THE WEST COAST.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 135, 2 March 1908, Page 8

THE WEST COAST.

THE HON R. M'NAB'S VISIT. : SOME IMPRESSIONS. . The' Hon; R. M'Nab (Minister, for Lands and Agriculture) returned from his visit to the West Coast, of the South Islands on Saturday.- The Minister. spent nearly two weeks. travelling about tho province, this being the first occasion,-with tho exception of touching at-Greymouth, on which ho has visited that district. - He travelled to Greymouth via. Otira. Gorge from Christchurch. It is now possible, said tho Minister, to leave ■Christchurch'-by train in the morning, arrive at' the railhead 'at Broken Creek at, 10.30 a.m.;, traftshipito the coach, and'reach Bealc-y at 1.30 for lunch. The next stago through tho Otira .Gorge is accomplished early in the afternoon,:and.'takihg the.train at Otira tho traveller reaches Greymouth at night. The Minister was' .very disappointed with tho scenery of'.tho'route. .It was very beautiful in the Otira Gorge it-self, but there was so little of.ittff .compensate one for going a long distance'to see'it. SETTLEMENT ON THE COAST. Regarding settlement on the West Coast, tho Minister .said that principally in the southern part there was good prospect of settlement, in the future. But lio did "not think settlement would develop to any great oxtont until-railway communication becamo established. ' Railways were absolutely necessary to enable ready access. There was, said tho Minister, 'a belt of land right along the present railway line (which was now down to Ross-from Hokitika) available for settlement, and hero and there were fairly large areas of especially- good lands. Further south tho proportion of good land increased. Tho Minister understands this continued up tho coast from Greymouth through to Inangahua Junction.' Almost all along the railway line there; was land fit for fairly close settlement. .The first lino of. hills was low-

lying arid, biish-clad, but behind them there were very : precipitous and high hills. Tho first line of .3iills,'_ tho' Minister thinks, will all be. settled/in time, arid will provido very good pastoral country. The Coast at present is' conspicuous, on. account of its unbroken stretch) of' green; pastoral country, all tho rest being burnt up. DAIRY FACTORIES IN ERECTION. The .Minister■ visited tivo. Government settlements . some. distance inland from Hokitika. He.droyo seventeen miles along almost dead-level'.country, and it was still three miles; further On to tho foot of tho mountains. A';good "stretch of laiid. was available on both sides ;of. the road. 'Ha found a dairy ..factory':, at .the settlement, with creameries', and in. other places dairies had been erected; 91?... were to be erected.; Butter manufactiiro.'"tfa's„!ehiefly carried on,, but a cheeso factory was proposed to bp, erected as far south as the Big .Wangamii, which Wuld mean cartingvthe; cheese about 34 miles to tho railway,,-head.. The Wangauui, a, very big stream,liquid also have to be .forded. This stream,' .'said the Minister, was the worst he :had. over, .crossed..-. .It .was .very swiftly running,.;:\i;ith ■an . extremely rough bed of loose' stories.' .. .With any rain in. the vicinity the 'stream,.! impassable in. half an hour. . Only under, the most, favourable 'conditions could-: buggies cross with loads. Usually the. passengers 'had to be ferried over, as the jhorse's were unable to negotiate the iqad-'OyeLvth'e stony bottom... HANDICAPS IN THE PAST. ' -The district as a whole suffered from the fact' that. up. to.: the present the .industries had . been, , in . the :South, gold mining and timber, and in the north,;' coal mining 'and timber cutting. .The gold mining, up.to (he present, had attracted the most, energetic of tho labour,, and the result had .'been thai those 'desiring ;to eultivato had not had: firstclass examples, of agriculture . put • . before them for adoption. They wero rather behind in their, methods. All infusion from the East Coast would remedy this.' In tdie past, on account of iihe difficulties of inducing ■settlement on Crown lands, the, Land Board had relaxed the residence arid other conditions. But. the fact farmers had not Resided on.their holdings had kept back settlement, ; arid now'the Board was inclined to enforce the Act. ..1n... some cases this was beinj; made the subject of complaint. SAWMILLING INDUSTRY. Speaking of sawmillirig on the Coast, which in some portions, especially in ! tho Souths is a, : very important industry,- the Minister said that the timber mills did . not make suclvhavoc of tho bush as. in the North Island on account of the frequont rainfall preventing outbreaks of fires. The bush also preserved itself better there' than in the North Island., . Between Rcefton and Inarigahua Junction. a little systematic ' clearing of the buslrwas .going .on, but in tho Buller Gorge and Ton-the hills- comparatively no denudation was noticeable. ' Mr. M'Nab was very much struck with the Buller Gorge,' which, froiri:'.'a scenic ' point of view," lie considered very superior %o the Otira Gorge.' The whole; West Coast, said tlie ; Minister, was suffering 1 more- Or less from drought, , as,; 110 ,rain 'practically had fallen since Christmas. ;.. . RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. , As to railway construction on the Coast, very littlo :was;being-done oil the Westport end ,of tho ißuller. Gorn;e. Work was still proceeding,. Jiowever, on the Reefton Ond towards Inarigahua, at tho upper end of the Gorge.' • The' Minister formed the opinion that it would bo an undertaking'of consider- 1 able magnitude to span - tjio Gorge and link up the two--ends. This portion of the work had not j;ot. been commenced. Other lines under construction 011. the Coast wcro at the Blackball- Spur line, at the Ross end, and .at.. thc\ ; Otira ,'end, so that there wcro at present five points of railway construction on the Coast, not including tho work upOn tho Nelsori-Tadmore section.