The Westport Times. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 457, 26 January 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1869.

Tiiic collapse of the Panama aud New Zealand service, although necessarily a subject of regret to the colonists of New Zealand, may prove not an unmixed evil so far as the microcosm of Westpo it is concerned. It is just possible—nay, we venture to sayit is highly probable —that the event which we all more or less deplore may expedite the establishment of Westport as a place of call for the Australian and JS T ew Zealand Steamers. Messrs M'Meckan and Blackwood have, Ave are informed, favorably entertained for some time the claims of Westport, aud we doubt not that the fact of their becoming the only steam carriers on the line will very much increase their readiness to consider the requirements of the port. Of course, when opposition was keen, and freights and passages at the lowest figure, the loss of a tide which might be involved in calling off Westport, was a matter of considerable moment. But we hazard the opinion with some confidence that Messrs M'Meckan and Blackwood opposed by the P.N.Z. and A. Co., and Messrs M'Meckan and Blackwood the masters of the situation, will prove very different people to deal with. Still we think it would be well if the people of Westport could by any pjsaible spur be induced to take some decided action in the matter. Messrs M'Meckan and Blackwood may deem Westport worth the trouble and time involved in a call without extraueous urging. But they will undoubtedly come to the service with a readier

spirit, and with more, energy if they find Westport alive to the importance of that service. The great difficulty to the immediate solution of' the question is the want of a suitable and, above all, a permanent steam-tug, This difficulty has been presented to our readers times out of number. Beyond, however, a ready assent to the proposition, and a spasmodic endeavor to supply the want, little has resulted from its repeated representation. It has been said that the times selected for starting the subject were inopportune—that the subject itself was not taken up either properly or with spirit. In this opinion we are inclined to concur; and we think it all the more necessary that some well considered and vigorous action should be adopted, if not to secure the immediate realization of our hopes, at least to lay such a foundation of facts and reasoning as may at an early period culminate in the service becoming tin fait accompli. It is possible that Messrs M'Meckan and Blackwood might themselves find a small vessel to secure regularity in the tendering of their boats. This, owing to the uniform practicability and safety of the Buller bar, would be easily provided for. But we should very much prefer to see the matter taken up by our own townsmen. Given the regular traffic in gold, passengers, and goods which the certain visits of the ocean steamers would secure, andthe increased towages which our gradually, but surely extending shipping trade promises—and a very easy arithmetical question is submitted. We dare to say that its solution would shew to any capitalist a very handsome dividend upon the capital to be expended.

And, after all, what amount of capital would be required Y There are at this moment, both in Melbourne and Sydney, boats amply sufficient in all respects for all the requirements of this place. Steamboat property of this class in the places mentioned is not much in demand, and we are confident that for a sum of money, easily manageable even in Westport, a vessel to suit could at once be obtained. Assuming that such did not at once offer, the engineering and manufacturing capabilities of either Melbourne or Sydney, particularly the latter, are such that a vessel with every modern improvement, both labor-saving and fuel-economising, could soon be obtained at a cost little exceeding that of a second-hand boat.

There is a variety of other considerations, all pointing to the desirability of immediate and earnest action upon this important question. We have, however, we trust, suggested enough to ensure suuie definite steps in the direction indicated. It is necessarily one of those questions which the Press can only approach in a suggestive mode. Of course commercial men and capitalists, have a right,—an undoubted right to do what they will with their own. And we have no right to dictate to them whether they shall invest their capital in this way or in that. Still we would remind them of the political axiom, that capital has its duties as well as its privileges, and that so long as they are deriving benefits, and in many cases large benefits, from this place, they are bound in duty to consider whether they are, in this particular instance, doing all in their power to advance the material prosperity of the place which confers those benefits. "We shall recur to this subject at an early day. In the mean time we commend it to the minds of our readers. If it be taken up in an earnest and business-like manner, with a determination to weigh candidly and carefully its importance and its probable results, we entertain no doubt that a successful and a speedy organization will follow the enquiry. In the meantime we would recommend the Progress Committee, without delay, to renew their representations to Messrs M'Meckau and Blackwood in hopes that without waiting for our action those gentlemen may confer uponustheincalculablygreatadvantage of direct steam communication with Australia.