The Westport Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 459, 30 January 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1869.

In the projection and execution of public works, and more especially of public roads, the County of Westland presents, at the present moment, an extraordinary contrast to the Province of Nelson. There is not only interest, bu.t something' smackimr of excitement, euucecr by rne competition between Greymouth and Hokitika to secure the trade of the Greenstone diggings. A Greymouth and Greenstone tramway is contemplated, and, out of three proposed lines of road from Hokitika, there is a probability or a promise of one being constructed from the junction of the Teremakau. Moreover, a motion has been carried by the Council, affirming the desirability of making a road to connect Hokitika still moi'e immediately with the Christchurch road than is now the case. And a further opinion has been decidedly expressed by the Council in favor of the construction of " a grand main road through the County." That all those works will be undertaken at a moment's notice, or can at all be undertaken without a considerable and probably excessive call being made on the funds of the County is not to be expected. Their mere projection, however, proves the spirit of the people, and, compared .vith them, we in Nelson undoubtedly present, by indolence in some quarters, and incapacity in others, au exceedingly ignominious contrast. Of course the inevitable and invariable excuse is that the incapacity lies, not in the want of will on the part of those who have the management of our affairs, but in their inability to expend money when there is no mouey to expend. That as. yet unexplained and probably altogether impenetrable mystery of a mistake on the part of the General Government continues to be presented as a bug-bear to all applicants for hard cash. Admitting, however, that there was a mistake, and that it was exclusively on the part of the General Government, and not one iota the fault of the Provincial authorities, the funds of the Province should now be accumulating again sufficiently to permit of legitimate and urgent public works being undertaken. Undoubtedly, of all legitimate and urgent works in the district, the most legitimate and urgent is the construction of a cross-country road by the Buller Valley. Thanks to the exertions of the late Commissioner, roads in the Grey district of the Province do now exist, and the propriety of their construction is proved by the numbers and permanency of the population there. There is, at present, quite as much reason to believe in the auriferous richness of the Buller Valley as there was at any time rea-

son to have faith in the resources of the river Grey. Yet no movement is being made, nor is there apparent hope of any movement being made, in the directUm of constructing the one great and most necessary work of the district —the construction of the road from Nelson to Westport. It is true that, recently, the District Warden and Surveyor have visited a limited section of the probable line of road, but that visit wa3 distinctly with a limited object, and was accomplished in very limited time. One effect of these characteristics uf that visit will probably ')e that very limited works will be re•ommended. It may be the deduction of the District Warden and Surveyor that, for mere local convenience, the present water-carriage up the Buller is, under present circumstances, sufficient, and probably at all times preferable to a track maintained in au indifferent state of preservation. But it is not a mere local road, or any section of road suburban to Westport, that is advocated and required. It is a l'oad connecting Nelson with "Westport, and that is surely a sufficiently Provincial w»rk to satisfy any-one. No more purely Provincial work could •at any time be placed upon the Proj vincial estimates. We have a suspicion, iudee-1, that it is rather Nelsonian than Provincial. It would certainly be of no less advantage to Nelson than it would be to Westport, if such local considerations are at all to be admitted. But whether of benefit more to Nelson than to Westport, or more to Westport tiian to Nelson, it would be of infinite benefit in the development of a district which is yet a comparative solitude, and would, there is every reason to believe, become the main artery of communication to au extensive goldfield. It is well-known that much gold found in the Buller reaches Westport, and only this week we learn of parcels from the upper parts of the river beinu; received in Nelson. Eudeed the simple fact of one parcel of l/~Oozs. reaching Nelson has the immediate effect of inducing writers to revive the idea of the Nelson and Cobden railway, or to substitute for it an equally chimerical scheme—a road adapted for road steamers ! How much more propriety there would be in the inhabitants of 1 Westport urging upon the Govern- " ' ~ •"" *ko Council, when it meets, the undertaking ot that description of road which is all-sufficient for light carriage over long distances, and for the conveyance of a limited number of passengers—that description of" road which is, by the verdict of experience and engineers, expressly suited for the situation. It would bo the wisdom of the people of Westport to do so, however eager they may be as advocates of Separation, and certainly the wisest step which the Provincial Government could adopt,in connection with that same question, would be to make the Buller lload.