The Westport Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 716, 27 September 1870, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1870.

At an early period of the session just closed, a Select Committee of both branches of the legislature were appointed to report upon the capabilities of the Colony, and to suggest the best means of developing the producing powers, and of fostering manufactures that might be most conveniently and advantageously introduced. This Committee presented a report shortly before the session closed, containing many valuable recommendations, and suggesting that the question should be further investigated, as the short time at their command had rendered it impossible to exhaust the subject or to enable them to collect the fullest evidence upon the various matters suggested in the report. First in point of order, and certainly of importance, the question of watersupply to the goldfields received the attention of the Committee. They point out that the expenditure of £300,000, whum formed the amended proposition of the Colonial Treasurer, is likely to be amply repaid in the increased productiveness that will thereby be employed in mining pursuits throughout the Colony, and in the increased population of the goldfields. The great demand for water on almost all the goldfields of the Colonv, and the extraordinary value of this branch of mining property, owing to the generally insufficientsupplyinthe various centres of mining industry, should specially recommend this question to the consideration of the Government. It would be difficult to estimate the population that the vast auriferous tracts on the Nelson Goldfields alone would be capable of supporting, were easy means afforded of developing the same by a constant and abundant supply of water obtainable at a minimum rental. It cannot be denied that much has been already effected by private companies in the Avay of constructing considerable reservoirs and waterrights upon the goldfields of the Colony ; but these works are, for the most part, of inconsiderable extent, and more generally have been executed by individual parties of miners, for the purpose of working their claim, than with the view of the water being made available to the requirements of a considerable number. The formation of reservoirs or diversion of streams at a height sufficient to cornman i the most lofty gold-bearing tracts of country has been unattempted, not that the construction of such works would not ultimately repay the cost, but that the capital necessary to the fulfilment of the work exceeds the means of individual parties of miners, while public companies would look for too extravagant a return upon the outlay to embark in a scheme in which the probable cost would not be recouped in two or three years. If the divided and but partially effective schemes of water supply at present in use give place to a comprehensive system, commanding large, and, at pre Lent, inaccessible tracts of country, the water being let at the lowest rate consistent with a moderate return on the outlay, there can be no question as to the increased impetus it would give to gold-mining pursuits throughout the Colony. With water in abundance, and at nominal rates as compared with present chatges, whether on the spurs and terraces of the greatest altitude at which auriferous drifts are known to exist, or on the extensive goldbearing beaches, extending over a coast line of more than two hundred miles, from the Karamea in the north to the Haast river in the south, with a population extending over this tract of couutry commensurate with its capabilities, a degree of prosperity would be attained by the gold producing districts of the Middle Island, the advantages of which would nob be confined to these regions alone, but would extend to every portion of the Colony. A ll classes would participate directly or indirectly in thebenefitderived, new industries would be established with the guarantee of a largely increased consumption for manufactures, and the Colony" generally would become alive to the maxim that any prosperity enjoyed by a large section of the population must be more or less felt by the entire country. The Committee also suggest " that the law relating to the finding and working of minerals should be assimilated throughout the colony ; that the law in relation to quartz reefs, in particular, should be adapted to the peculiar circumstances of the colony ; and that the existing uncertaiuty as to the right of owners of the soil to the precious metals should be settled by law."

Tin, which is believed to be obtainable in both islands, baa also formed a subject of inquiry, and in this, as also other matters, Dr Hector is stated to have furnished very valuable information. The Committee recommend that-a suitable reward be offered to the first discoverer of a payable mine. The utmost importance is also attached to the development of the very valuable coal-seams known to exist in the colony, and much stress is laid upon the superiority of Mount Bochfort coal, as also the facility with which this mine could be worked; and the Government are recommended to offer inducements for the purpose of work-

ing the mines in the way of advancing, on the security of a responsible company, the capital required to construct a tramway from the mines to the port of shipment. This mode differs somewhat from the assistance that has been generally considered advisable; a guarantee of interest upon a fixed outlay for a term having been deemed the most advisable basis upon which a public company might be induced to undertake the task. "We should, however, have no reason to quarrel with the terms upon which the Government might be induced to offer assistance. Our present grievance lies with the Nelson Government in the persistence with which they have lent themselves to the furtherance of a scheme which, ah ovo, has been held to be impracticable in the present circumstances of the Province by all competent to exercise an unbiassed opinion. At the very outset, the proposition to construct a line of railway from Nelson to the West Coast was pronounced impossible, in a monetary point of view, and, after the lapse of a number of years, during which every effort to successfully float the undertaking has proved unavailing, we still find the Government obstinately adhering to the proposal to induce home capitalists to execute the work. There may have been an understanding with the proposed company that a line of railway from Nelson extending through the more settled portions of the Province to be constructed at once, as also a line from the Brunner to Cobden, would be all that they would be called upon to perform for a lengthened period, leaving the rest of the line to be constructed at the will of the company ; and it is only on the assumption of such an understanding that the strenuous efforts to float the undertaking are intelligible. In a recent issue we referred to the proposal of the Colonial Government to guarantee interest upon the capital expended in a line from Nelson to Fox Hill, and regarded the proposal as so far satisfactory that it would diminish the interest in the West Coast scheme aud by its early abandonment would throw open to a public company the Mount Sochfort coalfields, now forming a portion of the grant offered for the erection of a line across the Province. Tne calamitous course that events have taken in Europe renders it doubtful, however, whether the financial scheme of the Government will be immediately successful, and such being the case the Nelson aud Fox Hill line, with other similar schemes, must be postponed; and with its postponement negotiations in London will, no doubt, be persevered in, though with less likelihood of a successful termination than previously existed. The working of the Buller coalfields is a matter of paramount importance, and no effort should be left untried, having for its object their early development. The fact of there existing already in New Zealand an annual consumption of at least 150,000 tons, w r hich is yearly increasing, and that the Colonial Government are not unlikely to lend a hand in fostering industries of this character,render it highly desirable|that the faroe which is being enacted should cease, or, at least, that the coalfields should be thrown open to any public company disposed to turn the mineral wealth of the district to advantage. Other subjects received the attention of the Committee. Bonuses are proposed to sericulturists and to individuals planting trees in districts which would be greatly improved by extensive plantations. They also favor the introduction of specially selected immigrants for the purpose of encouraging the native manufacture of articles capable of being easily and advantageously produced within the colony.