequent petitions of the inhabitants were passed by unnoticed. Finally, the Government agreed to find a portion of the money if the people found the remainder, and on these terms about half of the distance was opened Jjy a very indifferent-piece of " Corduroy." But the other half has not been done to this day, and thousands of men have left the district in consequence, unable to contend successfully against prices which swallowed up the whole of their earnings. We do not hesitate to say that had a thousand pounds been expended on tho Waimea road six months ago, the district would now have been one of the m st flourishing on the West Coast, instead of being —as it now appears to be —in danger of being deserted and forgotten. The Greenstone has suffered in a like manner through Government neglect ; the Kanieri is almost as-bad, and would have been worse, on account of the larger

traffic, had not communication been carried on by means of the river. Nothing whatever has been done to connect the diggings on the Arnold with Greymouth, although every account which reaches town tells of a golden country which needs only a road to make it the home of a thriving population. Without a road by which to pack provisions, the miners cannot live unless in claims of very extraordinary richness. Those who have been south

to the Totara will tell a similar story. A little has certainly been attempted in that quarter, but so parsimoniously, and consequently with such lamentably absurd results, that the general opinion is that it would have been better had nothing been done. A reference to the letter of our special correspondent, will confirm what we now state. To no one of the diggings has any serviceable road been made from Hokitika, or Greymouth.* There are no roads either begun or completed which are of any value to this community, or if there are we are in total ignorance of the fact. Plow then has the large revenue collected since the commencement of the rush been expended? Have the streets of the town been made ? Has there been ample police protection? Has there been a large number of Wardens in the pay of the Government ? Have expensive surveys been undertaken, which may hereafter return a hundred fold their cost ? Has a respectable public hospital been built ? Have the Government endowed churches ? Have they founded schools, or assisted those who were willing to found them ? Have they equipped prospecting parties ? We are compelled to answer all these questions in the negative. And yet there has been an enormous revenue, and the balance-sheet lately published in the "Gazette shows that of West Coast public money there is very little remaining on hand. Beyond making a portion of Gibson's Quay, and erecting a few buildings which could not possibly be dispensed with, the revenue remaining after the payment of officials — a very small item, comparatively speaking, we may remark in passing — has vanished without doing the West Coast community the remotest particle of good ! Where it has gone to can easily be shown,, and where it is likely go for the future, unless decided action is taken to put a stop to one of the most nefarious jobs it has ever been our lot as journalists to have to chronicle. It has been spent in an insane endeayor to force the trade of the West Coast into an unnatural channel. It has been spent in a vain effort to replenish tho poorly- lined pockets of Christchurch shopkeepers. We were wrong in saying that the Government had neglected their duty as roadmakers. They have spent all they could lay their hands on inroad making, and have it in contemplation to spend very many thousands more in the same way. Nay, they already talk of a railroad as not too expensive an undertaking where the interests of the West Coast are concerned. Unfortunately, what they call the interests of the West Coast, we call the interests, or supposed interests, of Christchurch. Both road and railroad are to join Hokitika to the capital of Canterbury, and so long as that is effected the real interests of the West Coast are as small dust in the balance. The road is already proved to be a failure in spite of all the efforts of the Christchurch press to write it up. People will not come overland when they know full well that the route is so bad that those who escape from its dangers with their lives may consider themselves lucky, and when they can come by sea' in a shorter time, and with comparative ease and safety.

We will in our next issue consider whether the granting of independent Provincial Government to the West Coast community will tend to remedy the evils we have shown to exist.