FACE OF A CITY Choice Of Site Had Many Problems

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 5

FACE OF A CITY Choice Of Site Had Many Problems

When Captain Joseph Thomas arrived in New Zealand in November, 1848, as agent and chief surveyor for the newly formed Canterbury Association, the site of the settlement had not yet been decided.

Because Maori title to the land of what we know now as Canterbury had been ceded, and because Captain Thomas, after a two-month exploration of the plains for a settlement as compared with the Wairarapa and the Waikato—which he knew from a previous visit to New Zealand, and where in any case the land titles were confused— Bishop Selwyn and then Cover nor Grey, in May, 1848, approved Thomas's choice of a site for a Church of England settlement.

Not the least important requisite was a good harbour. There was some question of Lyttelton, then Port Cooper, being included in French territory, but when Grey decided that both Port Cooper and Port Levy would not be granted under the French claim to Banks Peninsula, there seemed nothing to hinder the development of Canterbury. Yet there were difficulties ahead. Captain Thomas’s instructions were for a chief town on the harbour, with one thousand acres of flat land. This he thought to place at the head of the harbour, near the present Teddington with the idea of reclaiming much of the mudflats. This town w T as to be Christchurch. The port, Lyttelton, would be sited at liapaki, whence a road would cross Rapaki saddle, giving access to the plains.' Here was to be built a small town called Stratford, where Christchurch now stands, with another town, Mandeville, on the Waimakariri. Sites of other towns for building later were also selected: Lincoln, Oxford, and Buccleugh, near Alford Forest. Oxford was to be the site of a college. Pastoral Role Both Thomas and Godley, before the arrival of the first settlers, advised the Canterbury Association that the district would be for many years mainly a pastoral one, but the association could not see be-

yond its ideas of an agricultural community on the English, and the Wakefield, plan, and was angered by the presumption of the advice. With workmen and road contractors from Wellington, Thomas began work in July, 1849. Very soon he saw that his plans for the upper harbour would be too costly, and that Christchurch must go on the plains where he had planned to place Stratford. > This perhaps was not too serious a change, but when

the Maoris at Rapaki insisted on their land being held as a reserve, Captain Thomas must place his port town nearer the sea, at Cavendish Bay, which is now Lyttelton. The new site gave the advantage of deeper water, but increased the difficulties

of a road to the plains; and that road was now more important, since it gave access to the chief town. A road via Rapaki would go through the Maori reserve; the Bridle Path was too steep; therefore the road must go over Evans pass, and through

the small town of Sumner, the existence of which was also the result of the capital being placed on the plains, it being thought that a minor port was needed at the entrance to the Avon and Heathcote rivers—as indeed it was, for many years. ■ Steady Gradient The road over Evans pass was a herculean task, becoming a bug-bear and a white elephant. Thomas’s plan from Lyttelton' to the pass held the steady gradient of the present road, though this was modified by Edward Dobson, resulting in a zig-zag near the pass. A tunnel was planned near the top to eliminate the zigzag, but this was never built. Thomas’s plan for the road, too, took it down on the western side of Sumner valley. The road was finally opened, at no point less than seven feet wide, on August 24, 1857. James Edward Fitz Gerald, then Superintendent of Canterbury, with his customary exuberance insisted on driving a dogcart, a band following, the whole of the way to Lyttelton, but, since the zigzag was still in an unfinished condition, at that point his passengers in the dog-cart

deserted save the Provincial Secretary. Godley Visit In April, 1850, Mrs Godley together with her husband and Captain Thomas, had climbed from the sea at the foot of Evans pass, where they had come by whaleboat, to the top of the pass, and walked a little into Sumner valley. She was not a woman who stayed at home while her husband journeyed. As well as undertaking a camping trip on the plains, Charlotte Godley journeyed with her husband and small son by whaleboat to Pigeon bay, over the hills to Akaroa harbour on foot and by pony, there to take a boat again to the French settlement On this first visit to Lyttelton early in 1850, Godley stopped Thomas’s work since funds were overdrawn, though a few months later Godley pledged his personal credit for £SOOO, and the work went on. No Churches Shortly before the arrival of the First Four Ships he wrote to the Canterbury Association saying that at least £25,000 would be required before the settlers could be put in possession of their land; the wealthier members of the association, not for the first time guaranteed credit. Canterbury settlers came to a site better prepared as to availabilitv of land, surveys,

accommodation of immigrants, and harbour facilities than any other Wakefield settlement. Though the seven clergymen who arrived with the first settlers were disappointed there were neither churches nor schools made ready for them, since this was a church settlement, still, Christchurch was already a city, if only on paper, and a very interesting paper this is to examine, as we shall see. [To be continued]

The second of six articles specially written by RUTH FRANCE for the Christchurch ic Trust.