The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 505, 5 September 1857, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, September 5. We do not state a newly ascertained fact when we say that at the present time the Province of ■ Canterbury is well provided with roads. During the past six months attention has been more than once called to our forward condition in that respect, and no further description of the progress of public works is needed to enable our fellowsettlers to realise the fact. But it is worth while to compare this condition of things with that of a very short time ago, when the state of our roads was a grievance continually in our mouths. Measuring the advantages gained and comparing them with the time in which they have been secured, we have a proof of the progress of Canterbury fit to be placed alongside of the revenue and export statistics. Mr. Dobson, the Provincial Engineer, in his speech at the Road Dinntr, mentioned a few facts which are the substance of bur boast. Three years ago, lie said, there were eight miles only of made road in the province. During that time works have been executed which have opened a line of road before impracticable, to the extent of about seventy miles. These works consist of embankments, cuttings, bridges, culverts, and fords, which when placed together form a startling catalogue of performances. From the jetty in Lyttelton to the northern extremity of the province, a line of road of about ninety miles in length is on the point of being opened; there are on it three great works now verging on completion : the Sumner Road, the Kaiapoi bridge, and the Weka Pass. The chain of communication from the productive districts to the water's edge will be complete at the moment, now very near, when these three works are finished. It is in this light, as part of a great whole, that the Sumner Road, the subject of so much discussion, becomes an object of interest at all. Its achievement gives a practicable road between Port Victoria and the Snowy Range. It would be tedious to relate the progress made on all the smaller works. Our readers are already familiar with the details; and every man who rides a horse or drives a dray on one of the roads so long abused can testify to improvements in his own neighbourhood. Two years ago nine out of ten passengers were grumblers ; last winter the proportions were becoming even ; now (some thanks perhaps to the fine weather) the tenth man only is dissatisfied. We are badly off for an unpopular subject. Only one touch is needed to render the picture forcible. All the public works done ■have been paid for out of the current receipts 'of the province. No rates or taxes have ; been imposed ; no liabilities have been incurred; no other departments of the state ; have been pinched to supply means; and all works have been executed within the esti- \ mated cost. - ;Be it understood that we are proud only of our progress; of our actual position we do not pretend to boast. We are a poor community. A great number of the most prosperous class of our settlers have only ju:>t raised their heads above water; but we | have prospered in circumstances wonderfully

during the two years last passed. Our population, compared with that of other countries, is very small, but it has increased in a most satisfactory manner. The resourcss of the settlement are not wonderful, but they have been lately much developed. Our roads, though remote from an English highway, were not fit for traffic two years ago, but now they are. And when we congratulate ourselves, we do so, not on the perfection to which we have arrived, but on the removal of past troubles, and on the brilliant promise of our future. The record of progress already made shows a necessity as well as an encouragement for further exertions.