The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1872.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3565, 21 June 1872, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1872.

In a recent article, the Wellington Independer expressed a hope that the General P ment will next session bring in ame ** enabling it to deal with the exists I reserves and coal fields of the colony generally. The subject is one which, at the present time, possesses a peculiar and very direct interest for the inhabitants of Christchurch and its neighbourhood. For the past three or four weeks there has been something like a coal famine, and prices have risen nearly fifty per cent in consequence. The best Newcastle coal, which a short time ago cost about forty-two shillings per ton delivered, is now difficult to obtain at sixty shillings, and those who buy in small quantities pay at least ten shillings more, or, say seventy shillings per ton. This sudden rise can of course be accounted for easily enough, but there is at the same time an impression that the ruling rate is considerably higher than, making all due allowances, it ought to be. If this heavy impost should have the effect of once more directing attention to our own coal resources —and there is reason to believe that it will—permanent benefit must ultimately ensue from what, it is to be hoped, is only a temporary evil. It is, the Independent very properly observes, a carious contradiction of circumstances that, while the colony possesses enormous coal deposits, whilst it annually imports hundreds of thousands of tons from Nevr South Wales, and whilst it has commenced an extensive railway system, almost nothing has been done in the way of developing the resources of the colony in such an important and necessary article as coal. We offer bonuses for new manufactures of various sorts, encourage the producers of New Zealand hemp by bolding exhibitions and in other ways, appoint Committees to inquire into industries of all kinds, and send scientific men afield to collect information which is rarely, if ever, turned to any practical account. All this we have done, making a great deal of show in a small way, and at the same time, as our contemporary remarks, we send hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the colony to pay for an article which we possess in abundance at our own doors, so to speak. It is only too true that our gas works, steam engines, and domestic fires are mostly fed from abroad, and that a large proportion of the subsidy which we pay for the San Francisco mail service goes to purchase New South Wales coals. The Independent does not in the least overstate the case when it says that the apathy shown by the whole colony on this subject is simply astounding.

The case of the Brunner coalfields is perhaps the most unsatisfactory of any that could be cited in the colony. Taking the deposits in this district altogether, it is not too much to say that they contain sufficient coal, of an excellent quality, to supply the whole of New Zealand. The coal, we are told, is easily worked and practically unlimited in quantity, and yet, extraordinary as it may appear, the product of the mine, as at present worked, does not meet even the local demands. The Independent says that this disgraceful state of affairs is entirely due to the “ crass ignorance and lethargy” of the Nelson Provincial Government. There is no doubt a great deal of truth iu this sweeping charge, but we can hardly think that the blame rests entirely in the quarter specified. The fact is, the people of New Zealand are only beginning to realise the great fact that the country possesses immense natural resources, all of which may be developed to their own immediate advantage, and the still greater advantage of future generations, by the judicious expenditure of the superabundant hoards of the Old World. W« had all, more or less, allowed ourselves to be completely weighed down by the commercial depression through which we have been struggling for the last five or six years, and the spirit of enterprise had almost died out. It has, however, been revived by the policy of public works and immigration, and' we may now reasonably entertain the belief that tbe resources of the colony will be developed in due course. It is suggested by the Independent, that a short bill should be passed, vesting all coal reserves in the Governor, and thus enabling the Government to deal with them. There can be no objection to such a measure, and it would most probably bave a beneficial effect upon the Brunner coal-fields in particular. These, it is generally admitted, are by

far the moat important in the colony, both as regards their extent and the qualityot the coal, and it is very desirable that they should be removed from the control of the Nelson Goverument if, as is alleged, the ignorance and lethargy of that Government is the chief hindrance to their systematic development.