The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 501, 22 August 1857, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, August 22. The, Sumner Road has reached a stage in its existence which enables us to see our way through it. The history of this road is one of the most curious in the annals of road making. It has been taken up and dropped, and taken up again ; it has been the cause of disputes and contention ; a reproach to us amongst our neighbours, and a stumbling block to ourselves. Mount Plea, san't has indeed been ' ttie.Hill of Difficulty' to the Canterbury Pilgrims: And yet, alter all, it is nothing when compaied to the

obstacles to be found in other countries or even in other provinces of New Zealand Any of our readers who have ridden over the Para-Para Hill, which divides the Horokiwi Valley from the coast in the Province of Wellington, will see that the Sumner Road has been made a bugbear here, and is not so great a difficulty as has been imagined. Of course such an undertaking requires money; and we suspect that formerly the tightness of the public pur Se was at. the bottom of most of the strange grumblings against the Sumner Road. On any other hypothesis they would be totally unintelligible.

We have so often argued the necessity of this work, that it is unnecessary to enter again upon the discussion at any leno-th That a cart road over the hills must be made sooner or later is generally admitted. There are a few persons who think not,- —we have heard for instance of a balloon as the proper mode of egress from Lyttelton. But most people entertain the old-fashioned idea that between the producing country and the place of export there ought to be land com. muhication, whatever means of communication may spring up by water. The Bridlepath over the hills is riot sufficient for our increasing traffic. The very fact of a daily mail cart running between Lyttelton and Christchurch with mails and passengers would do more to unite, the two towns than anything that has yet been done. Tlii isolation of each; town with respect to the other* is at present very extraordinary. The inhabitants of the two have different tastes different political creeds, different ideas of geography. You may almost know a Lyttelton from a Christchurch man by his face. The pack-saddle over the hill and the tax-cart from the foot of it to Christchurch are wretched makeshifts in our seventh year, whengcompared with the progress made in all other respects. As to the point where the cart road should surmount the hills, this has been over and over again decided by almost all the professional engineers in the province, as well as by Mr. Roy, who came down with Sir G. Grey to inspect the hills. It is strange that it should be for a moment believed that unprofessional men know better.

Amid all this vacillation, it is fortunate that there were some people in the province who adhered steadily to the purpose they had in ,' view. It ■became evident to: his Honorthe Superintendent that the large sum required for completing the road would not be at our disposal altogether, and that the only chance of accomplishing a work of vital interest to the province would be, to spend by degrees such sums as might be available. Our readers will remember the long discus&ions which ended last year in the refusal of the Provincial Council to vote money toward the Sumner Road. This refusal did not discourage die Superintendent. Instead of allowing the former expenditure to be wasted, and the road, which had already co^t so much, to become a [tradition, he put the hard labour prisoners upon it, and thus the work crept steadily on through the year. The state of the works encouraged the Council lately to vote money again for the continuance of the road, and the consequence is that it is now passable for a cart. His Honor has hastened the formal opening of the road, on account of his approaching departure for England, and proposes to drive a tandem round on Monday next. Whether he succeeds in this undertaking i* still problematical; if he does it will be a great fact, and one which bught to unite us to complete the works with all the despatch that lies in our power. The, comparatively small sum that; has been expended on the road up to this time by the Provincial Government would astonish those who have given heed to the absurd mis-statements that have been circulated on this head. We believe that on Monday His Honor will be prepared with a careful statement of the money already spent, and of the amount still unexpended of the vote obtained from the Provincial Council. We may;say that in round numbers the whole sum spent by the Provincial Government does not exceed £7,000, and that there are funds enough in hand to open the road for traffic before the next anniversary of the settlement. So much for the rash and often-repeated statement that all the resources of the .'settlement bad been wasted on the Sumner Road! The old fable of the carter who, when his cart was stuck in the mud, prayed to Jupiter for assistance, instead of putting his shoulder to the wheel, is especially applicable here; for Jupiter read Provincial Government, and for ' praying' conceive » more objectionable and more vehement force of adjuration ; and you have the Canterbury bullock-driver before you. Too often he won't help the Government, and yet abuses them for neglecting what they have not meaiis to accomplish. We are sure that,

notwithstanding their very excusable hastiness of temper on the subject of roads, the settlers of Canterbury will be fair enough to give His Honor due credit for the perseverance with which he has, with small means, and in the teeth of violent opposition, shown the way to land communication betnreen the Port and the Plains.