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Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 661, 9 March 1859, Page 3

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times,

Sir, —The subject of road communication between Lyttelton and the Plains has been suddenly revived by a letter from our Emigration Agent, Mr. FitzGerald. Being deeply interested in the matter, I shall be glad of an opportunity of reviewing the possible result of Mr. FitzGerald's communication.

I may commence by calling to remembrance that during the recent sitting of the Provincial Council it was resolved unanimously that a railway and tunnel in a direct line from Lyttelton to Christchurch should be made with all possible despatch; this resolution having the full concurrence of the present Superintendent, Mr. Moorhouse, as also of his Executive Council. „ '^

The intelligence of such a decided step in the right direction having reached Mr. FitzGerald, it was hardly to be supposed that-he would abandon his pet scheme, the Sumner road, without a struggle; and from this we may have the origin of his present letter. Your contemporary the ' Standard ' clamours for the immediate assembling of the Council to ratify some conti'act or undertaking which we are to understand Mr. FitzGerald has entered into for the completion of the Sumner Road.

. Is it unreasonable to ask by what authority Mr. FitzGerald has assumed such powers? He is doubtless a very bold and decided man, and evidently not alarmed at trifles, judging from his present assumption of responsibility.

It may, however, be well to reflect upon the present relation this gentleman bears to the Canterbury Settlement. He is simply the paid Emigration Agent of the colony. He cannot surely imagine that the accidental circumstance of his having once held the office of Superintendent of Canterbury entitles him to dictate (however softly) to his successors for all time. I imagine that Mr. Moorhouse, his Executive, and the Provincial Council are not to led or driven contrary to their convictions and resolutions, supported as they are in this matter by a decided majority of the community. Instead of calling the Council together, it is much more probable that the result of. Mr. Fitz Gerald's letter will be the transmission from our Provincial Secretary of instructions to send us a class of emigrants more suitable to the wants of the colony than those which are the results of his labours thus far. Enough, however, in this strain. The direct line and tunnel will be carried out despite the most strenuous efforts of the supporters of the circuitous, tortuous, and precipitous Sumner line. I have no desire to re-open the. whole subject, but -I could if needful refer to numerous tunnels of equal or greater difficulty in all respects which have been successfully accomplished. As to means, we gather from this correspondence that our inability to borrow the money can be removed by the power that created that inability. "Wonderful discovery! The question then resolves itself into one of interest of money. I fully concur in the opinion expressed at the last Lyttelton election by the oldest of our merchants, that it is the duty, as it will be to the advantage, of every man in the colony to mortgage himself largely to 'assist in carrying out the direct line and tunnel. • Yours, faithfully, STRAIGHTFORWAED. Christchurch, March 7,1859. [We insert the above letter, though our correspondent has mixed up his views of communication by railway with his opinion of the Emigration Agent. The former may be founded, perhaps, on accurate and scientific knowledge of the subject, but the latter at any rate we believe to be altogether baseless. Mr. FitzGerald's recommendation of the complete line by Sumner could not have been given in antagonism to resolutions of the Provincial Council; wbich were being agreed to in Canterbury, singularly enough, on the same day on which Mr. FitzGerald wrote; in England, viz. Nov. 11. Can any one blame bur agent for obtaining the opinions of the first scientific men in Europe on the great question of this province? —Ed. L. TJ\ •■■--■■■ • .