THE WAIKAIA BUSH ROAD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1140, 7 March 1884, Page 3

THE WAIKAIA BUSH ROAD.

si It was Duly to be 'expend that Mr Gordon’s report the W*ikai| Bush Road, W>nld contain a nufuber of mistakes, a« the very slight inspection he was able to poke during a journey from Alexandra tq the Bush, and back to Bald Hill Pl# the Kaiue night, rendered it Umpblsible for him to form any but the vagunt ideas with reference to the country; and as to the estimated cost of the road his opinions must, of necessity be the merest guesswork.* But I was certainly unprepared for such a tissue of absurdities as are contained in this precious report yyhich has ,at length been made public. One thing that at once struck me in the report was the estimated distance' from the Teviot road at Shingle Creek to the bush. In travelling to the bush Mr Gordon was very particular in taking the time occupied in covering the various portions of the proposed traijk, and on our arrival there he asked me my opinion of the distance travelled, and our estimates agreed at that time; bat the report makes it from three to four miles longer. This difference is occasioned principally through a careless blunder on the part of Mr Gordon, which of itself is sufficient to show the utter worthlessness of the entire report. I may mention for the benefit of those who do-not know Hie country, that the only obstacle in the ■. way of a bullock team going at the present moment to the Waikaia Bush, and returning with a load of mining timber, is a swamp situated on a ridge between the head of the Pqmahaka and the Waikaia Rivers. The swamp is about-four miles from end to end—that is, from the crossing of the Teviot track to Potters to the Wniteoombe fpur. At the outside this swamp does not average more than from 18 inches to 2 feet in depth, with exceptional facilities for drainage, and a sound hard. bottom. My proposal was to cut a track right through the swamp to the head of the Whitecombe Spur, which is covered with dead trees, ■ killed by bush fires, (o within-.‘one fourth of- the distance from the too of the-range.-. This timber is excellent for mining purposes, or fencing, etc. I- then proposed to continue the track down the Spur to the Whitecumbe Creek, from which point there is' a. splendid supply of red and black birch' suitable for sawmill purposes. Mr Gordon’s ideas on the subject appeared to be, that if any road was formed it ought to be of a class sufficiently good to enable Cobb and CVs coaches to deliver Her Majesty’s mails to time, under heavy penalties for an hour’s delay ; and consequently he obteoted to the route down the Whiteoombe spur on the ground that the gradients were not sufficiently To remedy this he said it would be necessary to out a track along the side of the range for a distance of five miles before striking the top. Now, I wish to draw particular attention to this—Mr Gordon, gives an estimate of 1.2500 for cutting this side line, and L4BOO for forming and—Powers of Humbug, Meltalling ! /—the road through the entire length of the swamp, so that if his precious sugaestion were carried out, his rood on top of the range, would overlap his side cutting for a distance of three miles ! 1 may also mention incidentally that thelength of the swamp appears to have stretched a couple of miles since Mr Gordon travelled over it. Again, Mr Gor lon estimates the road on thr ShingleCreck spur to cnstLlSOO.and this is for a track where all the heavy traffic would he down hill, but he omitted to mention that when he travelled up the spur he followed the track of the bullock teams that conveyer! Messrs Cargill and Anderson’s wire fencing, and tUe crushing machinery for Alpine H ef Company to the top of the range without a shilling being expended on the track, and it seems rather strange that it should cost LI 800 to' bring a load down again. Throughout-the whole of the report there is the appearance that it has Oeen written to order. Anything that could by any possibility be made to tell against the formation of the road is made the most of, while anything in its favour is studiously ignored. For instance, the statement that timber could be got equally as cheap from Swift Creek, 25 miles from Roxlmrgh, while he omits to state that when the said timber arrived at Bald Hill Flat, it would require to he conveyed up the range to the reefs at an elevation of about 2500 ft. And taking Mr Gordon’s absurd schedule of prices as a criterion, the road to the reefs from the Teviot road should have cost at least LIOOO before timber could be delivered on the claims. As a matter of fact the bul lock teams conveyed timber to the White s Reef Company’s claim when only about L2O had been expended on the track, and it a road was cut through the swamp to the Whitecumbe Spur they would convey mining timber to any of the claims on the Old Man Range for one third of the present cost. In conclusion, I may state that from personal observation I am of opinion that the track could be formed for Mr Fer.us’s (Fosters ?) estimate as published in your last issue, but with this alteration- That I do not consider it necessary to construct a road so far as Crossan’s Spur, and my estimate of forming a track through the swamp is rather more. The following is my estimate of what a sufficient track could be constructed for:— Forming track from growing timber to top of Whitecombe Spur ... £SOO 320 chains cutting through swamp 12ft wide, with side drains, at ■ L 3 per chain 860 Improving track down Shingle Creek Spur 200 Improving track along the top of the range and contingencies 340 Total £2oi'o I am convinced that for the above amount a track could be formed which would enable the miners and settlers to obtain a supply of timber for many years to come at prices far below those at present ruling in the district, which at present are ofW prohibitive to the carrying on of many necessary works—lam. etc., W. F. Forrest. Alexandra, March 4, 1884.