A HILL-TOP DRIVE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2765, 8 May 1916, Page 3

A HILL-TOP DRIVE

FROM ROSENEATH TO CONSTABLE STREET. "...., According to Mr. T. W. Ward, tho chairman of tho Rosencath Ratepayers' Association, one of the most picturesque and. inspiring motor or carriage drives about Wellington may be very easily created by the junetioniug of iho road that leads fro'm Constable Street along the crest of the hili to the signal station with Roseneath. Mr. Ward points out, that whilst Wellington is rich'in beautiful prospects they are not easily available to the public, except from Brooklyn and K.eiuurn, but in no case is thero a road which traverses the hills that surround Wellington laterally, giving an altitudinous view the whole time.' This, ho says, can readily and economically be accomplished by spending a little money on the road that already exists in a rough state from Constable Street to tho sigual station. That road was made at a time when they

City Corporation found it necessary to find work for a 'surplus of unskilled la- ;, hourers then in Wellington, and orig- , .ually it was intended to be part of a scenic drive through tho Town Belt, but it was never mucn more than a broad - track, which has not been maintained in anything like condition. Tho track, bowever, could bo made into a decent road at a comparatively small cost, and thou, by continuing the road on to con- ■ nect with Palliser Road, near the'Roseneath service reservoir, a hub spectacular drive would be created that would convince • tho visitor that Wellington has some claims to tho picturesque. : The connecting linn would only mean the formation of about six chains of new roadway across the Town Belt at the back of tho signal station, . K) that it could not. bo considered a work of very great magnitude, considering the advantages it offers to the City. -

'J'his drive ha's-been'■made jpossible in recent years by tho rapid develop- . ment -of the, highlands of Roscneath, where the streets have air been well graded and reasonably well formed. Mr. '. SVard . points out that" by approaching such a drive as that proppsed by way Df Oriental Bay "(whien is going to be a delightful marine suburb when tie wall now being built is completed), a splendid view of .tho harbour.: and City would be obtainable from Boseneath, : and in traversing the ridge from the v signal station southward, there are magnificent views of Kilbirnie, Evans Bay, . Lyall Bay, and Cook Strait beyond all ■> the way to Constable Street, from which point: the drive could be continued fur-

fcher by continuing southward to Lyall Bay, and.via tho Queen's Drive Island Bay, and so back to the City, or by doubling back. along the "waterside road in Evans Bay, and citywards by way of Oriental Bay' again. Even if, the'.tinie... for .'.the, prosecution of such a work is not' opportune at present, it is one, thinks Mr: Ward, that should be, borne in mind in l illio.future, more especially as the era of the horse-drawii vehicle is fast waning in favour of that pf the petrol-propelled.car and wagon.