OWEN REEFS ROAD.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 272, 8 May 1886, Page 2

OWEN REEFS ROAD.

[to the editor of the lyell times]. Sir, —In your issue of April 24th I observe a letter re Road to Owen Reefs signed " Owen Miner." In it he upholds certain views expressed on the subject by your special correspondent, and rather redicules those" expressed by " Vox Populi." He admits he is no engineer, which I grant, but prides himself on possessing common sense, a fact I doubt very much, for the following reasons : He says the mining community generally will be prejudiced by the road going the Maggie's Creek route. Take for a starting point the junction of the Owen Iliver with the Buller. From this point to the junction of Maggie's Creek with the Owen is six miles and a-half long, if the east bank is adhered to. From the junction of the Owen with the Buller to where the new track joins the coach road is two and a-half miles, and from thence to the junction of Maggie's Creek with the Owen is four miles. Obviously the two roads are the same length from the given starting point, but who would not travel for more than onethird the distance on a hard metalled road instead of a new bush road. Secondly, he admits the presence of certain bluffs. I maintain that three bluffs would have to be circumvented, a<.r jgately amounting to a mile and a-half in length, and surely to goodness we had experience enough laßt winter on the Buller road to make us avoid sidelings as much as possible. Certainly the road crosses the river four times within a mile of the reefs, but as the Owen derives most of its waters from the Left-hand branch and Granity Creek, both of which fall into the Owen three miles below these crossings, no one would be prevented from crossing in a fresh so high up the river. As regards the grade of the saddle, on the Maggie's Creek route, I may inform the " Owen Miner " ( that I did not obtain my information on that score by merely walking over it, as he avows he obtained his as regards the river track, but I got the information from the gentleman who surveyed it, so I presume it is correct. As regards the gravel, also, he says he did not see any hole sunk for it, &c., I gather Irom his words he must be a new chum at the business, for it is not necessary to go to the trouble of sinking a hole ; an iron bar will do equall) as well. In conclusion I may add that as he admits having made but little over tucker, for the last three or four years, at the alluvial on the Owen, that fact fully accounts for his inability to appreciate facts. I would advise him in the future to lay the pen on the shelf and stick to the pick and shovel. —I am, &c.,

Vox Populi, Owen River, April 26th, 1886.