The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 161, 1 February 1878, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1.

Perhaps, of all the outstanding Provincial liabilities and unfinished road works on the Peninsula, the Mount Bossu road is the most fruitful source ot contention, and difference of opinion It is strange, too, in a question of this kind, affecting, as it does, the whole district, how individuals will utterly ignore the claims of others, and hold out for that which is, in reality, merely an advantage to themselves, and no one else. We, however, regard these works in the light of "public" works, and as. such desire to see them carried out with the greatest amount of benefit to the community concerned who belong to the district in which the works ai c beingproceeded with. To benefit then, in a case of this nature, the community at large, it is not the interests of the immediate settlers on the line of road that have to be studied, but those of the travelling , public throughout the whole Peninsula. A careful insight into this question has led us to the firm opinion that the route over the low saddle in the Wainui range is the best, the two other lines proposed affording more of personal advantage than public convenience. It stands to reason that a road of this kind, which will really be the short cut to the metropolis of Canterbury, nnd as such very largely utilised, should be in the direction which will prove of the greatest service to the majority of those who have occasion to use it. When the grant voted for the formation of the Mount Bossu road, for which the district must thank Mr A. C. Knight, to whose representations and influence in the Provincial Council the obtaining of the vote was entirely due, the Government instructed the District Surveyor to lay off the line of road, which was accordingly done, with the addition of another line, thus leaving it to the Road Board to determine which was the most serviceable, and likely to prove of tlio greatest convenience to the ratepayers. In this way, a line was laid off to the left of Mount Bossu, while another was taken from Wainui to the lowest saddle on the range, and in a more central position. From this low saddle « summit road extends right and loft, and, when it is remembered that, being in a central position, the latter mentioned route, besides being of easy gradient, affords, greater facilities to travellers, is a short cut to the Plains, and that from this saddle it will be possible to .slriice off to the right or left by a ridge road, when it is made, we think that all doubt as to the direction in which the road should bo taken must end. As h;:s been said before, in making roads through a district, the benefit of the community at large is to be studied, not the interests of any one settler, or liali-a-dozeu settlers, who may chance to reside in ih) immediate locality of the proposed route. We have ventured to express our opinion in this'case, and trust that, whatever may be the adopted Hue, it will prove of service to the district.

The course of " Lectures on Education" delivered at the Normal School, Christchurch, by Mr C. O. Howard, the principal of that institution, and which we now propose to publish for the bencJit of our readers, differs from those which Inive already appeared in our columns, in treating of "Methods of Teaching," rather than the " Theory of Education," which formed the subject of the first course. The second course, the delivery of which extended through a period of six months, consists of 21 lectures, nil of which were attended by fully 200 teachers, and it is believed that the benefit of these will be felt in future years in the improvement which theedu-

cational system of Canterbury will develop in the work of those whose advantage it was to listen to them. We cordially congratulate Mr Howard upon his success, and the universal opinion as to the value of his labors among the teachers of Canterbury.

The; intelligence, conveyed in a paragraph in this journal to the effect that the members of the religious sects, who have been denominated Dissenters, have fenced across the road, commonly known, and accepted as the Cemetery road, has doubtless caused considerable speculation as to where the road will now be taken, and how it is that a mistake of so gross a nature in the survey of the burial reserves iv question could have remained so long without being" discovered, and (let us hope) corrected. The fact, however, excuse it as one may, remains, namely, that there is no proper thoroughfare to the Church of England Cemetery. It is needless, of course, to remark that a matter of this kind requires immediate adjustment, and the necessary facilities and accommodation afforded to the public ; but, as report hath it, the Cemetery Board are in a quandary. It appears that in order to meet the extravagant expenses incurred in the enlargement, &c, of St. Peter's Church, a considerable sum belonging to the Cemetery fund has been borrowed and expended, directly contrary to the Synod regulations which say that the money accruing to Cemeteries shall be spent on them and appropriated for no other purpose. This money, then, has been borrowed contrary to statute, and now when funds are required to form a road through the three acres which form the Cemetery Reserve, and which are therefore to a certain extent, private property, and so devoid of all claim on the Road Board, the wherewithal to execute the work is not forthcoming. Doubtless the necessary explanation can be given by the Churchwardens !