THE Grey River Argus. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 178, 5 March 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1867.

The people of Nelson have for some time been quite carried siway with the idea of a railway to the West Coast. All other methods of developing the resources of the country, and almost every other possible consideration they appear williug to set aside in favor of their great pet scheme. Those who have raised their voices iv the direction of prudence have been regarded as enemies to progresSj and too antiquated in their notions to be worth li&teuing to. It is well-known that a scheme for constructing a railway from Nelson to the West Coast — the Buller or the Grey — has been before the public for some considerable time. The Government has offered certain conditions to induce contractors or capitalists to take up the undertaking, but up to the present time without success; the opinion, however, being entertained by the Nelson people that the Province can still afford to offer inducements sufficient to ensure the construction of the proposed gigantic work. It is not surprising, therefore, that the railway question should lai'gely enter into the contest for ; the Superintendeucy— in. fact, it'appears.-to have become the sole question on which the choice of Superintendent is to rest. Mr. Curtis, one' of the candidates, has declared himself in favor of the railway, although, without giving airy definite reasons for doing so ; Mr. Barnicoat, another-can-didate, is also a railway man, and the only caudida f .o "whose opinion can be looked upon as worth anything — Mr. Blackett-— lms on that declared himself to be actually opposed to the scheme, jand has given such very sound reasons 'for objecting to it that we cannot avoid noticing them. He regards the present scheme as too crude, and the plan of payment as unlikely to tempt contractors, the area of good land' suitable for settlement, either pastoral or agricultural, being quite insufficient. Mr. Blackett, who speaks with the authority of Chief Surveyor of the* Province, tells the people of Nelson that "the interior or western portions of the Province consisted mostly of a network of narrow • valleys and ' high ranges, many of the ranges " rocky and precipitous, the valleys containing a : moderate amount of level land ; of all degress of •fbodness. ' This level land was in patches, scattered about, and not in continuous blocks. The Lower Grey ■and Maruiaplains were exceptions to this, as they both contained agood deal iof flat land, and the Maruia v plains much good' grass; land; but as" a rule the most, of the land was covered with bush. The surface was intersected by 7 ia number of rivers and streams; varying from four and five to eight or ten' miles < lapart; and when it was considered that 'the-. valleys run from the mere, breadth iof the water hemmed in .by precipitous cliffs, ->iu some -cases, to from a quarter of- a mile up to a. mile and a mile and a. half wide, "-arid that" the rest of the surface was made up. of hills and mountaiu ranges of different degrees of' elevation and steepness, -it would -be obvious thaji|he. quantity of level or even moderately sloping land, mint bear but a small proportion to the entire area.. -„ ;.,.-,'_.■ :• .-• ; - . ■•• He is also wiser than to think that a railway from Nels6n would lead to the West Coast ports ceasing to import theiri from Australia. " Still, he : /thinks, .that -,'a railway': would . un-i doubtedly develope the rich mineral j resources, of the interior— especially j-the Coal fields, and lie urges that ttK (induce' capitalists to undertake" the line? jthe fullest amount of- information should* ibe collected regarding the coal deposits. Mr, Blackett, however, would apply the land grant system to the construction ofshort lines on the coast or elsewhere.. In his address to the electors, he is reported to havo said :---r" v. . We might make use of the^rihcipal of the Act, and apply jt t° the construction of shorter lines in different parts of the province, taking care that such short lines should be so constructed as to form portions of a general scheme, so to be carried out as our means of.ddirig so improved. And this siigv gested another modification hi the Act, and that was' that the. Superintendent should be

empowered, not only to reserve land for pay- 1 ment of the whole line from Nelson to Cobden, but also for any smaller portions of that scheme, or any other it might be. deemed desirable to elsewhere. He might instance, in support of this idea, the proposition to make a line or a tramway from the Buller port to the Pakihi, some 17 or 18 miles, and there; was no reason why we should not make a line there if people would take land in payment— (hear, hear); He believed in this way it might be easier to find a. series of ca'mpanies or contractors who would engage to make 20, 30, or 50 miles of line each, than to find one company who ' would undertake to make 200 miles. This modification ha thought worth consideration, on the principal that half a loaf was better than no bread ; if we could not accomplish all we wished, try what would be found more easy and practicable. Here he could not help remarking that whatever might be said of supplying the West Coa3t from Nelson, the pores on that coast would undoubtedly have an advantage over Nelson by their nearness to those diggings near the coast, and the object of openiug up the oountry would be better accomplished as regarded those ports by short lines from the coast. We thiulc that. Mr. Blackett's idea is by far the most practicable, and a great deal more likely to. suit the exigencies of the country than- the costly trunk line. In coarse of time, as the chief centres of population have become connected by branch tramways or railways, it will be comparatively easy work to combine them all in one perfect system. A striking commentary on Mivßlackett's remarks is given by a correspondent of the " Nelson Colonist," who shows that the receipts of the proposed trauk Hue, to pay the bare interest guaranteed by the Government, would have to be •£160,000 a-year, or £400 per day, Sundays inclusive.