A VISITOR'S VIEW OF WESTPORT.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1168, 17 April 1874, Page 2

A VISITOR'S VIEW OF WESTPORT.

The excursionists by the Luna have not yet "tired of recounting in print the incidents of their travels. Another contributor to the Otago Daily Times thus gives his impressions of Westport : Of the phases that Westport has passed through, I need not write. Where the main street once was, the Luna steamed over with ten feet of water, but though the river and sea have destroyed part of the town, yet the town does not seem the worse of its "floods." Some of the hotels are better than many in any of the towns in Otago out of Duuedin, in appearance and in management. There is a small reading room and athcufeum, and an inspection of the library at once shows that the Committee have been most judicious in the selection of books. I found 40 scientific works, 30 books of poetry, 30 of history, 20

of philosophy, 30 of travels, GO miscellaneous, 10 political, 152 novels, and 21 biographies. There are also 12 newspapers taken, the Otago papers being the Otago Daily Times and tho Southland News. The magazines selected wore also high class—tho Fortnightly, Fraser, Blackwood, &c. I believe the Warden, Dr Giles, and the Local Surveyor (?), Dr Thorpe, have both taken considerable interest in the Institute, and perhaps it is owing to their labours that the books selected are so good.Tho Institute is open every evening, and during the two nights wo were at Westport it was well attended. The Provincial Government of Nelson contribute in aid of the Institute, and I believe that it will be found that the opportunities offered, to the Westportians for selfimprovement are, considering the size of the town, equal to anything on any. goldfi'eid. The Westport folks are waiting Micawberlike —for something to turn up,and great hopes are founded on the coal, gold, and iron, known to exist in this portion of the Province of

Nelson. In walking through tho town one difference hotwoen inland mining towns in Otago and Westport is the quantity of bush in the latter, and the fact that the houses and stores are

built in " clearings. The bush is dense, and the trees are large, and this, as I have before mentioned, retards settlement. Roads are, however, being formed, and a railway is contemplated. But even roads and railways are not enough ; there must be settlement, and the cost of clearing an acre of land is at present far in excess of the means of the intending settler. SCHOOLS IN NELSOH. Being desirous of ascertaining how the school system in Nelson worked, I visited the District or Government

•School. In Nelson the system permits aid to denominational that is, instead of making a householder pay his money —oae pound—to the School Board, and five shillings for each child up to five, ha may pay the sum to his own denomination. In Wesfcpqrt, however, there are no denominational schools. Catholics, Episcopalians, Wealeyans, and Presbyterians! unite in having their children taught by one master and in ono building. The system is, however, thoroughly secular. There is no Bible reading, amd the books used are mainly the Irish National School Books. I found 140 pupils present, under the charge of a master and school-mistress, and, an assistant. There is no fee charged ; the education is free, and yet the attendance is good and regular. The master is paid £l5O, and £1 for every pupil over 00, besides some other emoluments, making his salary between £2OO and £3OO. The assistants are paid £SO each. The Coaimittee are strictly secular in their method of school management: for the Rev. Mr Soutar, the Episcopalian clcrgymau,. informed mo that they would not allow him the use of the school-room after school hours to give instruction in religion. I was told by the teacher that out of Nelson separate schools are found to be unworkable, and too expensive for the religious denominations to maintain. The Catholic population are represented on the Committee, and they do not seem to see any evil resulting from their children being taught the common branches of an English education along with their fellowcolonists' children. There was a reading lesson being heard when I was in the School, and the pupils read fairly, and seemed to understand what they were reading. The school is 'well ventilated, and there were present in it certain things which showed that its management was judicious. There was a printed code of rules issued by the Nelson School Board, by which the pupils are bound, and also a thermometer alongside to tell the temperature of the room. The school was well supplied with school furniture and appliances, and it appeared to me that Nelson was not behind Otago in its care of the youth of its Province. In Charleston I was informed there were separate or denominational schools, and as a result of that class spirit, which led to the establishment of the class schools, tho.ro were religious factions, with bitter hostility between them, in Charleston.

On the second day of our visit a cricket match was arranged, and we were conveyed to and from the cricket field on a tramway. AVhilst riding on it, one was made aware of a recent political fight having taken place, for there were placards proclaiming to the passer-by the relative claims of the Buller Lion —Mr O'Conoi- v. Mr Curtis. Mr O'Conor would have been elected, had Charleston voted with Wcstport, but in consequence of the bitter rivalry between the two towns, the choice of Wcstport was not the choice of OharlestOE, and Mr O'Conor was left out in the cold. If the result of the cricket match is wanted, is it not recorded in the Wcstport Times and in the Buller News ? I may mention that the latter paper has been started by Mr O'Conor to revenge big defeat, and Weatport being a small place, the amenities of journalistic life arc perhaps not fully appreciated.