THE BULLER COALFIELD.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1109, 23 September 1873, Page 2

THE BULLER COALFIELD.

[nelson colonist.]

The uncertainty always existing as to the continuance of profitable gold mining for many years has for long led those who considered the future welfare of the Province, rather than their own personal and temporary benefits, to look forward with apprehension to the time when the army of diggers might remove to other fields, unless, meanwhile, advantage were taken of the prosperity arising from their free expenditure, and permanent industries were established in the districts first opened by their enterprise. Westport has had an existence of but few years, and with the most chequered fortunes, Ravaged by river and sea, many of its leading inhabitants would long since have departed for other places had they not, hoping against hope, been induced to remain in the expectation that effectual means would be taken to develop the wonderful stores of coal existing in their immediate neighborhood. Some two months since we directed attention to the strange disclosures made before a Committee of the Provincial Council, and the reign of the Lord of Misrule appears still to continue in full force. After the Lease at Ngakawau was granted, all the indignation it excited was of no avail, and people generally were disposed to rejoice that if what had been pronounced to be the key of the coalfield must be thrown away, it was well that it had fallen into hands able and willing to develop the trade. The construction of the railway from the Buller to the Ngakawhau was, after many efforts aud much deputation pressure on Ministers, supposed to be positively assured, and as it will open the way for *he working of many other mines, all who took an interest in therC question were disposed to forget the past m provided union could be accomplished V for the future. The Albion Coal Company being bound under their lease to raise several thousand tons the first year, and to increase the quantity afterwards, it might be supposed that any delay in the construction of *;he railway would lead to the forfeiture of their interest, but we take leave to say no Government would venture to confiscate the work of any company whose operations had not succeeded from causes beyond their own control, so that the arguments used to members of the House of Representatives on this ground, to obtain their assistance in procuring the expenditure of a considerable sum to render the Ngakawlwu river navigable, were without sufficient foundation. The managers of a company cannot be blamed for using every honest means to promote its interests, aud we find no fault with Mr Albert Beetham for petitioning the House for money to construct, for to that it amounts, a port close to their valuable mine. When a railway to Westport is open, it is obvious that Ngakawhau, being the most distant point, mines situated there would have to pay more for carriage than those belonging to competitors in the business, and that facility of transport would increase the number of these competitors. - If by any means the construction of the railway could be prevented, or if by a large outlay of public money Ngakawhau could be made available for vessels of any size, the position would be exactly reversed. Sufficient effect has been produced on the public mind by alarmists to induce the belief that the Government would)*' not require much persuasion to give up any costly work, and though we are assured pledges of the most decided character have been given, yet. the cost of harbor works (at Ngakawhau) being once incurred, it might be possible to procure the abandonment of the larger scheme if a change of Ministry took place before the railway contracts were actually let, and thus the coal trade of West Coast would have its headquarters at Ngakawhau. The petition was referred to the Committee on Public Works, of which Mr Curtis is a member, and after the least possible evidence had been taken, one of the witnesses, Mr Henderson, knowing little or nothing of the place, and the other being the petitioner, it was decided to recommend the expenditure of £15,000. What view may be taken by the Government it is impossible to say, but in the face of the large sum already promised for harbor works at Westport, in addition to the cost of the railway, there is small ground to dread the creation of a rival port at such a short distance, unless, indeed, the charges of reckless expenditure are well founded. That the Ngakawhau can be useful for large vessels, except at an expense many times greater than the sum recommended, there is no evidence to prove, and certainly a little effort by Mr Curtis ought to have prevented the Committee endorsing the application. Rumors are rife that the most strenous exertions and in strange ways have been made by interested persons, but the sound sense of the Minister of Public Works is not likely to be led astray. By a singular coincidence, the Colonial Industries Committee snnt up an interim report on the same day the other was presented, and advised steps being taken to vest the control of the Buller coalfield reserve jointly in the Colonial and Provincial Governments ,and thus the whole question will, as we predicted, be discussed in some form by the House. The subject

is of so much interest, that when further steps are taken we shall have something more to say. It would indeed be a sad humiliation for the friends, if any such exist, of Mr Curtis if it were declared by Parliament that his capacity for doing the work he was elected to perform is so limited as to render it necessary to subject him to a controlling power for the public welfare, and this is distinctly the meaning of the Industries Committee.