A TRIP IN ASHBURTON COUNTY.

Ashburton Herald, Volume I, Issue 164, 20 September 1878, Page 2

A TRIP IN ASHBURTON COUNTY.

(from a correspondent.)

The express train to Dunedin leaves the Christchurch terminus at 8-45 a.m., and travels to Rakaia, 36 miles, without stopping at any intermediate station, in one hour and a quarter; for we halted there ful’y ten minutes to water the Washington, &c., and yet started at 10.10, accomplishing the remaining 17 miles to Ashburton in 35 minutes ; the whole 53 miles in exactly two hours, including the stoppage. The pace is veiy fast along some portions of the journey, and the oscillation or “ wobbling” of the carriages is as disagreeable as it used to be in fast trains on the Eastern Counties line at home. In fact, it would be dangerous for a weak or timid person to stand on the platform outside the carriage doors at that pace. I stood outside in order to wave my hand to any of my acquaintances who might be on the station platform at Selwyn, which we passed at top speed, but I had to hold on tight to the iron stanchion, and I could not have distinguished the face of any one who may have been there. While at Rakaia, I was informed by a passenger that the sparks issuing from the engine’s newly-made bottle-shaped funnel had recently, in more than one case, set a light to the tussock grass at some distance from the rails ; and he expressed fears lest ripe crops of grain along the line should fall a prey to file from this cause. I had always understood that these peculiar funnels were constructed for the special purpose of averting that danger ; but, if my informant was right, the authorities ought, before the crops ripen, to adopt some more effective measure of precaution. On leaving Rakaia, our progress was somewhat retarded, for about a mile, by the presence on the line of a large flock of sheep—fully loco. They raced with the train, which was of course “slowed,” in scurrying droves on both sides of the rails, and displayed the utmost perverseness or stupidity by crossing from one side to the other, frequently right in front of the locomotive, just as porpoises will cross the bows of a sailing ship or steamer in full career. Several of them were thrown aside, but apparently not injured, by the “cowscoop” attached to the front of the engine. At length, however, we got clear of their Woollinesses, and had to put on extra speed in order to make up for the lost time. The owner, or the man in charge, of those sheep ought to be severely punished for the carelessness by which he endangered the lives of the officials and passengers, as well as those of his flock. I had no time to look at the rising town then, for the driver and proprietor of the mail coach to Mount Somers, by which I intended to proceed part of the way, told me it would start as soon as ever he got the mail. As there was a heavy load, he got ready the “ large ” coach, which is, however, quite a light and small one compared to any of those that ply in and out of Christchurch. Still, we had four inside passengers and two on the box besides the driver; a sheep-dog lay inside, where two bags of sugar, a case of (apparently) liquids, a leather trunk, a sample-box, and the swags of two passengers, further limited our footing, and there was some luggage on ' the roof and in the boot. All on board was not called, but practised; and after a tew seconds’ pause at the Somerset Hotel for one of the passengers, who joined us as we crossed the rails, and a momentary glimpse at the really handsome shops in East Street, which is the High Street of Ashburton, we fairly started across the rails. We saw Friedlander’s and Jamieson and Co-’s large iron railway stores on the west side, and then, turning to the x'ight, passed between the Public Library on the south and the Anglican Church public school, and master’s house on the north. The church is being enlarged, and in the transition state from wood to concrete. The others are wooden buildjogs, A little further on, the Imniigratipn

Bafl-aeks stand in an enclosure on a higli tei'l'ace site between the road and the nver,W whose north bank, a little further on, is a cliff friable earth about 30 feet high, through tire road not being fenced. There isT, a nice garden, and one of the old men, vfiho,|L with some young but infirm ones, have ijeemL lately removed hither from the Sehvyn Home, , u was working in it. The outskirts of the tovimth were soon reached, and the buildings and ■plantations of Messrs. Tancred and ;Allen’s runj n were seen close by on the north. Then* we as crossed the north branch of the Ashburton;; a cc puny stream, in one larger and two insigiiifi- c ], cant races, but a heavy, though short, drag loiy. a heavy load. The coachman told me thjalf r( this branch does not flood, so as to stop hirt jy from crossing, more than about twice in tnjf r year, and then not for more than a day or twc Sitll, a bridge is urgently needed, for the.nai_m row tract of country, called “ The Forks, consisting chiefly of rich arable land, hi already a considerable population, of whoi v many often travel on foot; besides which th L traffic in wood and white stone from Alfon-? 1 Forest and Mount Somers respectively, to th n markets of Ashburton, and the rich farming , district between the railway and the sea, i large and daily increasing. In view of this, i > is surprising to note how little has been done •* or rather how much has been done to ver little purpose, in constructing a good road fc heavy haulage, or, indeed, for any sort 0 traffic. For about a mile out of Ashburton }' and for perhaps as much after crossing thl north branch, the road is excellent. But verj nearly all the rest of the 16 miles which I havl travelled, as far as the Spread Eagle Hotel, il infamously obstructive of either light or heavjl traffic. Yet I was told that its constructioildates from seven years back! The crowi® of the road is piled up with beds of round® unbroken shingle, on which, for many miles® thistles and tussock grass have grown since ifl was laid down; while, in the fringes fonnecT but unmetalled on either side, gaping ruts frequently widen into dread holes, big enougM to break an axle-tree, bog a wheel, or upset 1 light trap. The responsibility lies aboil equally with two Road Boards—the Uppqi Ashburton and the Mount Somers. The latter has plenty of funds. At a recent meeting iti was agreed to deposit in its Bank, which had already in its coffers upwards; of £ 17,000 to the credit of the Board. There seems to be no work in progress for mending their ways ; on two days running we saw no signs of any such thing, except one workman’s coat and long-handled shovel, which were left at the North side of the road the day we went, and on the South side the day we returned, the workman on both days being conspicuous by his absence. The best idea may be formed of the whole state of the case by the knowledge that we spent fully three hours and a quarter in getting over the sixteen miles !—a striking contrast to the 30 miles an hour which the iron horse had been performing with the train I was in just before. A At a little less than halfway, we reached Greenstreet School and Post Office on the south, and Mr. George Hart’s homestead, plantations, and woolshed on the north. Further on, several model small farms :—good land, neatly trimmed gorse hedges, admirable tillage, double-furrow ploughs—five on one farm, three on another, good draught horses, and cosy-looking houses. “ How is it that these people submit to such apathy, or mismanagement, as the case may be, on the part of their Road Boards ?” I asked. The answer was conclusive, if not satisfactory. The chairman of the Upper Ashburton is Mr. Charles Reed ; that of the Mount Somers is Mr. W. C. Walker; one member of the Mount Somers is the Hon. W. S. Peter All these influential men are, naturally enough, interested in the improvement of traffic, whether by road or railway, on the south side of the south branch, where the bulk of their properties lies, and. quite as naturally, they care little about that of the traffic along the Forks. I am surprised at the want of foresight displayed by those who arranged the boundaries of Road Boards as they stand at present. The south branch is as natural a boundary as could have been found ; for it is, even in the driest seasons, a very wide shinglebed, across which no road can be maintained, it is often in floods utterly impassable except by means of the railway bridge, and it must be everywhere costly to bridge, if more bridges are required. The North branch, on the contrary, is, in its unbridged state, a far less formidable obstacle to traffic than the south ; it is seldom flooded so as to be unfordable, and it can be bridged in many places at a comparatively small cost. The land in the Forks is far more united by nature for road purposes with much of the land between Rakaia and north branch, than with any of the land south of the south branch. Similar causes affect the question, so hotly contested in this town and the whole district from Rakaia as far south as the Hinds, as to which is the best line between the main trunk south railway and the foot of the hills. A leading and most satisfactory feature of Public Works Minister Macandrew’s projects, is that of a line along the foot of the hills, eventually to reach from Ashley, by near the egress of the White Rocks glen, across the Olcuku to Glentui, across the Ashley to Oxford, across the Waimakariri (already bridged) to Sheffield and ' Coalgate, over Sehvyn by Bluff bridge (or a new one at Glentunnel) to Hororata and Rakaia Gorge, across Rakaia to Alfoid Forest and Mount Somers, and afterwards crossing the Hinds, Rangitata, and other rivers, all at the hill-foot, until it rejoins the main line somewhere about Ternuka. As far south as the Rakaia, each “ twixt-rivers” district is already supplied with a branch line to the hill-foot. Where is the best line of connection between coast line and inland line south of the Rakaia and north of the Hinds ? Curiously enough, the people of Ashburton, having got a bridge over the joined branches close to their doors, have been persuaded into believing that the south branch forms no great obstacle to traffic in the upper part of its course ; and I am told they are so badly informed on the subject, that a majority of them are in favor of a line from Tinwald along the south bank of the south branch, recrossing it to Mount Somers, where it is very wide and the second bridge would be very costly. They seem to be blind to the certain results of carrying out that project. If the produce of Alford Forest and Mount Somers is to come to Tinwald, through and to the exclusive benefit of ihe large properties of Messrs, Peter, E. G. Wright, W. C. Walker, C. Reed, and Allan McLean, the burgesses of Ashburton must say good bye to their now geometrical rate of. progression; and the inhabitants and landowners of Tinwald will secure not only a large, but “ the lion’s,” share of the profit derived from exchanging foot-of-the-hill’s produce for imported > goods from Lyttelton. Wherever the connect- ; ing, or link-line, may join the main line will ; surely be the market, Grain, meat, and wool

m half the country between the Rakaia and ; south branch may still take the rail at Ashrton ; but if the two rival Rakaia compamMJj algamate, or either of them kill fhe otheM ich of that agricultural produce will flow ; main line at Rakaia ; and through Rak*gg read of Ashburton, will flow the iplies of the farming producers, as "' e ßj§ jsc of the producers of wood, inferior co.®* ge quantities, flag-stones, slate, white d other minerals from the hills as far the Gorge of the south branch. untry north of Rakaia, including - Ch«| urch, can be supplied with better eaper coal from the Malvern Hills, wo® ,111 Oxford, Kowai, inks Peninsula, (the bays, ini Alford Forest, white stone cheaper fro® 'hite Rocks than from Me unt Somers. r IH. : arket for all the hill prot luce, from betwMi ount Hutt and Mount Son* ers, is the ral country both to the ; eaward and to hi® ard of the main line, bet veen a line am Rakaia to Ashburtoi 1 and the e Rangitata. Ashburton will lose the pfl| supplying all south of tin; south 3th imported goods and hill lik-line join at Tinwald. If the Ashburton, the latter Secures e hill produce traffic :e district from Rangitata to wRIHH9HH| ■ Rakaia. Wherever their agricultural ;ce required .tin their operations®^,^^^^ !1 also buy" their imported duce will be dearer at than if it came® * -Prtest and least costly link-line, l Forks, having branches to ). ’1 Mount Somers respectively, pud second bridge over the soutlybranch, tof the Government hill-foot line. Let tjß [burton people be warnecV in time ! IB In inquire whether even their own Mayo® s"not drawing out of Ashburton busineß ;nd property, and going in-largely for a sta® n both on the Tinwal<T side. Let they leware lest, in favoringfa round-about liifl rossing and recrossing the south branch, thfl .re not dropping the substance to grasp at tl® hadovv, and playing into the hands of a err® ew for the benefit of their own large propert® Is a poetical retribution for the abandonmaß |y the Ashburtonites of the Forks settlers, a® *ie cheapest and most direct link-line for tlfl filers of hill produce. So surely as they fav® ie line on the south bank of the Ashburtdß Rakaia and Tinwald will both be aggrandiz® 4d Ashburton left out inthe cold. But if tj® Uqte to secure the cheapest and most dit® to Ashburton itself down the Forks, it m® c 4tinue to bear the palm against both ® Hthem and its more dangerous —thoi® ne (jJ£t>southern neighbor. i _ ly ve if the above reasons were not c * ei *t\ convincing, it must be considered® t i iat the Forks line is vey<B n( i reserved for ten miles of | a “And that a vote of the Pro v i nci alfl® Fjßßitled the promoters of the Fojj®Bß|| Inferential claim over so Government funds BPff rails for that portion PPffiietois dmflensation f or the to themselvesJj®fl®H®99BH®| 3 k'Jfit on the iheir vas t estates S°utp mmo st '£ ; *•*♦. _ ! viio befori thr^ t penny®rorth of land,^® 1 any pa®t of the and th® Rakaia—between the the seal Nor do I write in the interest S person lplio has property so situated. I® examin®d the evidence on both sides avsfl to a huilnble penman, and I give the Ashlflj public *e benefit of my judgment for may be Ivorth. Perhaps I am slightly by a serltimental idea, that it would pity, to ;Be the founders of a town have attained so prosperitFlon so sound a basis, sell right for | a mess of pottage to such Jacobs as) jthe half-dozen and Their whose thoroughly selfish designs once defeatled and recoil on themse!ve®|§| Ashburton j Esaus did not supply brethren with the hairy jacket for theHHi disinheritance. I have lilile more to say as to my I found mw friend Tisch’s Spread Eagle H® most comfortable, and could not struck wit, * the natural politeness, combined with English ec ication, children bo n and bred in of j daughters pay the piano,Bew Zealand. T doing iisefu needlework, M but are not abo most qiiiet, idylike waiting, in tl Everything ibout theJ/fer, on a parlor guei order, is redolent j the night! i comfort. Here I to the v| ll agejro place, one road bran® although lyinl r the mountain.of that^na® west of fits Mjour or fi ve ,„ iles to thfi SQ B the coach. -that is the destination 3 Another rol " ij Alford FhrestJ? branches to the villas B westernmost miles away, near the soiß was plainly of Mount Hutt. .The forß to near tlje soii' le > extending from that »ol length of base of Mount Somers® sengers miles. One of to his desqnatil ls sw ag, and proceeds villages cah bej Jt the forest village. atmosphert; a ,s tinguished through the Mount,^le® 1 the grand mountains, fro® ing like. jjßwith the Malvern Hills Too® feet above sjMisland, to Mount Hutt (68<® spot I was and about 6000 above th® same height* Mount Rickards, about tfli feet high), * Mount Somers (about thirds of with snow for fully tw|| their bases, between their summits anc® in the impressive, eve® the low saddlHne, at so near a view. ’ South Ashbu® ; h contains the gorges' of tU®| are seen the ®linds, and Rangitata. riveflH Two ThumlT®fic snow-clad peaks of: view of Mou^fc e » which intercepts Further to from the Canterbury cipitous Peel, with its p^BS range of side, and a trend away ®p u r n i a ' ns , all moonlight, t® Timaru. Again i solemn and v® )Unta in panorama rose, when But befoiri delicate blu» pues of snow wereytfjßHH could not yeti color by his raysjJß the scene can®c the twilight of thj®|B®Bl dream of fairy® >e described as a Descending®! ;he mail coaclf>!y matters, I emb|HHßH| lext day ; ancUJi at soon after lient of the graduat®B®B ighter load, —of going up, 1 lady and with the dri®Bfl| ter husband inside, joined h®H 1 crirl at

Street, —we positively accomplished the 16 niles in a little less than three hours. Being tyself on the box, next to the coachman, and he day being again gloriously fine, I had ample portunities of observing and questioning ; the esult of which was fully to confirm what I have stated above with regard to the lay of the land, and the dispositions of those who dwell on it. Once under the shelter of Host Shearman’s excellent abode for weary travellers the Somerset Hotel), fatigue and cramped limbs were soon forgotten ; and as soon as I t felt well rested, I thought that an account of imy observations, as I am a totally uninterested fcparty, might, if published .in your columns, ■enlighten some of the Ashburton people into Iwhose eyes Tinwald dust has been thrown.