THE NEW ZEALAND TELEGRAPH.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1188, 28 August 1866, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND TELEGRAPH.

Ihe following is from the annual report on the state and prospects of ♦fcfl Telegraph Department of New WttAV Mr Alfred Sheath, Tel* ™ p hic Engineer, dated Wellington, July J6?-"-' Colra_BUe_lON OF LINES. Since' furnishing my last report onwards of two hundred and twentyseven miles of double line of electric ; telegraph have been erected in the Middle Island, north of the Hurunui. This portion of the telegraph system pas-es through, the southern part of tfcf "Nelson province along the River fjoijtway to the sea, and, entering the proVince of Marlborough, continues along the coast line of road to Blenheim, when, passing through Picton, 8„_ Havelock it again enters the Kelson province at Mount Maungatepu, where, passing over this mountain, and along the banks of the Biver Matai, it terminates at tbe Postoffice of the City of Nelson. In order to render the system throughouttheMiddle Island complete, an additional or second wire haß been erected between the Bluff and Inver- -■ cargill. The cost of erection of lines through-! out the year has been £6278 13s, being at the rate of about £26 14s 6d per mile. j In addition to these works, a line, _bout eight miles in length, haß beep "purchased from the Canterbury Pro-J vjpdal G-overnment, for the sum of £56Di'ibi8 amount includes the teleg&p- station at Lyttelton. .iMMaffl line has been one of unmsX difficulty to construct, owing to the rough and uneven nature of tie land in many places, and the fliiantitydftimber in others. Where we line has passed through timbered country, as little of the bush has been removed as possible: and this for two reasons. . The first was induced by motives of economy. When on the point of commencing the construction of the line, I was informed by the Postmaster-General then in office, that it was contemplated by his Government to stop the telegraph works, owing to the financial state of the colony;.(andit was on the direct understanding .that the works should be' tarried.on with the strictest economy, '-that'they were allowed to be commenced and to continue until I re•ceived further instructions. It was, therefore, the object of those concerned in the. works to keep down the expenses, and at the same time to aave the line in as safe a condition as possible. The second reason wasto prevent the surrounding timber from falling, for it is well known that When an opening is made in New Zealand bush, the adjacent timber seems to be deprived of the power of supporting itself, and very shortly begins to fall: hence, we had to fell as little timber as possible, or to clear , rare© or four chains in width for protecting the line. t Having received complaints that umber had been felled, and left on the hoea of road along which the telegraph losses, I made it my business to ride «ong the whole line from Christchurch w Nelson; and I fortunately had the honor of the company of a member of tbe General Assembly between Picton *&d Nelson, the part principally complained of. On appealing to this genwemta on the subject, he said he could ■*■ no cause for complaint. There *jfc bat three places on the line where the slightest cause of complaint can P°«abiy arise, and these are on the nelson side of the Wakamarina river, ihese three places are but a few yards V* kagtb, and the evil complained of ?as arisen rather from accident than Rationally. Where the road has «*g cleared in these localities, the has caused the ground to be ?*« up, and as the moisture accumu- ?&* it has rendered the ground rotjj» and swampy. In order to avoid *[«» places it is iound convenient by . HSvellere to ride into the bush, where J?° ground is drier. It is here the ~ «»oer has been accidentally left, 'amking it was out of the way of the "Pf n road, which has also become ■«?*_ Several trees have MleQ **** the road since the line was . **k_, gome of which I have no jJJM are attributed to the neglect of workmen, but without ' lvLs^Tl 1 * anticipated by the ;S^? Goveram ents that the erecBinVfs c tele &raph lines would necesboSf ?° m ? two or tliree cb » ins of aStl • Bsand thus be of great ffwa 2 the matter of road-mak- -*■ «ad the roads been the work of

the General recommended the Government to go to the expense of bush clearing at once, but as road-making is entirely a Provincial work, defrayed by the proceeds of the land revenue, I deemed it prudent to clear as little bush as possible, and thus save the General Government a great expense, for it will be far cheaper to employ an extra man or two for repairs to the line when necessary than it would have been to have cleared the width of timber necessary for the perfect security of the line. The road along which timber had been felled is simply a bridle track running through the bush, and, as far as I have seen, the timber has been carefully removed from the absolute track. What clearing has been done in prosecuting telegraph works will be of great advantage to the Marlborough and Nelson Governments when they are called upon to clear the timber for roads, and I really regard the erection of the telegraph as a great boon to these provinces, owing to the amount of work done for them. I will, however, have the points seen to that I have indicated, and the road will then be left in as good a condition as it was prior to the erection of the telegraph. The lines for connecting the Cook Strait submarine cable with the existing telegraph system of the Middle Island and the city of Welliugton are now in course of construction, and will be brought into next year's accounts. As these works are of a comparatively trifling nature, and as contractors in these localities are unacquainted with such works, I have deemed it prudent to entrust the construction of these branch lines to the foreman of line works. I shall, however, in future recommend that all lines be erected by contract. A submarine cable has been manufactured in England, and is now on board the Weymouth, in the Wellington harbor, waiting to be submerged. I Judging from the samples I have seen, | the cable is one of the best yet manu--1 factured, and the ultimate success of this undertaking may now, I think, be regarded as secure. Its affords mc great satisfaction to find that my suggestions as to the form and character of the cable have been so nearly carried out, and this fact increases my confidence in final results. The changes lately made in the landing places of the shore ends will, I am convinced, materially diminish the liabilities to acci-dent-from the fouling of ship's anchors. Worser's bay, on the north of the Straits, is a favorite anchorage ground, and Port Underwood is to be avoided for the same reasons. The papers already printed and laid before the members of the General Assembly, enter fully into the contracts and costs of the cable. The manner in which those contracts have been drawn up, ' and the satisfactory way in which the works appear to have been carried out, reflect the greatest credit on those gentlemen who have acted on behalf of the New Zealand Government in England.