THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1882.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1129, 13 September 1882, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI- WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1882.

Whilst it is necessary by all means to energetically look aftor railway construction, in order to obtain at an earty a date complete communication with the other portions of the Colony, It is at the same time to the material interest of both this district and Canterbury that in the meantime, pending, the advent of the iron horse, such temporary relief as is possible to obtain, by means of roads or tracks, should be sought where practicable. In another column, appears a valuable letter from Mr William Gardner, showing that to connect the Inaugahua with Canterbury by a bridle track . j would-be easy, and by a drayroadf o£-j say, the second class, by no means j very difficult or specially costly. There j are portions that would be very ex- i pensive to make, but these are few and far between, and on the whole either of the above works might be undertaken. Mr Gai'dner speaks with authority and from personal knowledge of the country, so what he says may be accepted unreservedly as correct. One special bogy that has been set up as against a road, is the Spencer range, but this he shows has no foundation, and that by the Ada Pass the alleged difficulties disappear. Already waggons come to within 83 mil^s of Reefton, and to make a road from that point is a subject that is well worth the most serious consideration of the local bodies through whose districts it would pass, as well as of the stockholders and producers generally of Cantei--bvry. In any case it must be years before we can hope for a railway to connect us with the outer world, whereas, if we are rightly informed, in a few months, especially as tfc^ summer is now at hand, the road could be made ancV open for traffic. There would thus be a line of coach road connecting Westport and Greymouth with Canterbury, and the benefits to both, but Westport particularly, would be great. The two bodies having jurisdiction over the route are the Inangahua and Arivuri County Councils, and the work would be one that would redound to their credit if carried out. The, pecuniary obstacles to the undertaking are, as we showed in a late issue, owing to. the passing oi the Roads' rCffd . Bridges Construction Act, happily. removed, and it would be possible for these Counties under it to $Hfim necessaryfipids, wbilsfe»tta» districts will only be called on to pay one-fourth of the cost, and the repayment is extended over ten years. In the "original bill it was made a condition that no main road should be made under its provisions tilTthe consent of Parliament had been obtained, but this was modified in Committee, so that works of the kind can be undertaken without waiting for Parliament to sanction them. Applications, should the project be entertained, together with plans and estimates of cost, must be made this year, before the Ist of January, 1883, but in future years .before the 30th of June in each year. The solution of the money difficulty being thus made easy, surely it would be well, to give some attention to the road, and we commend its consideration to pur readers in the hope that the revived public interest in railway communication may, ,it the same time, be both by the people of this district and of Canterbury, in the more easily attainable and more quickly constructed work.