The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1882.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3511, 9 October 1882, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1882.

It is very clear from what was elicited from the Hon. the Minister of Lands by the deputation that waited upon him on Saturday that if the Wairoa settlers waut another highway than the sea between the township of Clyde and the port of Napier they will have to make an inland road themselves by means of the Roads Construction Act. The road from Wairoa to Gisborne is being made at the cost of the Government, and will be pushed on as fast as funds are available. To connect Wairoa with Napier nothing will be done, unless the settlers through the county authorities do it themselves. With all the assistance it may receive from the Roads Construction Act, we doubt very much whether the County of Wairoa can afford to undertake the work. In 1874 there w_s a good deal of agitation in connection with this subject, and Mr Rochfort was employed privately to make a report on the proposed road. Mr Weber and Mr Bold also reported upon it, and as these reports may now be almost forgotten we append a summary of them to show the cost of the work:—The Provincial Engineer, in reference to the proposed inland road to Wairoa, reports that as regards the portion of the line between Tutira and Wairoa, the best route to be obtained is tbat chosen by Mr Rochfort. He think?, however, that if the dray road to Wairoa is constructed at all, the line between Petane and Tutira, instead of going up the Petane River, and by Kaiwaka, .should go by Tongoio, following tbe base of the bills at the back of the Lagoon, and then up the Waipatake Valley. The expense, be thinks, would be greater than tbat of the line by Kaiwaka ; but at tbe same time thinks the Kaiwaka line has so many great disadvantages, that it would not be desirable to incur this increased expense. In reference to the cost of the line, he agrees to assume the correctness of Mr Rochfort's estimate for the works mentioned in his report; aud to this, he says, must be added the cost of 40 miles of metalling, engineering and contingencies. :fc.3,SUU, making a total of £38.000. He Wink, some expense might be «red by A>J'lowine the leading range from Waihua to Wall This, however, would shut out the settlement* at Obinepaka and Turiroa and would thus involve the necessity of making branch roads to connect them "Shthe main road. The beat portion of the land which the road would open up ioiSd be that lying between Mobaka id Wairoa. The total acreage of Crown T __ along the proposed line of road is be°4 fo/th/ most part adjacent to the southern bank of ?be Monaica River He estimates tbe annual cost of Maintenance at £3.000. On the same subject Mr Bold reports that he has been over the proposed line, and he regards Mr Rochfort's route as thebest obtainable. In regard to the cost of tbe work, he thinks that if labor was readily procurable at ordinary rates, Mr Rochfort's estimate —£21 700—would not be exceeded. The softer parts of the road, to a minimum, length of 15 miles, would require metalling to make them suitable fori

winter traffic, the cost of which he estimated at £6.000. Engineering and contingencies be places at about the same figure as Mr Weber, £1,485 for the former, and £2.000 for the latter, making a total of £31,185, to which mnst be added a sum necessary to construct a road from Petane to E_waka, so as to avoid the numberous crossings of the Petane River, which he places at £2,500. The annual cost of maintenance he estimates at £1,400. The best country along the line he considers is from 8,000 to 10,000 acres, lying between the Kiwi Creek, which runs into the Waihua and Clyde.