in its progress, and has been far from remunerative. More recently, however, a series of heavy floods in the river has deepened the bar, so that vessels are now loading to 12 or 13 ft., and the industry is once more brought into a remunerative, if not a flourishing condition. With the harbour deepened, a trade of seven or eight hundred thousand tons a year can easily be done from Westport; and a scheme for this purpose was prepared for the Government some four or five years ago by the eminent harbour engineer, Sir John Coode. This scheme has been under the consideration of the Government for some time, with a view to devising means for its execution, and a bill for the purpose of raising the necessary funds is before the Legislature, and may probably be passed this session. The works proposed by Sir John Coode consist of a series of training walls or moles, similar to those which have given such beneficial results at the sister port of Greymouth, and the estimated cost, including some important internal works and dredging, is £440,000. These works propose to produce 24 ft. of water on the bar at high water, spring tides, and 21 ft. at neap tides. And in the increased revenue which would accrue to Government from the employment of a large mining population at Westport, the proposed expenditure will recoup itself in the course of a few years. That the development of the coal industry will furnish employment for a large population will be apparent, when the fact is considered, that at the present moment, with the comparatively small output yet reached, a population of about 1200 persons are directly dependent on the industry, and a considerable number indirectly. With a very moderate improvement in the harbour, the population would rapidly be increased to 15,000 or 20,000 persons. Having regard, therefore, to the thickness of the coal seams, the facility with which the harbour can be improved, the magnificent character of the harbour when improved, the high quality of the coal, and its proximity to the port of shipment, it seems to me quite clear that the future of Westport is assured; and with the improved harbour, an export trade, rivalling, if not surpassing, that of the great coal port of New South Wales, may reasonably be expected in the course of a very few years. With an abundance of high class fuel produced at a cheap rate, manufacturing industries will doubtless locate themselves at Westport, and what is now a place of comparatively small importance will yet rank foremost amongst New Zealand centres of population.
In reference to the Koranui Company, I may add that it consists of the leases granted to the Wellington Coal Mining Company, and to the original Koranui Company, whose headquarters were at Westport. When it was found that the coal in the Wellington Company’s lease—although of excellent quality—was of too soft a nature to bear transit to a remunerative market, and the original Koranui Company wanting funds, the two combined under the name of the Koranui Coal Company. Financial difficulties overtook this company in May 1883, and an unsuccessful attempt to put more capital into the concern by floating a new issue of shares, led to its being wound up. The whole property was sold in one lot on August 6th, by private tender, Captain W. R. Williams being the spirited purchaser. This gentleman will work the mine in conjunction with his fine fleet of steamers, the “Black Diamond Line,” to which I have before alluded. And in the
