New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1842.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 40, 16 December 1842, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1842.

We perceive that the Surveyor-General of the New Zealand Company has advertisedfor tenders for the construction of a part of the line of road from this Port to Waikanae. The advantages of that road will he sensibly felt by the Settlement ; and we rejoice to see this the first public manifestation of any definite intention to enable the settlers to take possession of their lands by opening out means of communication. From the known experience of Mr. Brees in laying out and constructing roads, we have no doubt but that the line now chosen will prove the best that could have been selected, and that, consequently, no loss will accrue to. the Company or the Settlement, by forming a road which must subsequently be abandoned. As we have not yet seen the plan of the districts through which this road will pass, we cannot at present speak otherwise than conjecturally of the effect which it will have upon the v alue of the sections that have already been chosen. It is, however, probable that it will make very great changes in their relative value. At the time of the selection of the sections in the Porirua district, it was understood that the line of road as laid down upon the plan of that tract of country, would be the road to the coast district, along which the whole traffic between this Port and the northern settlements would pass; and which would be the first, and probably the only road, to be constructed by the Company in that direction. Upon the faith of this implied arrangement, choices were made of land whose value depended in a very high degree upon the circumstance that it would be situated upon what has been termed the great north road, and we may state positively, that some at least of the sections in that district would not have been chosen, except for far higher numbers, had not such an understanding prevailed. If it should turn out that the main road does not pass through these sections, and that the expenditure of the Company is to be directed to the improvement of lands subsequently surveyed

anti chosen, while those early selections are to remain in their present unapproachable state, their proprietors will have undoubtedly some cause of complaint. And this complaint will be the more just, since it is obvious that the same patient investigation which has recently been employed, would, if made at an earlier period, have prevented the necessity of any change. We feel very great diffidence in expressing any opinion upon this subject, which may; appear to put our judgment in competition with that of Mr. Brees. But we cannot but feel some doubt whether the new road from Kai-warra-warra towards Porirua', through, the sections recently chosen by Captain Daniell, will prove eventually the best line. From our own observation, backed by the opinion of many persons who have passed over the ground, we should have thought that a far better line might have been found from Nga Haranga. This line was first explored, we believe, by Mr. Heaphy, and would join the Porirua, or we should now say, the Waikanae road, at a far lower level, escaping altogether the hills which enclose the Kai-warra-warra valley. If, however, as we presume must be the case, the present line has been selected by Mr. Brees, after a comparison with that which we should have preferred, we are quite willing to believe that our present opinion is erroneous. ■

We trust, also, that some steps will shortly be taken to open up the new districts in the Hutt, and even to carry a road through to Wairarapa. This is peculiarly important with reference to what will probably be one of the most important branches of industry in this Settlement, the breeding of stock. Not merely are we disposed, from the reports of all who have passed through that district, to consider the Wairarapa country as more suitable for cattle than almost any part along the coasts; but i l has the great advantage of being quite free from native cultivation, at least in the upper part, which would be best adapted to grazing. This is a very important consideration. The only place along the coast where cattle have been yet kept in any numbers, is Porirua, and we happen to know that there much difficulty has arisen in consequence of the cattle breaking into the native potato gardens. And so far as our observation has extended, there is scarcely a place between this district and Wanganui where cattle might be kept without incurring a similar risk. Not merely, therefore, would the construction of this road open what will probably be the most important agricultural district in our immediate neighbourhood, but it would enable the settlers to increase their stock farming to an extent practically unlimited.

We have received the Nelson Examiner by the Royal William to the 10th instant. The contents are unimportant, but we shall probably give some extracts in our next, having received them too late for our present publication. Tho Royal William made the trip in nineteen hours only. Capt. Lovett reports the arrival of the George Fyfe, and he saw a Barque approaching the Harbour, which he supposed to be an Emigrant vessel.