The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 269, 11 June 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1868.

A very remarkable illustration of the coolness with wh ! ch the Nelson people are prepared to sacrifice the best interests of the West Coast in order, as they imagine, to subserve their own, is something marvellous, and if the West Coast people quietly put up with this all we caii say is that whatever injury accrues it- serves them thoroughly right. In the Nelson Provincial Council on the 2nd inst, one of the members. Mr Wastney, moved " That as in the report on Mr Wrigg .and in the evidence given by him before the Committee appointed for that purpose, he states distinctly that it is absolutely essential to the success of the railway scheme, that the Brunner Coal Mine should be available for any Company undertaking the construction of a railway from Nelson to Cobden and Westport, this Council urgently requests that such arrangements should be made by the Waste Lands Board for the working of the said mine as would not prevent it from becoming a portion of the estate of the railway company." As a matter of course this motion gave rise to lengthened debate, for the effect of it would be to shut up the Brunner mine, till the moonshine railway was completed, or at best till it was fairly commenced. Now this, in the opinion pf a vast majority of reasonable people, is not likely to come to pass during the present generation, but nevertheless, according to the Nelson dictum,' the mine is not to be worked till it does. At the present time there are between fifty and sixty thousand pounds ready to be employed in opening it up. and there is no doubt that the projected Company will prove, if carried out, a profitable speculation to the shareholders and a vast benefit to the district that it is situated in. The motion we omitted to say was carried on a division. If the Waste Lands Board take any notice of it the effect will be as we have stated, and this solely to gratify the impracticable crotchet of a crotchetty Superintendent, and a still more crotchetty set of followers, who believe that the construction of this railway is calculated to prove the salvation of Nelson. In order to benefit Nelson, the whole West Coast may be beggared for all the railway maniacs care, and in order to get it completed they are not only willing, but anxious to give away the whole mineral wealth of the West Coast within a hreadth of 191 miles of the proposed track. In supporting the motion Mr Wastney quoted that very remarkable passage of Mr Wrigg's report, that we on a former occasion drew attention to, and in order that the 1 public may know the public robbery, for it is nothing else, that is contemplated, and that will be enforced if the Council have anything to do with it,. we republish it. Mr Wrigg says in the 83rd clause of his report —"It is therefore clear to my mind that the 10,000 acres of land per mile proposed to be given in lieu of a guarantee of interest to a company constructing a line, would not be sufficient unless llie mines and minerals are likewise included,." Tho Brunner mine is included .and designated by him as a " spot" only, of a vast coal-bearing area, but sufficiently rich nevertheless to return, at his own estimate, £30,000 per annum profit.

If a " spot" will yield that, what may 10,000 acres per mile be expected to return, especially when " all mines and minerals " gold as well as others are included ? On the probability of this " spot" of revenue being cut off, Mr VVastney thought that the capital would not be forthcoming and hence the tnotiou. But in addition to that little item it appears, as far as we understand, that the Mount Rochfort mine, one of the finest probably in the world, i 3 also to be given to the company when it is formed. Indeed as it appears to us, nearly every available acre of either i mineral or agricultural ground is to be swallowed up in order to bring about this railway scheme. Even if we were prepared to work it at once we could not do so as long as the ridiculously mischievous railway folly is to be launched. If a company will not be permitted to take up the Brunner mine, because it is in the claimed nineteen miles and a half boundary, neither would any association be permitted to utilise the Mount Rochfort coal even if we could form a company for the purpose tomorrow. Was ever such an atrociously insane project concocted by persons of sound mind, and does the Superintendent imagine that, during the years which must elapse before the railway can be floated, our coal measures are to be tabooed ? If the railway was in operation at the present time, it would open up country doubtless, but in all other respects it would be actually useless. Is it reasonable to suppose that a railway constructed through an expensive region,- for a length of 207 miles, could, with the slighte. t prospect of success, compete with water carriage by steamers as at present, whether in the conveyance of goods or passengers. Would the advantages derivable from opening up the country balance the enormous alienation of such a vast amount of public estate, some two million acres in fact, where minerals of all kinds are known to exist, one "spot" of which is estimated to yield £30,000 per annum. We have before said that Mount Rochfort is included in the precious proposed grant or bonus, but that is not all. In the Nelson Examiner of Tuesday, it is gravely urged that if the conJ tractors turn their attention to the Mount Rochfort coal they will save, one-fifth on the carriage to Nelson on the Brunner mine. The whole song is Nelson, Nelson—nothing but Nelson —and public property is to be confiscated, a kind of territorial company is to take possession of our lands, our minerals, our mines, our gold, coal, or what not, in order, as they imagine, to give the Nelson merchants/ a monopoly of the trade of thei coast. That, even if all their schemes were carried out exactly as laid down, they would succeed in thier object, we do not believe, but the unscrupulous impudence with which they deal with West Coast interests to achieve their ends, is astonishing. The time is rapidly drawing on when separation from Nelson, and the erection of a North Westland will be a necessity. The Provincial Council have, by their conduct in connection with the Brunner Mine, given us the first warning. It is certain if we do not wish to be stripped of the most valuable resources of this part of New Zealand, that we must be prepared to defend our own rights, protect our own interests, and preserve our own property by taking our affairs into our own hands. We commend the subject to the earnest consideration of our readers, and at an early date will consider the question of separation —its advisability or otherwise. We may candidly state that in our opinion the time has arrived for such a step, and will give such reasons for coming to this conclusion as we think will convince our readers to the same end.