UNKNOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1398, 11 May 1868, Page 3

UNKNOWN

To the Editor of tho Heuald. Sltf, —" hoße who feel an. interest in this province 'cannot help concerned- i7i>thb-progress<«nd ; ->'> prosperityof "Xhe'Bay 'of Islands Coal Company," and ihe development of these. fit-Ids'.. The qnestion of " fuel " is one of vast importance, and in my opinion fur greater than,that of " gold," for what should we have done if our present fuel, "-timber," had been exhausted, and there was no substitute? . ".' -• ■■:•. , : ■.

Some of your readers miy remember tte great agitation which pervaded the mind of the public in the Mother country some five years since, when " The Thunderer of Printing House Square" wrotej:" Fuel is wealth, " our coal fields are fast exhausting," and which was echoed by the press throughout the kingdom. Sir Roderick Murehison, Sir Chas. 1 yell, and other celebiities of that day, could not disguise the fact that our coal.fields were fast and, that 60me substitute must be looked for ;at -hat time - it was no idle talk with • thoso interested, and much, anxiety was felfaa to the substitute to'be obtained, for those gigantic manufactories, where coal was used in immense quantities. The Imperial Parlia-i , ment even took the Subject,up, and a Commission ;• was i-susd, and sat to inquire into the mutter. Machines were inverted, , and costly experiments made for ■ utilizing our peat bog>, when some time after fresh coal beds'were discovered on the estate of Sir. .Robert Clifton nnd otheis, and the matter was left in abeyance. This agitation, however, and which I have not exaggerated, but rather under-rated, must at least be a reward and an ine-:nt;v,i to those gentlemen who form the directory of tho " Bay of Unnds Coal Company," to develope in this province a substance, the loes of which in the Mother Country would ha<-e been a national calamity, and an end to her greatness. IToreite, let them be ever so raet, cannot last for ever; the clearing of land by the settlers mu»t and does exhaust our present fuel, and what would become of any country, let it be ever so fertile and rich with precious sne'al, without that still more precious substance " Fuel-" It is not the present we have to look to, but the future ; there may be enough timber for our present wants, but it should be remembered that incarrying out thedevel ipmentoi tbisoolony—manufactories, whatever they be, require that indispensible article fuel as their essence. It therefore behoves the settlers in every way to assist those gentlemen vrho have come forward to carry out that great work—the development of our coal fields—and they should also remember that every vessel laden with coal from foreign ports, is money taken out of the province and expended out of it. It is therefore to their interest that settlers should support local institutions, that capital may be kept in the province, and used to promote her prosperity, which, though it may not be felt now, must be in future generations.

Iα taming over a file of papers I came acroii a epeech made by a gentleman, a director of this Company, at a local meeting, and whose interest in thie province is proverbial, in which he says : ■■ Hare wu £65,000, the whole of which sum would have gone out of the country but for the existence of this local Company. Here was a proof of the direct bjnefit of supporting and sustaining local companies;" and which I cannot help submitting to the consideration of thr>je who take, or profess to take, an interest in thif the land of their adoption. Residing in England at the time, and taking an uctive part with others in experimentalizing upon our Peat Bogs, at least enables me to know tho interest and anxiety felt upon tbii subject.—S"ours, &c, W. H. O.