The Westport Times. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 500, 6 May 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1869.

A. visit to the district of the Upper Buller and the Lyell must reveal much that is interesting, whatever may be the personal proclivities of the visitor, or the precise purpose of his lour. If he be abroad simply in search of the picturesque, he will certainly be satisfied ; for, either in boating on the river or travelling by its banks, there is presented more of the majestic, and not less of the purely pleasing, than can be seen on any or all of the rivers of New Zealand. If he have a taste for the study of the natural sciences, he will find, in the diversity of its geological formations, in the novelty and variety of its botany, and probably even among the insignificant representatives of its natural history, much by which he will be interested and informed. If he be but a practical mineralogist, commonly called a " digger," he will assuredly discover areas of auriferous ground ample enough for the exercise of his skill and labor for years to come. Or, if he be a representative of the commerce of the country, merely to the extent of selling " slops" or groceries, he will discover an increasing, if not yet an extensive, field for his enterprise. But in whatever character or capacity he may visit the district, within this rather wide range of the sentimental and the practical, he cannot fail to return to Westport with a strong impression in favor of what may be very foreign to the object of his visit, and what may seem as foreign to the subject of these sentences—he cannot fail to return without being imbued with the feeling which is at present all-prevalent on these goldfields—the feeling that there is a necessity for some sound system of local self-government. Though it may seem a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous to say so—he cannot fail to return without feeling that the worst feature of the district is the fact of its affairs being administered by the existing Executive at Nelson. To illustrate this it is not necessary at present to refer to the loss and inconvenience which are inflicted on the miners by the absence of any local authority other than that which is represented by the Warden's Court at Westport. It is not necessary to dilate upon the utter absence of interest by the Government in undertakings which would be easy of accomplishment, if they were only officially encouraged — undertakings which, once executed, would ensure the extension and promote the permanency of the district as a goldfield. These are in themselves circumstances which, no doubt, seriously militate against the interests of the community by whom the Lyell district is, in spite of such disadvantages, being now developed. But it may be enough at present, in illustration of the neglect of the Nelson Government, and of the necessity for some change being either forced or solicited, to quote the disgraceful condition of disrepair in which any traveller who is either disposed or compelled to walk the distance between Westport and the Lyell will find that once expensive but now worthless work —the Buller track.

It was only the other day that we read a recommendation by Dr Hector to the Government of another Province that it should adopt the plan of the Nelson Government—the plan of forming tracks along the banks of principal rivers. It was only recently tbat we had the opinion of Dr Griles that the much heard-of and heartily abused track along the banks of the Buller was by no means so bad as it was called. With such expressions of opinion, though they were the opinions of gentlemen probably better acquainted with other arts than that of practical roadmaking, the Nelson Executive, no doubt, laid the flattering unction to their souls that they had realised all reasonable expectations of them by having done their duty. But, without saying anything as to the contrary testimony of the soles of those who now have to travel this particular track, very considerable allowance must be made in the adoption or the application of these two opinions. Dr Hector obviously spoke from past experience, and Dr Giles spoke from an experience which, to say the least, was partial, if it was recent. No one

doubts that the Buller track was made, and so far Dr Hector's testimony was right. However deficient in the execution of their designs, the Nelson Executive who undertook the formation of the Buller track were certainly-well-intentioned, and for their good intentions they deserve credit. As it was true of the military roads in the Highlands of Scotland, that

" Had you seen those roads before they

were made You would bless the memory of General Wade," so it is true that the Buller track made by the Executive of the day was considerably better than none. It was, indeed, a comparatively complete, and, most certainly, a very expensive work. But, once having been made, it never seems to have entered into the calculations of the Nelson Government that such a track should be maintained. Though naturally exposed to unusually destructive influences, a road which had cost thousands upon thousands of pounds was, from the time of its formation, left in the rude hands of Nature, instead of being committed to the care of such ordiuary and, in such cases, usual functionaries as a road inspector or one or two able-bodied ditchers and drainers. The consequence has been that these thousands upon thousands of pounds might as well have been poured into the Buller as expended upon its banks. Indeed, notwithstanding any distinguished opinion to the contrary, we may say that such a spectacle of wreck and ruin as is presented by the Buller track—at the time of its execution a sufficiently well-designed work—is not to be seen in connection with the roadmaking of any goldfield in the colony. It is pitiable to contemplate how much money has been wastefully expended, or to calculate how very little might have kept the work in repair, and have thereby preserved a promising district in some degree accessible from its proper port.

Of course, after all possible injuryhas been done to the work of their predecessors, and not before a public outcry the significance of which they were not slow to appreciate, the present Executive make a demonstration of their, at least, having a desire, figuratively and literally, to " mend their ways." They enter into one magnificent contract costing £l9B sterling, and they make overtures for as many as seven more ! They do this conveniently for closing the mouths of irate Councillors from the "West Coast, if not very conveniently for any consideration connected with the actual execution of the contracts ; but it is to be hoped that the West Coast members will not be deterred, either by any imaginary insignificance of the subject, or by any excuses of economy, from insisting upon both an early expenditure in the reconstruction of the road, and attention in the future to its maintenance. They may reasonably add, as a suggestion to Mr Curtis in connection with his promise of attention to the subject of Separation in the House of Representatives, that if a Commission be appointed to canvass the question of Nelson versus local government, it would be expedient that the Commissioners should travel the Buller track. If they might feel themselves emboldened to make Mr Curtis the medium of any further suggestion, they might propose that it would be well to leave to the individual discretion of the honorable gentlemen the experiment of embarrassing themselves, during the performance of the journey, with the conveyance of " a fifty of flour." Seriously, it is only by such a personal visit that anyone can convince himself of the utter state of atrophy into which public works have been allowed to drift in these parts of Nelson Province.