The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 114, 21 August 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1877.

The action of the members of " Lakes Ellesmere and Forsyth Reclamation and Akaroa Railway Trust," in providing for the services of an alternative engineer, in case the gentleman who has the priority of appointment should not be able to commence his work at once, is deserving of commendation, as it shows a desire on the part of the Trustees to let no time be lost in carrying into effect the important work entrusted to them ; and that work, although only preliminary, is most important, as upon the manner in which it is carried out, the execution of a scheme which will tend to promote the prosperity not only of the Peninsula, but of the Plains, will depend. If we remember rightly, what the Trustees have to do is, to cause plans to be prepared of a scheme for the drainage of the Lakes, and for the'eonstruction of a railway which will connect the Port of Akaroa with tha main lines of railway traversing the Canterbury Plains, thus, in fact, connecting it with the whole Middle Island. When this has been done, and a report laid before the Governor, the work of the Trustees, so far as the "Act" is concerned, will be accomplished, as they will have to go to Parliament and obtain fresh powers before they can proceed further. It will bo observed that the success of the whole undertaking depends upon the manner in which the preliminaries are performed; they are in fact the foundation upon which the future superstructure is to be raised ; and hence it is of the utmost importance that they should be efficiently carried into effect, that the foundation should be well and truly laid.

The drainage of the Lakes alone is a work which will greatly effect the prosperity of a district, or, rather, districts. At present tens of thousands of acres of land suitable alike for agricultural and pastoral purposes, lie for the grcster portion of the year covered with water, and, therefore, during that time, valueless. This land is so rich, that a month after it is partially drained—which it is every summer —it is covered with a luxuriant crop of grass, of a quality so excellent, that cattle feed upon it with avidity, and become extremely fat. The revenue derived now from letting the land thus temporarily reclaimed amounts, if we mistake not, to only a small sum, just about sufficient to cover the expense of letting out the waters of the Lakes, and no more. But if these Lakes could be permanently drained, an immense freehold estate would be ready for the market, where it wouid at once command a sale, and fetch a high price on account of tbe valuable land of wnich it is composed. The large sum of money thus to be obtained is te be devoted to the carrying out of a work of even greater importance than the drainage of the Lakes, wo mean the construction of the Akaroa Railway ; a work of considerable magnitude, and which will, probably, be of a rather costly character, but, one which we are convinced will yield a handsome revenue for the money invested in it. It would, in every sense of the word, be a reproductive work ; and this is not all,

it would, as we have previously stated, materially benefit both the Peninsula and the Plains'. We have frequently, pointed out the many and great advantages ,whicji wpuld!, aqorue from tjhis work, and it Is therefore uiiiiecessaryjfor us to repeat bur in its favour; they may, however, be 'thus, summed up : A splendid freehold estate be re-, claimed from a wilderness of waters, and easy conimunicatien obtained with what is undoubtedly the finest port, and the safest and most commodious harbour in the Middle Island.