A FEW COMPARISONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12906, 19 February 1906, Page 6

A FEW COMPARISONS.

To tlie Editor of the' " Titaaiu Herald." Sir.—Hearing so much late, of the West Coast I bethought to go and view the place. So, mounting my bike, I set out across the ranges and passed through varied experiences, including sleeping out one night and a charge of 7s 6d for breakfast at the noted Bealey, which made me wonder whether I was near the Hotel Cecil. London. On arriving on the coastI found the people in full enjoyment of a holiday season, being ip. Kumara the night the Premier delivered his policy speech, and he waxed so eloquent on the glories of : the West Coast, which did not agree with my experience. The gold, which is the chief support of the coast, is becoming scarec, and I was informed that same coalmines have run out-. - The - saw-milling industry is handicapped by the enormously wet- climate. It is not fit- for a white man to be -deluged in rain and mud day after day. The farming industry is practically useless on account of the poor land and excessive wet weather. Unless some means can be devised to have 1 a more regular' climate, in my opinion the land of Ine WestCoast which lias been so much, lauded through the colony of late will never' be any better than it is norr. It- is right"y ■ teamed the Wet Coast! Hairing had enough of these gloomy regions I am delighted 13 I "get back to the more congenial climes of. | the sunny east, where it- is more fit for man to live. I am. etc.. TRAVELLER.