The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1869. ENTRANCE TO THE BULLER RIVER.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 549, 31 August 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1869. ENTRANCE TO THE BULLER RIVER.

Such is the heading of an article which appears in the Illustrated Australian News, as an accompaniment to a pr< tended illustration of the river ar the entrance of which the promising but poor-looking town of Westport t-tmds. The article is, in itself, one of the best caricatures of correct description that we have read for a very long time. The illustration is equally good as a caricature; but, as the News is not usually recognised as a humorous publication, we cannot imagine that it is as intentional caricatures that the article and the illustration appear. We can best account for their appearance by imagining that the writer of the description knew nothing about his subject, except what he drew from that unworthy authority, Mr Wentworth Dilke, and that he did not take thetrouble, by a little inquiry, to supply his probably, at other times, exusahle deficiency. The imperfections ofthe wood-cut illustration we canreadily account for. An agent of the journal was lately in Nelson, procuring views of local and West Coast scenery, woodcuts of some of which were also to be supplied to the Illustrated Westport Times. The agent has evidently procured a view of the Buller as seen from the end of Bright street or Wallabi street a few seasons ago, or a view of Charleston and its background when the site of the town was occupied by tents instead of houses. For either view the illustration is suitable enough. Wo are not sure but it would bo equally as suitable as a picture of scenery on any other river of the many rivers which flow into tho sea ou the West Coast But when it is described as a view of the " Entrance of the Buller River" it is simply ridiculous. Iu tho words of the descriptive article, the artist, if he has not "succeeded" in doing so, has, at least, endeavored to " convey an idea of the swell and surf which, sweeping in from the ocean, and meeting the rapid rush of water which comes down from the snow-clad heights, thus creates, as a matter of course, the river bar," &c. Bat he has ignored facts, and given way to pure imagination when he has introduced., for the low sandy spit of the north shore of the Buller, a rockbound promontory, and he has especially done an injustice to the Buller, and to tho tender feelings of our re spected harbor-master, Capt. Leech, when, for the sake of tho effectiveness of his sketch, he places an ugly lump of ( rock in tho " proud position " of being the principal object in midchannel. Willing to make his sketch accord as far as possible with the description, he has also endeavored to give a faint realisation of the fact that " some of the diggers' tents pitched on tho lower mountain ranges, aro_ visible from tho deck of a steamer sailing along the coast." So we find a group of objects of the shape of bell tents, sugar-loaves, nightcaps, orcandleextinguishers, representing the homes of the mining community, and, as the picture does not include in its scope the Northern Terraces, they are deposited for the nonce on what maybe accepted as the bluffs or terraces which, from Westport, are on the same lino of vieiv as Leslie's Brewery. Prophetically, the picture may be correct in this respect, for these particular terraces are as likely to be auriferous as those to the North of the river, but at present gold or a digging community fcherj non est. Fortunately the artist has failed to stretch his imagination or eyesight as far as the author has done, arid we are spared the contemplation ofthe effects of that convulsion of Nature which can only bring—as the author has brought —tho Kaikoura Mountains of the East Coast within view from the Buller mouth. The following is the article referred to, with humblo representations of the printer's exclamatory and damnatory remarks as he put it in type:—

" The West Coast of Now Zealand is lashed by storms, and her rivers are famed for the da' ger of their bars. In our illustration of the Bullor, one of the rivers on the West Coast, the artl-st has succeeded (?) in conveying an idea of the swell and surf, which sweeping in from the ocean, and meeting the rapid rush of water which comes down the snow-clad heights, thus creates, as a matter of course, the river ba-, with all its attendant difficulties and formidable dangers.—(f " ")_The coast is bleak, and the scenery is of an Alpine character, presenting a succession of ranges, swelling one above another, and—rising upwards to the bold peaks of Mount Kaikoura.—(!—!!_!!!)—Gold was found at the Buller about five years ago, and since the first rush, a large population has accumulated in the locality. About 10,000 people—(O my * * # )—occupy the

township of Weetport and tlie diggings scattered about. Some of the diggers' tents, pitched on the lower mountain ranges, are visible from the deck of a steamer sailing along the coast. The digging community is prosperous, but would be more so were it not for the difficulty of getting across the bar, which forms, in fact, a sort of excommunication from the rest of the world.— (? ?_j | !_ + f t—t t tt) Says Wentworth Dilke, in his " Greater Britain :" "The profits realised on ventures from Nelson to the gold coast are enormous; nothing less than fifty per cent, will compensate to owners for losses on the bars. The first cattle imported from Nelson to the Boiler fetched at the latter place double the price they had cost only two days earlier. One result of this maritime usury, as told mo by the steward of the steamer in which I came down from Nelson, is worth recording for the benefit of the economists. They had on board, he said, a stock of spiiits, sufficient for several trips, but they altered their prices according to locality; from Nelson to the Buller they charged sixpence a drink, but, once in the river, the price rose to one shilling, at which it remained until the ship left port unon her return to Nelson, when it fell again to sixpence. A drover coming down in charge of cattle was a great friend of this steward, and the latter confirmed the story he had told me by waking the drover when we were off the Buller bar: ' Say, mister, if yea want a drink, you'd better take it. It'll be a shilling in five minutes.' "