The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1872

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 914, 16 January 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1872

Boas communication with the Inangahua via Nelson is the latest sub- | ject which is agitated in the Nelson press, now that there is very little doubt but that the Inangahua reefs will turn out a success. Mr B. P. Bain, whose name will be familiar to many of our readers as having been mnrlor:>(olj.' BllGCflasflll nq a Klirvoynr in the Charleston District, has unfolded a plan by which he believes the bulk of the traffic to that district may be secured to Nelson, and the Nelson " Mail" derives comfort from the I knowledge that some portion at least of the £24,000 set apart for railway works iu the province may be laid out in the Upper Buller district. It is true, says the correspondent referred to, that the ports on the "West Coast I are nearer to the reefs, but the difficulties of communication are greater than from here. And may they remain so | every true Nelsonite will fervently ejaculate. He then proceeds to express his belief that if a " little energy were displayed the bulk of the trade could be secured to Nelson ; but it requires immediate action, as it is very difficult to divert a trade when once in a par. ticular channel." What particular direction this energy is to take we , learn on further perusal : " The distance from Nelson to the junction of the Inangahua with the i Buller (a point where all the traffic ! must centre, whether to Nelson or i Westport) is about 110 miles ; for the j first GO miles from Nelson there is at present a road that a coach could travel on, for the remaining 50 there j is only a \ery bad track. I should propose commencing a light tram- I way with wooden rails at the end ! of the dray road and carrying it on to the junction ; this would probably cost about £30,000, and could be extended to the reefs at one end, and Nelson at the other, or, if thought advisable, the line at this end might be constructed in a more expensive manner, but for the greater part of the way wooden rails would be amply sufficient for some years to come; in a country like this it is quantity and not quality that is required ; it is better to get 60 miles in six hours, than to go the first 20 in one hour, and be all day getting over the remaining 40."

It is contended that the construction of this 50 miles of tramway would secure the bulk of the traffic to Nelson, and by opening up a fine agricultural district, where provisions could be obtained at a reasonable cost, the mining population would increase ten per cent. No one doubts, says the " Mail," the desirability of opening up our inland districts in every direction, but no mention is made of removing the easily surmountable difficulties which would enable supplies via Westport to be forwarded to Inangahua at a minimum coat. A few miles of dray road between Heefton and the I

Landing, or even to the Blackwater, in the event of the statement being confirmed respecting the character of the country between the Landing and Blackwater, would afford the means of reducing the cost of freight and carriage to a comparatively small sum. Those necessary works, at least a road between the Landing and Keefton, will be put in hand very shortly ; the proposed line is said to present no engineering difficulties whatever, and whether the Inangahua reefs are supplied by Westport or Nelson, the road must be constructed in order to complete the line of communication. Although we can entertain no doubt as to which route will command the traffic, yet it is impossible to repress a smile at the narrow view which our Nelson neighbours are inclined to take of most matters in connection with the province. The first and only question in connection with any proposal is ever—will its execution conduce to the aggrandisement of Nelson ? With them the prevalent opinion appears to be that all the resources of the province should be made to contribute to their social and commercial progress, and outsiae that exists nothing worthy of consideration. The Mount Roehfort mine to wit, was only prominently brought forward in connection with a railway connecting the mine with Nelson. As soon as the latter had to be relinquished, all question of working the mine was immediately dismissed. To make Nelson the coal emporium of New Zealand was of paramount importance ; but to open up the mine and contribute to the wealth of the colony is not worthy a moment's consideration. "We had hoped, ere this, that attention would have been invited to the capabilities of the Buller river for the purposes of internal navigation. Obstacles now impeding the traffic could be removed or considerably lessened, at a tithe of the expense at which it is proposed to construct the fifty miles of tramway, and producing results of incalculably greater benefit to the districts affected. It were better that the people of Nelson exerted their efforts and influence to promote the true interests of the province, rather than to indulge in visionary schemes, difficult of accomplishment, and incapa. ble of any effective result.