THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam" DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 609, 30 November 1863, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. " Inveniam viam aut faciam" DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30.

The place whicli Dunedin shall hold in New Zealand, is a matter that very much depends upon the prompt and decisive action taken by its own citizens. Whether it shall be the grand mart of commerce and the depot of the steam and postal service; is the great practical problem which bur merchants and.public men have to solve. And what are they doing at this moment to ralise the naiural advantages of the position held by. this city? Are they taking and maintaining the lead ? or are they, merely showing others the way, by suggesting ideas and propounding schemes which they are slow to realise?

Let the situation be briefly reviewed. The few weeks closing the present year will be memorable in the history of New Zealand, as witnessing the inauguration of the Railway system within the colony. To-morrow the Christchurch railway is to be opened. Today we keep a holiday of ceremonial and traditional observance. Business will be suspended; the banks and warehouses closed. The morrow's sun will break . upon a holiday amongst our near neighbors, marking the commencement of a new era of commerce, anew stimnlus given to the processe s by which wealth is created. The past, week again has witnessed the ceremony of turning the sod of what bur Southland friends call their " Great Northern Hailway." This line of which a contract for some seventeen or eighteeen miles has been taken, is avowedly intended to cnnnect the great Lake district of this Province with..: the port '■ >of Invercargill. The Southland journals habitually speak in their summaries of ou.-o-biria-news, of the Wakatip as the "Border Gold° Field " of that Province ;.and we notice that the trick has been played so far successfully that The Argus quotes from the -Wakatip papers, under the head of Southland, in it s Intercolonial News Of course it was to ; be expected that the utmost advantage would be taken of the conduct pursued _by our own Government in throwing practical obstacles in the way ofthe maintenance of direct communication between EJunedin and the Lake country. This project of a Northern Railway has doubtless received a powerful stimulus from the indifference to the Wakatip trafn. displayed by this Province—or, rather, by its Government. - ■ .- ■

Amongst the local politicians "of the Lake district itself, we notice that much, ca-; pital is being made out of the discovery of an available harbor on the West Coast arid1 of a practicable route to it. Smarting under the sense of some real pr fancied wrong at the hands of Dunedin, our Lake friends.are call:----ing out for separation, and rejoicing that, they are in a position to found their claim'upon the possession of a port, according to the condir tions of the Provinces Act. Whilst awarding all honor —as we have done from the first—to Dr. Hector for his really interesting and valuable discoveries, we need not say howpreposterous such a claim is under present circumstances. Much requires yet to be done to prove either Milford Haven or Martin's Bay a port available for mercantile uses. The movement in Melbourne to colonise the West Coast seems to have met with very lukewarm, support. Another of the meetings of its promoters " adjourned," either from the paucity of the attendance or the. lack of interest displayed, was held on the 17th inst., but Aye are told by the Melbourne papers that there were only eighteen persons present, and that some difficulty was, experienced in finding any one willing to undertake the office of Chairman. The A?igus continues and concludes the report as follows ;—" At length the hon. secretary pro tern. wm called tothe chair, and the report of a provisional committee, previously appointed, was read and received. It was ultimately f resolved that the provisional committee should be requested' to continue their efforts, and to endeavour to obtain the names of eligible persons, to be proposed at a n adjourned meeting, as provisional directors of the projected association." This, it must be ponfessed, does not promise any. very speedy utilisation of I)r. Hector's discovery of an available West Coast harbor.

Itis no doubt by the rivalry of tbe several provinces of New Zealand in pushing their special advantages, and industriously im proving every opportunity that either Jthe favor of providence or the chapter of accidents may throw in • their way, that the settlement -of the colony and the i full, development of its great resources will be ultimately realised. It is, not for one member of the body to be jealous ofthe rest. The race of competition is healthy and strength-giving to all. The battle is an honest and a bloodless one. But in such a strife it becomes the strong not to act as though they were weak— the richly endowed not to shew the helplessness that belongs to poverty. Where there are many talents given they ought to bear manifold interest. And the question is one suggested by a multiplicity of

circumstances—ls Otago at this moment doing its duty to itself, in maintaining and improving the position that has been thus far assigned to it ?

Self-assertion has always been a practical colonial virtue. Whilst.other countries have had their fortunes and their history made for them, the young lusty settlements of Great Britain have made themselves—and they have done so by seizing the natural opportunities of their position. Notwithstanding all the evidences of activity that are around us, and the proofs of a rapid progress that accumulate day by day, it may be doubted whether this Province is not to some extent, deficient in this worldly wisdom—in this practical virtue as we have called it. There is a want of energy in the prosecution of much needed public works, that strangely retard it in its onward career. What, for instauce, could be more dilletante and impractical than our mode of dealing with theßailwaj*'question—or rather of hanging it up? What, again, are the causes that hinder action in the matter of the Graving dock? In deciding upon the details of the Panama Mail Service, there will be competition as to its t New Zealand terminus. What conld be more effectual in turning the scale in favor of this port than the immediate prosecution of a work so essential to the requirements of an ocean steam fleet! With reference to the provision of similar accommodation at Melbourne The Argus observes :—" The establishment of a graving dock in Hobson's Bay will be a memorable epoch in the history of the colony. We Avill not further comment bn the marvel it is that we have gone on so long without one, and have suffered so little as we have done from the want of it. Look-

ing at the large number of splendid vessels that year by year arrive in our harbour, and the casualties that ships are subject to—when we remember that ", ships, are but, boards," or at best : but iron—it is a matter of no small wonder "that the past and the present Governments have only been prevented from forgetting the very great necessity that exists for proper provision being made in this direction; and that the necessity still continues. It will be a signal and fatal disgrace to our policy and forethought, if vessels visiting Port Philip be still compelled to resort to Sydney to obtain that facility for repair and supervision which shipowners have a right to expect they will find in a port of the first rank, as is Port Philip. Yet, as we'now stand, this must be the case were any large 3hip to meet with damages. The patent slip at : Williamstown only professes to take up ships under 2,000 tons burthen, and the general feeling among shipowners appears to be adverse to risking vessels of so large a tonnage as ;this upon it. It, however, now. seems settled that something shall be done to remedy the. deficiency of dock accommodation in the harbor, and we are glad to see that the Chamber; df Commerce has urged upon the Government that this deficiency shall be supplied."

Great as are the natural advantages which, this Province possesses, and rapid and almost unexampled as its progress has been, v it cannot afford to be idle or halt in the race\>f competition. A growing commerce is exacting in its demands, as well as prodigal in its favors to those who treat it well. It requires to be sustained with a friendly and a liberal hand.