SEPARATION FROM NELSON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 498, 1 May 1869, Page 2

SEPARATION FROM NELSON.

(To t?ie Editor of the Westport Times.) Sib.—There are many here who, like myself, are no advocates of Separation. We fully concur in the views of the Superintendent of Nelson, that all the revenue derived from the South-West Goldfields should not be entirely spent upon them. I will assign as one reason that the people of Nelson Proper take up their abodes there with the intention of settling down for a lifetime ; but here on the West Coast our stay in one particular spot is as precarious as our means are for obtaining a subsistence. We are here to-day and gone to-morrow. It is enough for us that as soon as a new field is discovered a good track be immediately made to it, in order to facilitate much and easy traffic. Other inducements for working ground have not been withheld to the miner by the Provincial Government.

Should a large portion of the revenue be spent upon County Chairmen, Secretaries, Clerks, Collectors, &c. —a goodly sum also upon the town of Westport—we cannot see what good would come out of the project—that is, so far as we, the mining community, are concerned. It would be better, far better, to see the money go to liquidate the expense of some permanent works in Nelson. Is it to be imagined that the miners are the instruments by which the money-grubs are to find easy access to fortune ; and if further they think we have come here to remain for a natural lifetime, they must err considerably in judgment. Like themselves we have come here to make money; and although we meet many crosses in our undaunted perseverance, yet our anticipations in futurity are not much blunted. When we arrive at this " consummation " (like Hamlet's eternal sleep) "so devoutly to be wished for " we will leave this wild wretched country with all the speed the winds of Heaven will permit us to sail away. If Mr Tyler were still Chairman of the Progress Committee what could he do more for the cause of Separation than he has done, and is still doing ? And yet he has said as much as that he would exert himself no further than what might be expected at the hands of any other townsman. That the "Westport lawyer has only taken an ordinary interest in this agitation for Separation does not appear very clear tome; for I believe that if the imagination of every citizen was fired to the extent of Mr Tyler's with this pleasing topic—that is to eay, if they possessed what is vulgarly called the " gift of the gab " to such an eminent degree as that worthy gentleman—l can only compare the din that would ring in our ears like as to a string of bells from here to Westport continually on the clamour Separation! Separation! nothing but Separation ! Time will resolve all by-and-by. He hews his own way through the mysterious windings of succeeding ages. Truth will out and eventually stand naked upon her own spotless throne. But the deep workings of subtle ingenuity will not always be too clear for human penetration.—l am, Sir, yours, &c,

Old Bird. Addison's Flat, April 27. P.S.—ln giving insertion to both

sides of a public question, I have ever found you most impartial. I doubt not, therefore, my letter will receive a portion of that consideration you have always so liberally extended to your readers.