MOERAKI.

Otago Witness, Issue 1155, 17 January 1874, Page 12

MOERAKI.

The extraordinary variations of temperature, and excess of rain, still continue to be the leading features of the season — probably the late spring and present summer are in these respects unprecedented. Taking into consideration the dryness of climate in the great /wheat-producing countries of the world — Russia, South Australia, California, Chile, &c. — one is tempted to ask : Can a country, so different as ours is from these, be also adapted to the production of that cereal ? If so, nature possesses even greater adaptability to altered conditions than scientists give her credit for.

Some of the hands employed upon the railway works are, as the season advances, still withdrawing themselvea to other pursuits. The work on the port branch is again suspended, the resident engineer being engaged in making an entirely new survey of the line. It is anticipated the costly experiments upon this portion of the Waitaki-Moeraki railway which have hitherto been made will ere long result in a thorough establishment of the object engineers have all along had in view, which has evidently been to find out how not to do it. This point settled, we shall no doubt be in a better position for a fresh start. The deputation (by whom deputed by-the-bye ?) which waited upon His Honour tht. Superintendent the other day, concerning " the present unsatisfactory condition of the new jetty at Moeraki," will, it is hoped, not be without its influence in the right direction. The necessity for something being done in the matter is obvious. The time being now arrived when the prejudices to the use of Kakanui stone have worn themselves out, it only requires a trifling mitigation of the disabilities under whioh it has so long laboured to make the produc-

tions of the stone quarries of Kakanui of equal importance with those of the coal mines of the Hunter — in other words, there is no reason why the stone should not find it» way into every important centre of the South Pacific. The difficulties which stand m the way of the rapid extension _of the trade are the impossibility of shipping it in suitable sizes at points .of the court* nearest to where it is procured, the long drive to a point at which it might be shipped, and the absence of means for getting it on board when brought there. The fact of stone being carted so far from the quarries as Moeraki is sufficient evidence that it cannot be shipped nearer ; nor is it necessary to* enter upon the consideration of the question how far the completion of the line to Dunedin will operate towards adiver»ioai of this-descrip-tion of trafficfrom Moeraki. Assuming the whole of the stone to be ultimately shipped at Port Chalmers, therestill exists aneceasity for something being done, not only to provide for present requirements, but to establish a trade of which the capital may ultimately enjoy the reversion. The, point to which the complaints of the deputation chiefly bore reference, the want of conveniences for shipping at Moeraki, may, I believe, be met with not much trouble. It is clear the new jetty must be connected with the railway line. This should be done at once, and in doing so such an extent of ground should be reclaimed at each side of the rails as to admit of those desirous of shipping stone erecting their own cranes, whioh I understand they are quite willing to do. This being done, the difficulties, so far as the shipping of stone is concerned, are at an end ; as it is dear no steam crane is required at the end of the jetty to lower stone into a vessel, an ordinary winch, furnished with a break and attached to a crane such as that presently in use at the old jetty, being all that is required. The deputation appears to have jumped _to the conclusion that the connection being formed with the new jetty would necessarily shut up the old one, as the lines cross. Thanks to the foresight of our engineers in making the new jetty so high, there is ample room for a loaded truck to pass under, except in the case of anything bulky, which could once in a way be discharged at the new jetty. No scheme to meet the present difficulties can possibly be effeotive, which does not comprehend the reclamation of land from the sea. At present, there is not sufficient space available, either for the ereotion of cranes or for depositing the stone.