Christchurch 11th January 1864 Henry Sewell Esquire, Dear Sir, I have for several years felt a great interest in the overland route from Napier to Auckland, especially the portion lying between the ... hitherto used Maori track from Opepe on Kaingaroa plain to Napier. I have been struck with the conviction that no permanent road could be made on that line, the natural surface of the country presenting highly objectionable obstacles; and looking to the future, when peace shall have been permanently established, and the Bay of Plenty be the site of thriving settlements, I have always had an opinion that a practicable dray road, avoiding the two great difficulties, the river Mohaka and the central range of mountains, would somewhere be found, which when completed, would be of the greatest possible importance to the East Coast, especially to Napier. Impressed with this belief, I devoted considerable trouble to the examination of the country, and having discovered an easy practicable route, entirely avoiding the ascent of the main range, and also the fording of the Mohaka, and all the other creeks and rivers, presenting moreover through its entire length between Napier and the Taupo plain no engineering difficulty whatever, I have felt it to be my duty to acquaint His Excellency the