The Westport Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1873.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1121, 4 November 1873, Page 2

The Westport Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1873.

In an an elaborate article on tho political misfortunes of this " hypergoverned country," the Nelson Examiner of the 2Sth ultimo descants, among other subjects, on the dilatpriness of the Colonial Government in utilising the priceless coalfields existing on the West Coast of the Middle Island, and theu by facile graduation from the starting point, the Examiner discusses the particular merits of the " Albion Company versus Westport." An antagonism which a section of the press in Nelson, Wellington, and elsewhere, has of late sedulously attempted to aggravate, prompted thereto by an influence which Westport residents will well understand, and to which their particular attention is now called- The Examiner writes thus—- " Coal leases are in demand, and the colony may malce a few pounds by doubling its royalty upon coals raised, and increasing the dead rent per acre. There is tin unpleasant rumour afloat that something r.f this sort is going to be done, and that the pica for such a miserable nnd suicidal proceeding is that it is necessary to create a security for the repayment of tho railway to Weslport. It is further reported that the Colonial Government has required the Superintendent to warn the Albion Company that unless they carry out the terms of their lease to the utmost tittle, it will be forfeited. The Albion Company has bteu working without

intermission since its formation, and is working away tit the present moment in an honest and bona fide mauner. One of the conditions of its lease is that it is to get out'so(H) tons of coal in the first year. Not wit hstandiri", the unremitting labor of the directors, their remains now only six months fcn fulfil this condition. It is not likely that the company will be able literally to dp this, although they have beeu doing their best. It is Shylock over again. The Colonial Government instructs the Superintendent to demand his pound of flesh, and if it cannot be given the company is to be extinguished, It is high time that the colouy should know how the Colonial Government treats private enterprise, and it is not an inopportune time, seeing that a general provincial election is is coming off, that the people of Nelson should know how the General Government purposes to deal with a company the head-quarters of which are in Nelson, and from the operation of which Nelson may expect to receive very substantia] advantages." So far we cordially agree with the Examiner, and believe the Westport community would most severely condemn any such arbitrary action against the Albion Company. But the Examiner has bteu woefully misinformed when it pens such arrant rubbish as appears in the succeeding paragraph : "It is quite possible that in this movement a suspicious eye might delect the effects of a Westport influence. Westport very probably looks upon the Buller coalfield as its appanage ; and demands as a matter of right that all the coal of that coalfield shall be shipped at Westport. The development of the most important coalfield of the colony is to be subsidary to the aggrandisement of Westport, or in the eyes of the inhabitants of that rising town is possesses comparatively little value. The General Government has undertaken to make a railway from Ngakawhau to Westport, and to protect the banks of the river at Westport itself from further encroachments from the floods. This railway, when made, will be of vary considerable service to the Albion mine. It will afford an opportunity of shipping an amount of coal much greater than can be sent away by the Ngakawhau river alone. But the Albion Company is anxious to lose no time: and having the Ngakawhau river within a few yards of its mine, it desires to commence shipping the coal at once. If the Ngakawhau river proves available, and there is every reason to think so, the Ngakawhau coal will be in Nelson in a very few weeks ; and the first step will have been taken towards the solution of the problem of the development of the Builer coalfield."

Lacking any local knowledge of the West Coast, the writer of the foregoing paragraph has very evidently received his inspiration from those who are more interested in the successful working of the Albion mine, as a mer cantile speculation, than in the developcment of the entire resources of the Bui ler coalfield. It may not be deemed impertinent by such writer if we attempt to correct the mistake into which he has been led. Westport does uot demand as a right that all the coal of the Buller coalfield shall be shipped at Westport. It is a necessity that it must be so shipped. There is no other portal waysavailable. At any time of the year vessels of deep draught may sail in and out of the Buller. At the Ngakawhau—which is no river, but a mere tidal inlet, fed by one or two very small mountain streams—for six months in the year the bar is often unworkable, except for the merest cockle-shell craft. To make an artificial entrance there would cost as much or more than a railway to Westport and the protective works combined, and engineering authority avers that the -entrance, if made, would very possibly prove useless. The railway from Ngakawhau to Westport would not only be " of very considerable service to the Albion mine," buc it would make communication with a score of other coal mines to be opened up along the route. A contingency which the Albion Company would fain avoid as tending to create competition. And to this end we assert that very many covert attempts have been directed to create an impression on the public mind, away from the Buller district, that Westport people are working against the Albion Company, even although they hold a good proportion of Albiou shares. Of this covert attempt wo can adduce another proof. On the 9th of last month a telegram was sent to the Anglo-Australian Press Agency giving as an item of news that a signal station was in course of erection at the Ngakawhau, and stating also that the ■' bar was good, the cl annel running straight out, but too narrow for the entrance of the Coomerang or any sizeable vessel." Information which, as our readers well know, was in strict accordance with facts. The telegram appeared in the Wellington papers, and the Wellington Post of the 9th ultimo, evidently prompted as the Examiner has been, wrote as follows :—" A telegram published in another column, dated from Westport, gives a v*ry unfavorable account of the capabilities of the Ngakawhau as a port. Kemembering that /here is a bitter rivalry between Westport and Ngakawhau, and that the former wants to have a large sum of money expended in it, in order that it may be made the shipping port for the coal from the Ngakawhau mine, the statements of the telegram mu-t be taken cam grano salis.'' A day or two afterwards a similar paragraph ap-

peared in the Auckland Herald, and was subsequently quoted in a Dunedin paper. Comment on'such mischievous malversation of facts is unnecessary, as Westport readers will draw their own inferences as to the motive prompting its publication. One thing, however, is very certain, until Westport sees the harbor and railway works actually commenced the danger of uuderhanded and unscrupulous adverse influence will be always present. A word to the wise should be sufficient.