The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 46, 7 October 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1863.

The fourth day of October, 1863, will be for ever a red letter day in the calendar. On that day Dr. Hector succeeded in reaching Queenstown overland from the West Coast. The importance of the discovery of this route can scarcely be exaggerated. Although Dr. Hectob has very properly refrained from putting the people of Queenstown in possession of any particulars, yet the fact of his having entered an appearance here, is a guarantee that he has come from the West Coast Some time ago we. predicted that sooner or later a route would be found, and hinted to the authorities in Dunedin the desirability of conciliating the people of this district by giving to them one tithe of what they were entitled to, in the shape of roads, &c, that they might be enabled to get the very necessaries of life at something less than famine prices. The prediction has been verified —the hints and prayers were unheeded. We will not now crave much more from the authorities at Dunedin. We are at the present time two days nearer to Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, and other important ports of supply than Dunedin is; and will pledge that the Victorians will, in less than six months, open up the district in a way that will give a shake to the miserable community of Dunedin. As a matter of course the Government will immediately set about giving us roads now, and make a futile attempt to retain the trade of this district for Dunedin. We are inclined to think, however, that the Lake will now become the most important district in the Province, if not in the Middle Island, and the great

central market. When the Southland Go-

vernment have completed their line of road to the Lake, which is being quickly proceeded with; when the Otago Government have completed their line of road to the Lake via the Dunstan (which is being thought about); and when the route is opened to the West Coast and a harbour established thereat, then it will be time for the people of this district to take the necessary steps for having a new Province constituted. We speak, keeping always in view that the General Government will take the control of the goldfields. It is patent to any observer that the end of the present system is near. It is very much the interest of those in this district to secure a redivision of the Island, and reduce the limits of Otago, by taking off a slice large enough to make another Province. Were a harbour established at the mouth of the river up which Dr. Hectoe came with his schooner, and a line of road or railway laid down from that harbour to the head of Lake Wakatip, there could be no grounds for refusing such a demand. We are not visionaries when we say that this may be accompb'shed before the coming autumn fades into winter. The extent of line required would not be fifty miles —two days' journey by drays on a road, and one hour by railway communication. Vessels, as they at present run from Victoria to Southland and Otago, have to pass through latitudes where strong winds are prevalent; and many a dismal wreck declares the violence of these gales. The least evil resulting from them is a constant delay in making from port to port in anything like regular or fixed time. If Dr. Hectob's report should bring to light some entrance which is destined to become the highway to the gold-bearing districts farther north than these fatal winds, in addition to the safety thus secured there is a settled quickness of communication.

We await with considerable anxiety Dr Hectoe's report. If, as we anticipate, the route which he has discovered places us within four days of Victoria, and shows a likelihood of our being able to reduce that time several days more, then the value of this discovery to the inhabitants of the district generally and Queenstown in particular, can scarcely be estimated. The meeting on Mon. day was certainly the meeting of Queenstown. For the first time we have seen the inhabitants like loving brothers, each striving to outvie the other in showing his appreciation of the hero who has so ably begun, and successfully completed, the great work of opening up a new country. Such a sight is certainly pleasant, and shows that the hearts of our townsmen are in the right place after all, and that the recent bickerings have only arisen from want of some active employment-