THE RAE VALLEY ROUTE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 118, 21 May 1877, Page 2

THE RAE VALLEY ROUTE.

To ths Editor of the "Evening Mai..,, Sir,— The Rae Valley route is now fast becoming an established idea in the mind of the public, but every contribution to information on the subject is needed to clear away prejudice and show how feasible it is to construct a dray road from Nelson to Blenheim by that route. lam myself quite unprejudiced. I hava, lam sorry to say, no land in the Rae Valley, but I am very anxious in; the interests of both the Nelson and Marlborough districts for as much intercommunication as possible. As the following points were not clear to my own mind before I tried the road last Friday, I submit them for those who may require similar enlightenment. The road leads out of Happy Valley by an excellent, but far too winding, track to the Saddle, which divides the Happy Valley district from the Wangamoa Valley. A dray road could easily be constructed here, but a far better track has been found, which I saw, which has' been marked out by Mr Collins on the opposite side of the Valley; tb's will save three miles, and being on the sunny instead of the shady side, will be much drier, this will by a very easy gradient bring us to the top of the Wangamoa Saddle looking down that beautiful valley terminating with Mr R. Mackay's property. After passing down the eastern side of that valley the road turns up the side of the Collins River, and before you are aware of it you are on the top of the Rae Baddle and have a very easy descent. As to precipices I saw none, hut there are ' precipices and precipices.' The simple fact of the time in which I rode from one point to the other is sufficient -to show what may be expected of the route when the road is formed. I left Mr Collins' house under his efficient guidance at 8 ; 30 ; we did not travel fast, we spent an hour over ourl unch, and wasted, if I may so say, an hour of time, first and last, ver the vagaries of a pack-horse who wanted to makea new track for himself, but with all that loss of two hours we were under eight hours in getting through, so that we really were only travelling for six hours, and if a road were made the whole could easily be done in less than five. How such an easy route could have escaped notice I cannot understand. If it was known and was not used that appears to be still more incomprehensible. Now that it is known and has been passed over by ladies, and persons who are neither rash, nor bushmen, nor surveyors, if now it is not opened up properly, and within a very short time made a good coach road, then I shall think that the people at each end of the line must be dead to their own interests. People will not come to invest unless they cau get about, and the great complaint about Nelson is that there are so few drives. As I believe that the pleasure traffic is the only one which will bring prosperity to Nelson, everything which can develope it ought to be done, and especially so now the interests of what were separate provinces are being amalgamated, and what is the interest of one is the interest of each, The same will apply to Marlborough, for the owners of runs will spend half the year on the runs if they can get to and fro hy land without much difficulty. Each place has its peculiar merits, and so distinct thac there is no room for rivalry. Under these circumstances the more frequent the communication between them the better. The road at present, where unmade, is of course very rough, but if £500 or £700 were spent on it, even then I should prefer it to the Maungatapu road.— l am, $c„ A, B. Nelson. Blenheim, May 17, 1877.