New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4892, 25 November 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25.

Lately the West Coast of the Middle Island has been attracting a large amount of attention. The Kumara goldfields not only drew the eyes of the peoplo of New Zealand to the ■ place) but . also .those of' the neighboring; , colonies. ■ jFollowing close * on 1 the Kumara, the discovery of silver * mines at Mount Rangitoto was made known, and in the latter the public interest seems more sustained, I—the. 1 —the. most brilliant anticipations being entertained concerning them.. It is to be hoped that these anticipations will be realised.;,'; One. can hardly overrate the vast and beneficial influences the mineral discoveries of New, Zealand have exercised in the past. Almost every industry in the colony was promoted,, and population increased at'a then unexampled rate. Anything tending to advance the prosperity of a particular locality must necessarily exercise an advantageous influence on the whole colony; and while bearing in mind this

welt-known fact, we cannot help thinking that it is the port of Wellington (next to the locality where the source of national wealth is situated) that, is most concerned, In the Mount Rangitoto Silver Mines, .uf, any other discovery which tends to the, mineral development of the West Coast. That part of the colony, though rich in elements which conduce to build up the industrial and commercial fabric of a nation, .is , possessed of no . harbor . into which ships could enter sufficiently large to interchange the commodities of distant coiihtries with profit ; 1 consequently it must depend upon more favored places in’ the colonies for its, main -supply of English and foreign goods. Whether Wellington shall 'get that' share of the trade which'might be expected from its geographical position, dependa largely upon the intelligence of those who have the control of harbor affairs, and in a no less degree upon the enterprise of oar commercial men. Some parties are of opinion that the City Council, by purchasing the wharf from the Provincial Government, has as much right to 'make a profit out ; of the transaction as any private firm which might have become, the purchasers. It is not a question of right or wrong j it, a, question of the natural fitness of things. What would be said of a citizen of Manchester, who proposed a tax on cotton, or a citizen of Birmingham who proposed one on iron ? The development of the shipping trade of this port is of as much importance to Wellington as the cotton trade is to Manchester, or the iron trade is to. Birmingham. Therefore we are pleased to see that the City Council has taken a -step in the right direction by abolishing the dues on goods sent here for transhipment. It shows that our civic rulers are in a fair way of arriving at correct notions on the most important element of our prosperity. Let those in authority do’ alk in their power to remove the drawbacks to the trade of the port, and - also afford every facility for the transhipment of goods. Having done so, it will be a reflection on the! enterprise of our merchants if they allow another colony to forward to the shores of New Zealand, productions and manufactures that" were originally imported to the colony from which they were sent here. We desire to see developed to the fullest extent commerce between the various Australasian colonies, including New Zealand, and as free an interchange 's possible of the products and manufactures of each other. That intercourse has increased largely of late, and no doubt in the future a large proportion of the commerce of this colony will'lie with the . Australian mainland'and Tasmania. However, it; is far from the interest of this and other parts of the colony that any portion of our territory should remain a commercial tributary of Melbourne, as the West Coast now undoubtedly is. Greymouth and Hokitika are some eight hundred miles'nearer here than Melbourne, yet Melbourne in the past! has almost monopolised the trade. It would be idle to speculate on the causes. It was doubtless owing to the large influx of Australian colonists of all descriptions, including a large number of commercial men, who were connected with'Australian houses, and also to the smallness of New Zealand towns, the want of frequent communication between the various parts, and , consequent. limited operations of mercantile firms. The above circumstances have wonderfully changed of late. Steady immigration to the West Coast from Victoria may now.be said not to exist, while throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand there is frequentandrapid communication between the several parts, and .in consequence the trade; between Wellington and- the outlying! places has-Increased. Several leading business men of the West Coast have settled in Wellington, and ' this has in no small degree tended to develop a trade with that part, but still it is in its infancy. Victoria has at, present got possession of the trade, and in commerce as well as in law - this is a great advantage : but; in spite of this the trade of a place will gravitate towards the natural centre; and the firms in this city, we are satisfied, if possessed of fair facilities . for : the transport of goods,; will permit those of no other -place to outstrip them in obtaining a trade which by the natural features of' the country should belong to the port. There is no reason why Westport, Greymouth, andHokitika shouldnot bebrought as commercially near to us as Wanganui and .the East Coast. We wish to draw ho invidious distinction between any one port of New Zealand and another. What is now:said will apply to other harbors in the colony, though perhaps in a less degree. i Lyttelton and Dunedin have in the past carried on a considerable trade with the West Coast, and of Nelson it may be said that the bulk of - its trade lay in that direction. 1 We trust that it may continue so in the future. What concerns colonists principally is—that no element of prosperity shall be neglected by the people of the colony. It is out of all reason to- suppose that any port of New Zealand will continue to, depend upon Melbourne or Sydney for a supply of articles not of Australian production or manufacture. We cannot better illustrate this than by saying that for New Zealand to draw upon Australia for its main supply of certain goods would be almost parallel! with a Mediterranean op Baltic seaport being the commercial capital of a a portion of the British Isles.