The Westport Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1872

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1028, 10 December 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1872

•The euddou rousing up of the Nelson people, the awakening from their » normal condition of lethargy and •• donothingness to a frisk and airy dis- , play of acfive interest in public affairs t must have surprised none others so

-much as themselves. Accustomed as ! they have been for years past to - pursue the even tenor of their way i with no thought or ambition beyond - satisfying the necessities of the present hour, living on in happy indifference to • all things except such as concerned their own individual interest, it must have been a novel if not startling sensation to discover on perusing the > columns of the three papers which by f some wonderful dispensation contrive to maintain an existence in Nelson city, that there had been a meeting in their midst, a gathering together of

orators ; not a mere caucus of " four

and twenty tailors all in a row " but forty and four men of good repute, representing, according to the ' Mail,' -every shade of political opinion, howsoever many shades or grades there -may be among Nelson politicians ; and I prepared by unity of action, by determination, pluck and zeal, to redeem the fallen credit of the Nelsonites, to tTeinvigorate the weakened sinews of (local enterprise, to create new trade, r to open new channels for business, to present stagnation and make -Nelson what it should be, a healthy of commercial enterpise. All «of which is"' mighty pretty 1 to read in T)rint, productive beyond doubt of satisfaction to the chosen few who aired their flowery eloquence in proposing various schemes, theoretical and practical, for this consummation so devoutly to be wished for ; but—the •doubt will assert itself howsoever much ■a sanguine hope for the best prompts the rejoinder K but rae no huts " —will the discussion eventuate in any really useful or practical result ? The intention is good to a certain degree ; ■ it would be narrow minded and selfish in the extreme to raise on behalf of the people on this side of the Province, the slightest protest against the development of inland communication by means of roads or tramways' radiating ■from Nelson, always supposing that such roads form connecting links in a n»t" ork of roads giving easy access to «very renfro of present or probable

population ; but a careful perusal of tho various arguments and proposed schemes Bet forth at tho Nelson meeting fails to give auy convincing proof of expansive ideas, or the recognition of any principle beyond providing for the necessities of Nelson citizens alone. The constant refrain of each succeeding speech was, Nelsou city trade is gone ! bnt the interests of Nelson Province, as a whole, the welfare and material advancement in prosperity of the scattered inhabitantsof outlying places was too evidently of secondary consideration. The dominant idea is aptly described by the ' Examiner,' " The town is isolated from a large part of the province, which, in default of inland communication with Blind Bay, has been opened and supplied from dangerous tenth-rate ports close at hand, whilst the safe, convenient, and extensive second-class harbors of Nelson remain comparatively empty. The young men, and a considerable part of the enterprise and capital of the place, drift off to more stirring spots, and Nelson and the Blind Bay district remain stationary, after ten years of movement have wholly changed the aspect of surrounding provinces." Admitting that our Nelson neighbours in seeking to protect their own interests are but doing precisely what any other community would do under similar circumstances, the question is will they ho able, from the narrow platform they have adopted, to bring their theoretical ideas to any practical issue. The various schemes propounded seem to have resolved into three proposals, having for their object the extension of rail or tramway communication from Foxhill to the Lyell and Eeefton. The proposals, shortly stated were :1. To negociate with the Brogdenfirin to construct tho extension of the line. 2. To form a private company for the purpose. 3. To petition tho General Government to guarantee a Provincial loan. The first two ideas seem chimerical in the extreme. The Provincial G-overnment has not the power, or assuming that existing ordinances may be colorably interpreted to justify such action, will scarcely have the temerity to hypothecate the lands and revenues of the Province, without the concurrence and aid of the Colonial Government; to provide the guarantee Messrs Brodgen or any other contracting firm would require before commencing so difficult an undertaking; and any efforts to float a private company would scarcely extend beyond a preliminary flourish on paper, seeing that it is doubtful whether in Nelson city capital can be readily released from present investments to an extent sufficient to induce outside capitalists to invest in an untlci iciiiiog wKioli will oosfc considerably more than any speaker at the Nelson meeting ventured to suggest. If the proposed scheme ever takes any definite form and issue it will only be as part and parcel of the general railway scheme of the Colony. A line of substantial tramway, from Foxhill to the Lyell and Eeefton, with ultimate extension to Greymouth and Hokitika ; a drop line to Westport and an extension to Mount Kochfort and the Ngakawhao coal mines, would form the only profitable undertaking that could be devised, seeing that at every point of connection it would expand inexhaustible resources of mineral wealth, and afford facilties for extended commercial aud agricultural enterprise. From this point of view the entire population of Nelson Province and Westland would bo of one accord in petitioning the General Government for assistance ; but if our Nelson neighbours limit their ideas to a puny attempt at bolstering up their own falling trade, without regard to wider interests, they need scarcely expect to gain much outside sympathy or respect if their schemes eventuate iu egregious failure.