TEE ASHLEY COUNTY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14588, 12 February 1913, Page 6

TEE ASHLEY COUNTY.

OFFICIAL INSPECTION

As the ' outcome of action by the Ashley County Council, Mr James Mackenzie, Surveyor-General, with Mr C. R. Pollen, Commissioner, of Crown Lands,'and 'Mr R. R.. Richmond, engineer and surveyor in tho I_nds Department, have just completed an extensive, inspection, of the .country. . Arriving at Rangiora;on the morning ot. the 7th inst., they were met by the chairman, Mr - Wm.,- Macintosh, Mr Hugh Ensor, Lieut .-Colonel' Millton; and'Mr John O'fialloran, and,the party motored to White Rock, by the main the> Makerikeri ford. Tlie rest of 'the • day was spent at White Ro_k. inspecting prospective roads .to the" Ashley Y*altey through' O'Halloran's track.

.A. daylight start was made next morning by hor.se and vehicles for 'JJce's -Valley,. via Dobson's road and the Kaka :Pass. .Mr Mackenzie noted carefully the state of the road, the productivity of the holdings,. and the position'and nature of the Crown lands. Mr Rudd's homestead at The Retreat was reached in the evening, and a r stay was made- there, for tho night. Subsequently, the party inspected the Wharfdale Plain and the terminus of the'prbposed Ashley Gorge road at the confluence of the Townshenrl river, and journeyed thence to Birch Hill, via Blowhard and Lee's Bush Track. - The night's rest at Colonel Millton's homestead was much appreciated, arid on tlie next day the Sur-veyor-General and party motored via the Glentui station 4 to the Ashley Gorge, . where they were met by vehicles and taken along the constructed part of the new Ashley GorgeSnowdale road, returning thence along the- main road through the Ashley county' to Rahgiora. On the way an inspection was made of the road, and of proposed sites for bridges at tho fords over the Glentui, YVashpool, Garry, and Makerikeri rivers, and especially of the dangerously decayed state of tlie present old bridge over the Okitku. ; - '

Mr Mackenzie and Mr Pollen returned ,to»Christchurch" by the evening train, and Mr Richmond will remain for a time in the county, to take in hand the ' subdivision of the pastoral runs into small grazing runs.