A NEW OVERLAND BOUTS TO THE WEST COAST.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1894, 19 March 1880, Page 2

A NEW OVERLAND BOUTS TO THE WEST COAST.

The " Grey Biver Argus" says :—" On Friday morning last Mr George Walker and Mr Wilson, surveyor, left Lake Guyon, Canterbury, and arrived in Beefton in the evening of the same day. They travelled via Cannibal Gorge to Maruia, and thence down the valley of the Inangahua. Mr William Gardner, engineer to the Inangahua county, formed one of the party, and he says, in connection with the trip:—'The distance between Beefton and Lake Guyon is about fifty-seven miles, and the time taken to travel it by Messrs Wilson, Walker, and myself, was eighteen hours. At present there is about six miles of country to pass through which is totally unfit for horse traffic, and until this portion of the route has had something done to it, I would not recommend any person to attempt the journey to Ohristchurch on horseback. As to the practicability of the route, there is not the slightest doubt, but until more work has been dona in the vicinity of the Spencer Ranges, I would not recommend anyone to make the journey that way.' Mr Gardner further informs us (' Inangahua Times ') that the level country of Canterbury is reached from Beefton under a distance of fifty miles, and thence to Amberley no difficulty stands in the way of traffic. The ascending grade from Beefton to the Cannibal Gorge is almost imperceptible, but the passage of the gorge is in itself somewhat difficult, being rock-bound and percipitous for a distance of between three and four miles."