A Commission Appointed.

A Commission having been appointed, consisting of Messrs. Bray, Cass, Harman, Whitcombe, and Wylde, together with the Provincial Engineer (Mr. E. Dobson), and the Provincial Secretary (Mr. John Ollivier) to advise the Superintendent in regard to lines of inland communication, the Council recommended that this Commission should also collect maps, plans, and other information relative to the Lyttelton and Christchurch railway, for the purpose of transmission to England, to be there submitted to an engineering firm of eminence in order to ascertain if they, or any contracting firm, would be willing to undertake the work.

When the information thus obtained was sent to England, Messrs. Selfe (English Agent for Canterbury), J. E. Fitzgerald (Emigration Agent and former Superintendent) and Cummins (London Manager of the Union Bank of Australia) were appointed Commissioners to deal with the negotiations. They consulted Mr Robert Stephenson, then a leading authority on railways, who, with the consent of the Commissioners, placed the matter in the hands of Mr. G. R. Stephenson, who was requested to make a report on the whole subject of the railway communication between the port and the interior.