The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1877

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 372, 3 July 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1877

Mr. Laverty (whoever he may be) has given expression to statements from his

seat in the Maniototo Council that we cannot, in the interests of Oamaru and the Interior, allow to pass unchallenged. We do not imagine that the wild utterances of Mr. Laverty will have the effect of influencing the opinion of anyone who knows him, and whose support and cooperation in this now notable I nland Railway scheme would possess any value—we have proof of this in the fact that his remarks failed to carry any weight in the Council; but in order that those who are unacquainted with Mr. Laverty' should not be carried away by the absurd reasoning of that gentleman, we will take the trouble to correct some of his statements. He says, " The Pass line opens nothing but wild desolate country, fit for nothing but sheep," and that " Outram has miles of beautiful agricultural land, with an average of good depasturing land at its back. Along its whole line no finer land can be found in the whole of Otago. All present must endorse the fact that no similar area is lying waste under the control of a few men in Otago : vast in extort, with a climate not to be equalled. He had never seen snow lying in the depth of winter—nothing but a vast area of dark country, with snow surrounding it." Truly this is. the description of a " land flowing with milk and honey," and we would have thoroughly enjoyed the description, and have swallowed Mr. Laverty's high-fallutin language ; but he damns his cause by what follows. He proceeds to state that they should stand aloof for a while in order to get proper data. Certainly ; why not? It is very much wanted—at all events, by Mr. Laverty. He further asserts his unprejudiced judgment, and says that he is the representative of a riding ; with which body we have every sympathy in consequence. Mr. Laverty, whilst he exalts Strath-Taieri to the heavens, strikes ruthlessly at all our hopes ; and, if blatherskiting would do it, our darling breakwater would crumble to pieces. He says that " Oamaru would not be the market town, but Dunedin. Oamaru has no natural seaport—it is all superficial, and at any moment may be washed away. We should aim at having direct communication with the principal town and principal port. If we bring our produce to Oamaru we should not be able to ship it." Where in the name of fortune Mr. Laverty gleaned his information would, no doubt, prove a puzzle to anybody but that gentleman himself. We freely acknowledge that artifice has done a good deal for the port of Oamaru, as is the case with many more pretentious in the world. But the substantiality of our harbour works cannot now be called into question with the slightest degree of truthfulness. The breakwater has stood the force of the most severe storms for several years, without any perceptible deterioration. The fact that we have had to resort to harbour works is no drawback, except so far as the expenditure is concerned. We, of course, cannot boast of numerous sandbanks and a tortuous circumscribed shallow channel, such as those of the Dunedin harbour, but we may be proud uf a port whose waters are quiet, deep,

and sufficiently broad to accommodate a fleet large enough to minister to the requirements of the whole of the north o Otago. Notwithstanding the earnest prayers of our southern friends, the Breakwater will not . only continue to exist, but it will increase in size. We are not dealing in platitudes, in which respect we are different from Mr. Laverty —the masters of the numerous fleet of regular traders to our port, propelled by wind and steam, can testify that they have found less difficulty in coming to an anchorage, less trouble in getting out, and just as much security in the Port of Oamaru, as can be found in any other port in the Colony, Dunedin not excepted.