The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1864.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1219, 7 April 1864, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1864.

The Southland Government has lately had Stewart's Island surveyed with much the same result as we have obtained by our surveys of the West Coast of this province. Whatever resources these outlying portions of New Zealand may promise in the future, they offer none which are likely to rival for many years to come those of the richer and more genial East Coast of this island. We do not iegret the efforts made by the Provincial G-overnments of this island to explore and roughly survey the West Coast. So i long as there was any mystery about it, no English community could settle quietly down to its work, however well that work might pay. Unquiet spirits would always be tempted westward, and the loss of many lives would from year to year be added to that of those already sacrificed in endeavouring without adequate means at command to explore a very rough and dangerous coast. It would have argued a very apathetic and unenterprising spirit in the rulers and legislators of this island if any uncertainty were allowed to exist long as to the character of any portion of it. We hrfve now learned, at the cost'of many valuable lives and of a considerable expenditure,. Avhat the West Coast really is, and what temptations -it offers to the settler. Many independent reports from persons variously qualified have been laid before the public ; arid it is only a fortnight ago that we were able to give our readers Mr. Bain's narrative of his dismal adventures on the southern portion of the West Coast of the province, which he had undertaken to survey. Notwithstanding the riches lying undeveloped in the Grey coal-fields, the indications of gold near the Nelson, frontier, and the vast forests of magnificent timber which stretch for miles along the coast, it is improbable that any great outlay on means of communication with the West Coast at the present time would bring any adequate return to the province. There is a very general expression of opinion here against any further expenditure on this account at present. All the money that can be mustered will be wanted for developing resources more aceessibleand more remunerative, and itis felt that under such circumstances no Government or Couucil would be justified in attempting to force on a premature settlement of a country less attractive to the colonist than that at our own doors. We are not rich enough to fit out costly exploring parties in the cause of science, and enough has been done f for the present to lay down the geographical features of the country and to make known its character and resources.

During the last session of the General Assembly, Stewart's Island, hitherto a sort of no-man's land, was annexed by Act to the Province of Southland, and we read in the General Government Gazette of the 25th March, the report which Mr. Heale, the Chief Surveyor of the province, has made to the Superintendent of a recent visit to the island. Southland, after taking possession, has taken stock of its new acquisition ; and so far as the report before us goes, the new territory is not likely to add much to the immediate wealth of the annexing province. If the harbors 011 the coast of Stewart's Island are far better than those on the West Coast of this province, the timber is much poorer, and there is no mention of any indications of coal. There is very little land available for immediate settlement, and the climate is cold and wet. The fisheries might be largely developed, and great facilities are offered for ship-building; but Mr. Heale evidently thinks that there are no temptations for settlers equal to those offering on the main land. It is true, he suggests that if Nova-Scotians were introduced they would find congenial employments in the forests and the fisheries, with a climate decidedly superior to that which they had left. But we do not see why he should expect that these hardy settlers should remain on the island while more remunerative employments and a still better climate were to be reached by a short day's sail. On the whole, we may conclude that neither Stewart's Island,

nor the West Coast of Canterbury and Ofcago are likely to attract settlers for many

years to come. ( It has been foreseen for some time that, ( with the increase of population in the diffe- j rent settlements of New Zealand, the necessity would increase for a central penal establishment, in which long-sentence convicts , could be kept apart from other prisoners, ! and their labour at the same time made , really useful to the Colony. Some time ago j we suggested the West Coast of this islafid as a very suitable place for such an establishment, with a view to the building of a harbor of refuge on that inhospitable shore, with the aid of the slave-labor that might be available. We still think that some such plan would be found to offer great advantage from many points of view. The convicts would be far enough removed from their old haunts and associates to make the prospect of punishment a greater terror to the criminal classes, while telegraphic communication between the officers of the establishment and the centres of civilization might be kept up without great expense. At the same time the convicts' labor would be employed in the mauner which has been found in Australia most beneficial —that is, in the preparation of the country for occupation by free settlers. In this way the works necessary for the successful settlement of the West Coast, and the development of its resources, might be gradually carried out, where no province would be justified ingoing to immediate expenditure. Apart from all considerations of probable local traffic arising from the coal mines and the timber trade, a harbor of refuge on j the West Coast will be a necessity in future years for the safe navigation of these seas. That ill-fated bark, the wreck of which Mr. Bain found on the beach in the course of his exploration, might have been saved had there been any port to bear up for on that desolate coast. The ships that now are endangered on the shores of New Zealand areas nothing to the numbers that will be imperilled in the future, unless steps are taken to make existing harbors more accessible in bad weather, and to create others where they are most wanted. While the West Coast appears to us to be the best place for locating a central convict establishment ; it may be that Stewart's Island has still greater advantages for that purpose which we do not yet know of. Both the West Coast of this island and Stewart's Island are isolated from the more populous settlements, and the resources of neither locality are likely to be developed by free labor for a long time to come. It is worthy of consideration how far either of them may be found suitable for the central gaol so much needed in this colony.