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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 949, 11 August 1871, Page 2

The maintenance of the Christchurch road is one of tho heaviest burdens on the local revenues of Westland. It is a work the exact cost of which can never be accurately estimated, on account of the impossibility of calculating the damages which a single storm may cause. A year or so may pass and leave the road little injured ; but a single stormy season may destroy large portions of it, as has recently been the cas&. The road may perhaps be considered to be self-supporting, from the facts that the tolls received and the advantages which the inhabitants of Westland derive through its being a good channel for the supply of cattle and sheep, may counteract the heavy cost of keeping j the road in order. But admitting that there is a good deal of truth in this, it is no less a fact that the advantages are equally enjoyed by the people of Canterbury. But for this means of transit they could not enjoy the profitable outlet for their surplus produce which the West Coast diggings afford. Had it not been for this road, seaborne cattle would come into close and advantageous competition with the flocks and herds of the Plains, whilst the losses on the journey along river beds and bush tracks such as formed the only means of travel in the old days would make cattle driving from Canterbury a profitless undertaking. Again, Canterbury — and even Otago— is as much interested in the mail communication as we in Westland are. The Australian mails, those via Suez, and the local correspondence, all travel this route, and it is only fair that the cost of maintaining it should be equitably divided. Ifc is monstrous that because that portion of the road which passes through Westland happens, through natural circumstances, to be the most difficult and costly to maintain, the whole of the cost should be thrown upon the County. Canterbury, we believe, does not require to expend more than £500 a year on its part of the road, whilst the Westland portion costs fully £3000 in one way or another. The tolls bring in a considerable sum, but not to such an extent as to seriously alter the relative positions which Canterbury and Westland occupy in regard to the cost of maintenance. It is simply impossible that the limited revenues of this County can sustain this drain, except at the cost of neglecting more immediate local requirements. It was a great nmtake on the part of the County Council to reject the offer of the General Government to take over the maintenance of the road, and by this time they must appreciate their error. But something must be done either to recoup the County or else to relieve it of the extra proportion of the burden which it is called upon to bear. Mr Guinnes3, we notice, proposes to raise the toll totheextentof making a charge of one pound per head on cattle, but surely the Council will never entertain so outrageous a proposal. A tax of this extent would not come out of the pockets of the dealers or cattle owners who use the road, but out of the pockets of the consumers. Indeed, if the lion, member who has proposed this high toll had reflected a moment he must have seen that it would either drive the traffic off the road altogether, and tempt the drovers to use the old track by the Hurunui, or else add exactly a pound a head to the price of cattle at the Arahura. The present toll is not sufficient to affect price 3 ; but the extra charge would give the very opportunity for throwing the whole cost of tolls on the consumers, which the cattle dealers have long desired. The only methods of getting out of the difficulty and of securing a more fair division of the cost of this road, are either that the expense of maintenance sho'ild be divided betweeu Westland and Canterbury as the mail subsidy is ; or, that the road should — as it ought to be — be regarded as a Colonial work, and maintained by the Colony. If the Council were to place the unfair position into which the County is forced before the Assembly we are sure the case would be carefully and liberally considered, but the remedy proposed by Mr Guinness will never accomplish its object.