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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Communication

Communication.

No part of New Zealand affords such facilities as Canterbury for easy transit and rapid communication. The great plains naturally lend themselves to the formation of roads; and the rivers, broad and dangerous though they are, have proved no insuperable obstacle to engineering skill. The worst hindrance to the early development of the province was the cost of transport; and before the Lyttelton Tunnel was constructed the freight from Lyttelton to Sumner, for six miles by sea, was twenty shillings per ton—nearly half the freight from London to Lyttelton. At first a canal was projected from the Heathcote Estuary to the Avon; and the Canal Reserve along the castern side of the city is still the text for much enthusiastic theory and speculation.

The public history of Canterbury has been one lung record of efforts to open the country by providing easy internal communication, and this policy was inaugurated with triumphant success by the construction of the Lyttelton Tunnel. The tunnel is over one mile and a half long, and cost £195,000. It took five years (1801–66) to complete, and it is safe to say that no community, less than twenty years old, ever carried so gigantic a task to so successful a conclusion. Since 1870 the Public Works Policy connected with the name of Sir Julius Vogel has been actively followed out; and the result is that the province now possesses, exclusive of the Midland Railway Company's unfinished lines, nearly 500 miles of railway. From Christchurch the main line runs north to Culverden—sixty-nine miles, and south to the Waitaki—139 miles. The main line continues south to Dunedin, and thence on to Invercargill, while steps have already been taken to extend the northern line through Nelson to Marlborough, and thus connect Canterbury with both ends of the island at once. Apart from the main line, two smaller lines run south-east, and eight branch lines have been constructed westward to the hills, running close up to the foot of the outer ranges. Most of Canterbury is thus within easy reach of railway lines, and where the rail has not yet gone the roads act as connecting links. The total length of public roads in Canterbury exceeds 10,000 miles—a magnificent result attributable partly to the foresight of the founders of the province, partly to the energy of the Provincial Government, and partly to the Vogel Public Works Policy.

Prior to the advent of the railways, coaching was important phase of Canterbury life and travel. Before the northern railway reached Kaiapoi, Leithfield on the North Road, thirty miles from Christchurch, was a great coaching centre; but “Cobb and Co.” have vanished before the onward march of steam. The Akaroa Road, on the Peninsula; the West Coast Road, over
Cobb & Co.'s Coach in 1860.

Cobb & Co.'s Coach in 1860.

page 14 Arthur's Pass 100 miles from Springfield to Kumara), and the Mount Cook Road, across the Mackenzie Country (ninety-six miles from Fairlie to the Hermitage), are the main coaching roads still surviving, and they all afford many opportunities for the exercise of that skill which made a great reputation for the drivers of the early days.
Rangitata Traffic Bridge.

Rangitata Traffic Bridge.

The Lyttelton Tunnel was a great achievement, but the very fact that it was indispensable to the development of Canterbury points to a serious commercial danger. Christchurch and three-fourths of the province are depondent upon this one line for their connection with the sea. This consideration has frequently caused a good deal of anxiety in the minds of those interested in Canterbury's commerce, and it has lately been brought prominently before the public by the suggestion, that the time has come to reconstruct and improve the Summer Road, part of which was constructed by Captain Thomas, surveyor to the Canterbury Association. When Mr. Godley arrived he found that the funds for public works were already running low, and as the sales of land in the first two years did not come up to expectations, the road was left unfinished. All travellers walked or rode over the Bridle Path, and all heavy goods went round by sea and up the Avon to “The Bricks,” near the Barbadoes Street Bridge. After Mr. Godley left New Zealand an attempt was made to complete the road, but to save expenses the original plan was modified, and the track was carried over the Saddle by a steep zigzag, which is quite impracticable for ordinary wheeled traffic. It is true that Mr. Fitzgerald celebrated its opening by driving a tandem over it, but that did not prove its general utility. When the Lyttelton Tunnel was begun the question of the Sumner Road dropped out of sight, and no attempt has been made since to deal with the matter. The disadvantages of the present state of affairs are twofold. In the first place, Christchurch is connected with its port by the single line through the tunnel, and an accident might block the tunnel for some time, or increased traffic might compel its enlargement; and in either case it is easy to understand the danger to Canterbury's commerce. On the second page 15 disadvantage it will be sufficient to quote from the remarks of Mr. C. C. Bowen in his contribution to “Canterbury Old and New”: “The province that initiated railway enterprise is exceptionally mulcted on the line between Christchurch and Lyttelton by the Railway Department, avowedly because there is no competition with that short but all important section of the Canterbury railway system. A good highway between the port and the plains would long ago have brought the department to reason. Because there is no road competition Canterbury pays more for the six and a half miles between Lyttelton and Christchurch in the shape of railway fares and traffic charges than Auckland and Otago pay for the longer distances between Onehunga and Auckin the north, and Port Chalmers and Dunedin in the south.” These remarks are well worth the consideration of all those interested in the welfare of the province. There is a reserve of land in Heathcote Valley for a branch railway to Sumner. If that line were opened, and a well graded road constructed from Sumner to Lyttelton, there would at least be an alternative route if a sudden emergency arose. The cost would not be enormous. In 1856 Captain Thomas's estimate was £30,000, and the work could certainly be done more cheaply at the present time. The province that constructed the tunnel thirty-five years ago can well afford such an outlay now.