The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY. MAY 19, 1882. THE SUMMIT ROAD

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 610, 19 May 1882, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY. MAY 19, 1882. THE SUMMIT ROAD

!N(>\v tliul Tsu'liuTDPnt is in session there is row question tlint fihould above all others engine the nttention of the resiVtfjils in the County of Aharon. The fisjlit Iw'twotni tiie (.'onnty Council nnd liond TJnimleie altogether an outside one and in the meantime ilif public interest should not puffer. The Peninsula, which is another name for the County of Akaron. from its geographical position has - !"t linn nble to pnrticip.ite in the Public "vV (j:);.s Policy 1o the some extent ns some other parts of the Colony. At the Pnnip time large tracts of land have been sold nnd tlicrc has been a consequent i ricro use of money in the chcsi. The Peninsula never has liad its fair share returned to it in the shape of money for permanent public works. The time hah now come when the <xpenditure from Loan might be fairly called upon for its share of contribution towards the development of the lands of the Peninsula.

From a notification published in our last issuo, it will be seen that the Akaron smd Little Hiver Railway is to bo pushed on along Lake Forsyth. To take advantage of this, it ia necessary that the main roads of the district lead up to the terminus of the Railway. Hitherto it has boon the object of the various Road Board districts in the Peninsula to make ro.uis within their own particular boundary, without reference to the requirements of their neighbors ; and hence a system has arisen of roads being made from each particular Bay to the summit, without any further outlet. Little Aknloa, Ukain's, and Le Bon's each spend their fair quota of their funds in making , roads to the boundaries of their district, and there, very properly, their work ceases. The travelling , public, ami their constituents at the same time, are landed on a magiiificcnt elevation, from which they have again to descend to lake advantage of what is known as the main road.

This is nut as it should be. The formation of the Peninsula Summit Road is a work of Colonial importance. It engaged the attention of several Provincial Councils, and the keen comnmn sense of Mr Robert Rhodes saw that its formation was the only way of developing and openi g out the different Bays of ilie Peninsula.

This is a question in which the County Council and all other public bodies in the district are equally interested in, and they should lay aside every disagreement to obtain the one object of having a common Summit Road, from say, the end of the Long Bay road, at Mr ChappclPs, to the hotel at Barry's Pass. The formation of a well graded and macadamised road along the summit of the range indicated, is in no particular Road district, it is the part boundary of some and runs through valueless country in others. We believe that a good grade can be got on the line of road as laid out, with tho single exception of the small piece between the old and new Pigeon bay roads, and if in this case a small < ompensntion has to be paid for deviation, the public advantage would amply repay it.

In the construction of the road, we propose that a comparatively small sum would require to be expended, and the advantages will be the giving an outlet to Long Bay, Gough's Bay, Waikerakikari, Le Bon's, Laverick's Bay, Okain's, Little Akaloa, and Pigeon Bay. These bays will then have what they arc entitled to, in common with the rest of the colony, a fair chance of communication with the railway system of New Zealand, for which they pay their c.v ta of taxation.

Whether n fresh loan is to be raised or not during the present session of i arlianient, is a question not at present under consider ition, but whether it is, cr is not to be, every land-holder on the Peninsula should keep steadily in view the neressity for the Summit road, and recollect that the formation of that road is a r asonable charge on the Public Works of the Co'onv.