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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4191, 26 August 1874, Page 2

The Albion Coal Company, in whose initiation and progress considerable interest has been taken throughout the Colony, had their directors' report presented to them recently at Nelson. Unfortunately, it was not of a very satisfactory character, yet it details circumstances which should give the shareholders good hope as to the future. The object for which the company was started, was to work the wonderful coalfield in the neighborhood of that won-derfully-named inlet, the Ngakawhau; and, in the absence of other means of conveying the coal to market, it was unadvisedly agreed to made use of the uncertain harbor of that name. Under still worse advice, the steamer Comerang was purchased for this purpose, and she had to bo sold at a sacrifice, the alternative being to retain her, and to impose upon the company a continual loss in wear and tear and repairs, with tho contingent probability of her being wrecked "on. every attempt to make use of her as a steam collier in such a risky trade as that of tho Ngakawhau. Subsequently the directors entered into a contract with the owners of the small steamer Ino, to convey coal from the mine on payment of a small royalty; but she also proved unsuitable for the situation, and the contract had to be abandoned. A reduction of current expenditure, and a determination to await the construction of the railway now in progress from the vicinity of the mine to Westport, were the consequences, but meantime some further prospecting of tho coalfield has been proceeded with, and we are told that the works undertaken have proved the gratifying fact of the existence of a seam of pure coal fourteen feet in thickness, harder and brighter than the coal which had first been found. This fact, and the fact that an arrangement has

been made with the Government by which the coals from the mine are to be hauled by rail at the rate of 2d. per ton per mile to Westport, have encouraged the directors to be still hopeful, and they conclude their report, which is signed by Sir D. Monro, as chairman, with the following words of consolation and promise : "Although some disappointment may have intended the operations of the past year, they have not been without their compensating advantages in the knowledge gained of the coalfield and its seams. It is difficult to imagine a coalfield, as regards the quality of its fuel and its accessibility, much more favorably situated than that of Ngakawhau. It is entered close to the sea and at its level, and the coal in immense quantities is above the miner. From the mouth of the mine to Westport the distaifte is only eighteen miles, and the country a dead level, with plenty of timber and the best railway ballast. At Westport the coal can be taken away in steam colliers, or other suitable vessels, which will cany several hundreds of tons at a trip. It is the key of the finest coalfield as yet known in New Zealand, and can hardly fail when the means for working it are in existence to prove a source of great wealth to the whole Colony." ONE of tho many enterprises of some pith and moment which have been initiated in Wellington, but which have unfortunately "turned awry," was that of procuring steam colliers for the Colonial trade. The cause of this lay not with the promoters, but was simply the fact that at the time the idea was mooted no suitable vessels were procurable in the Colonies. This excuse for the enterprise falling through is, however, scarcely an efficient one. The requirements of the trade, and the probabilities of a steam collier proving profitable, ought to have been sufficient to have encouraged the promoters to proceed with the project, and to procure from Home builders that which was not obtainable in any of the Australian ports ; and the time is not yet past for that being done. There is rather reason for renewed effort in the fact that other ports are anticipating Wellington, and that some of the Australian coal companies are now substituting steam for sail in the conveyance of coal to market. A steam collier now hails from Dunedin, and a more recent arrival is another vessel purchased by the Waratah Company, and which is for the present intended for the trade between the ports of Newcastle and Sydney. Built at Aberdeen, where the building of iron ships is now becoming to be as important a trade as was at one time the building of first-class wooden clippers, the Waratah, as she is called, seems to be eminently well fitted for her particular purpose. As a carrier she is described to be complete, her capacity being equal to 500 tons, and by discharging from three hatchways, each worked by a separate steam. winch, she is capable of turning out her cargo at the rate of twenty-six tons per hour. Compound engines give her also good speed, with a very small consumption of coal. Her dimensions—lCo feet long, 24 feet beam, by 14 feet depth of hold—are, no doubt, in excess of what would suit the New Zealand harbors, where coal is now only available for shipment, but accustomed builders can easily adapt their knowledge and skill to particular circumstances, and, on specifications provided from the Colony, would, no doubt, soon be able to get any Colonial company a vessel thoroughly suited for such ports as Greymouth and Westport, the two coal depots from which the bulk of our coal is likely to be received for some years to come. The construction of a railway from Nelson to Brunnerton is a project which has been befoi'e the country for many years, and lias held a prominent place in the minds of the good people of Nelson City, when then - mental energies are excited into action. Meetings in connection with the subject have lately been held, and the Provincial members in Parliament deserve credit for their attention to the wishes of their constituents, if this attention is to be estimated, as it fairly may be, by the interviews they seem to have had with the Premier and the Minister for Public Works. Their last discharge of this duty took the shape of a letter to the Premier, which was signed by members of both Houses, and which, according to a copy furnished to the local papers by Mr. Richmond, M.H.R., was as follows : Sir,—We have the honor to transmit to you herewith copies of resolutions passed at a public meeting held in the town of Nelson on the 7th instant, to consider the present position of the construction of a railway from Foxhill to Brunnerton. We wish particularly to request your attention to the opinion expressed in the first resolution, that a line via Tarndale would fail to develop any of the resources of tho Province of Nelson, which can only be effected by a line of railway opening up tho Buller, Inangahua, and Lyell districts, an opinion in which we entirely concur. We desire further to add that wo are convinced that the Government will find, on inquiry, from persons acquainted with the route via Tarndale, that not only would the railway pass through a country unsuitable for settlement, and unproJuctive of traffic ; but the elevation,' and otherwiso diflicult charactor of tho country over which the line must bo taken, would make it diflicult and expensive in construction, and it would be unavailable for traffic in the winter months, In consequence of tho obstructions caused by the fall of snow. It is added that Mr. N. Edwards appended to his signature to the letter, the words, " excepting the last paragraph of this letter," and to Mr. Edwards is due the merit of exercising a wise discretion, for it is strange how gentlemen to the majority of whom the country is a terra incognita can be "convinced," of what they so strongly assert. It would be preferable, in any case, that inquiry should be made, as the Government itself has proposed. There was inquiry as to tho route regarding which Nelson residents were equally " convinced," but Mr. Caloutt's examination of the country proved that convictions entertained, with regard at least to one point of inquiry, were egregiously erroneous. The general and individual efforts made on the West Coast of the Middle Island to render the country accessible by sea or land, if they are not always wise, are at least worthy of praise on account of the enthusiasm which they exhibit. Greymouth, for instance—foolishly it seems to' be, wisely it may be—speuds a considerable amount of money in employing foreign engineers and printers to inform the Government and the public how the River Grey .can be converted into a greater harbor for shipping than it is in the state of nature in which it was found and still continues. Hokitika is literally so highminded as to contemplate the crossing of the Southern Alps by railway, or of penetrating them by tunnel at a great elevation ; and, baffled in that idea, the community, or some of them, conceive the possibility of achieving the same object by " laying rails " from " Dau to Beersheba," or actually from Hokitika to Martin's Bay—thence to'Duuedin: a work which would be but a trifle les3 difficult or costly than tho tunnelling of the Swiss Alps or tho Straits of Dover. Due enthusiast among the number, of a more practical turn, invents the better idea of exploring for a yet unproved pass between the West and East Coasts, and, basing his action upon some experience and more hope, has started for the alpine regions to test a belief which he entertains contrary to the experience or dicta of previous explorers. He is a Mr. James Evans, a hotel proprietor by profession, but a bushman by preference, and, with another accustomed bushman, he has started to trace what ho hopes may prove to be a pass to the plains of Canterbury which is as yet unknown. According to the description of tho West Coast Times the routo by which he is to proceed iB up the Waitalii, about twenty-five miles from his starting point, and the following are the reasons which induce him to undertake the work: —"Between forty and fifty miles inland, as the crow flies, the river or some other that joins it, divides into three streams. One of these flows down to the West Coast, another goes off diagonally, but a third flows to the eastward through an as yet unexplored canon or gorge. As it must be very evident water cannot run up hill, there seems every reasonable ground for believing that either the stream in question finds some lake into which > to empty itself, or that it affords a clue to a route through the rift into tho MeKenzie country, or some other part of the low lands of Canterbury. Tho country en routo is described as magnificent. Timber flats witli splendid trees of tho most valuable kind of wood, long roaches of beautiful pasture, and everything in short to tempt settlement of the most substantial kind. It was whilst cattle hunting, or cattle recovery rather, that Mr. Evans struck this spot, and had he been duly

provisioned he /would have followed the apparent pass up to its extremity. On the present occasion he makes his trip with better and more complete appliances." It is justly added by our contemporary, that " should he succeed on his mission, he will deservedly earn the gratitude of not only Westland and Canterbury, but of the whole Colony." The readiness with which Mr. Curtis, as Superintendent of Nelson, abnegated his functions on the appointment of a responsible Executive, and the willingness with which, as member of the House of Representatives, he desired to depute to them his duties, or a share of them, as Governor's delegate on the Goldfield's, do not seem to have impressed favorably those who fought for him in that important part of his Province—the Grey Valley. At any rate, the principal organ of public opinion in the district, the Aryus, takes no approving view of his action and its indirect effect upon the government of the Province. Speaking of the Bill, having reference to the delegated powers, passed by the House of Representatives, and thrown out in the Legislative Council, our contemporary says : The object of Mr. Curtis, in consenting to father the Bill in the Assembly, is transparent enough. He was evidently inwardly chuckling over the knowledge that in parting with so much of his power, he would be placing his " responsible advisers" in a fair position to make a spectacle of themselves, on the principle of the old adage about giving a dog rope enough and he will hang himself. The Superintendent of Nelson has sufficient foresight to perceive that if his present Executive, or the ruling spirit of it, had the full authority the Bill would confer, responsible irresponsibility would be carried to such a length that the Executive Council would become a laughingstock for the Colony. The actions of the Nelson Government since the close of the last session of the Provincial Council, have not been of such a nature as to make it safe or advisable to delegate extended powers to it. There has not a single improvement on the old plan been made in the administration of public affairs, and the real government of the Province seems to be in abeyance, Nobody appeara to have any real authority to act for the Government, and in the meantime, while the people are befooled with a bogus retrenchment scheme, the progress of the whole Province, and especially of the goldfields, is retarded through an inefficient performance of the duties which the Provincial Executive was placed in office to carry out. Complaints are coming in from all parts of the disgraceful state of the roads, the consequent obstacles to traffic, and the resulting rise in prices ; the civil service is disorganised, and half its efficiency destroyed by reason of the feeling of insecurity which has spread through the departments, because no officer, no matter what length of time he may have served the public, or how his duties have been performed, feels himself safe, if the responsible advisers or any of them should happen to " have a down" upon him. And yet while matters are notoriously in this state of confusion, the Executive forces the Superintendent to ask the Parliament for extended powers, so that its capability of working mischief might be further increased. The lion, member for the Bruce (Mr. Murray) last night in the House accomplished one of the objects of his ambition this session—he succeeded in obtaining a hearing of an hour's duration, in which he put forward, in a severe criticism of the financial and general policy of the Government, his pretensions to the office of Treasurer at least of the Government that is to follow the present. The hon. member was great upon the loans of the Colony, the taxation of the islands, the railways, the coal formation, the value of the Indian trade of England, the forests, &c., &c. He censured the fathers of the House for suffering the session to draw to a close without having done the duty which he now attempted, in that, his last, effort to relieve the House from the character of being dull and spiritless, not subservient, but simple, 'umble, and obedient, to the Government. And the Government allowed him—as the big navvy did with his little wife when he allowed her to beat him—to go on without interruption because it pleased him and did not hurt them. The hon. member for Clutha (Mr. Thomson) was not content, however, to allow the hon. member for Bruce to run a,way with all the honors, and followed suit with a world of words which might have been amusing if they had not been wearisome, and might have been listened to if the hon. member had not established an unremovable reputation for tediousness. And so on hour or two was wasted in the "last days" of the session.