ACCESS TO THE SEA.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19889, 28 March 1930, Page 15

ACCESS TO THE SEA.

TO .TUB EDITOR Of THE TRBSS, gir —The question of direct access to the sea has attained much prominence. One expected that. There is an acute and general dissatisfaction with the present means of access. The Lyttelton railway is a transport monopoly. Commodities for export are carted, dumped, shifted, stored, shifted again, trucked, shunted, railed, shunted again, handled again, and shipped. Sometimes there: is a- shortage of trucks. Then is confusion Worse confounded. All this involves delays, operating ex--1 penses, carriage costs, £fiid terminal eharges. More than ever before the coinmun- ' " ity is dependent upon effective and gpeiedy transport. It is the accepted opinion of transport experts to-day that the motor is more efficient than tho train for short-haul traffic; .and: Lyttelton is but ..seven miles from the City. Transport by motor is more convenient, more mobile,' more speedy* and .more adaptable than transport by train or by 1 ft combined system tif. train and other ' vehicle. ' Recently a Christchurch firm desired to market at once certain goods then in Lyttelton. Each hour was precious. ■■■ Messages and personal entreaties were "of no avail. The goods arrived, it is ■ true—but just' five days too late! In- ; • stances of delay are Jegion. With direct , -.access a telephone message to the har,'bonr transit shed directing tho im- ' mediate dispatch by first motor carrier would have meant the arrival of the ;goodß in the City in an hour or so. Direct: access must come, and at once, , ;if Canterbury is to regain her lost .prestige. , Two schemes are urged for the com- ■ aronity's acceptance. For the following reasons amongst : others, one would sfhink the tunnel road scheme must be '.preferred:— . ,(1) It supports a natural as against " «a artificial harbour.

(2) It supports an all-weather as tgainst a fair-weather port. (3) -It is a cheaper and a simpler ' ?«heme. In this connexion one notes 4tJ»t in 1864 Canterbury, with her then population, commenced andquickcompleted the present tunnel. And iir days of pick and shovel. »- (4) It preserves the creaited values •' Itfttelton. > (5) It does not prejudice the beaches " Sumner andNcw Brighton. '?■ However, a Commission will shortly ' 'decide upon the merits of any scheme, rolwajtted. is fervently to be hoped that the ■ J CbirtthureL civic complex does not i*PP?ar. It has been said that the only, yplace this City could get to is a Noah's '(Ark, where you can have two of each. V This time our attitude should be exj -*eptional, and the selected scheme "-Wonia be wholeheartedly adopted and ?«ried out. Incidentally local unem- ,, 'Pwyment distress would -be considerably '#ad usefully alleviated. —Yours, etc., ■■■?, • 'advance. J March 27th, 1930. TO THE EDITOR or THE PREBS. • Sir,—lf my friend, "N. 5.," is permit"3, like myself, thanks to your gener.Wityj to; Write 'a little longer, he will kave admitted that all his schemes are , -totaJjv impracticable. However, this Judgment can be well left to your ' ,ea ders'to give. After having boxed tho ;*otnpasß ia every direction, and •aetcbed Jiig elastic breakwaters in : ;Kde, in every sor.t of sea, ana every'depth to every point of the ',;» ®P aßß i* lw now frankly admits that « all ; ovier the place in his ideas. a congratulate him, and am only too '.li ta MP him further, so that find himself in the calm, , at"? 0 ? 11 ? 3 , iplet of Lyttelton, naturally solid headlands, and break"i 'fot smjr .jfjjn past and for

mdny yoars in the future, to be, .the established home and the safe haven ; of. shipping. Then, he will forget Port Whitewash and his elastic indiarubber breakwaters pumped up with hot air, liable to be punctured at any minYour correspondent, '' Son of New Zealand," in his letter this morning, betrays the fact (and says so) that he is very young, so I will not just ypt worry him with the deeper questions of harbours. Nevertheless, leaving out "ifs" and "ands" and penny bucket ideas, will he kindly show us how the development of Port Whitewash will (as he says) "mean tens of thousands in the producers' pockets?" Might I suggest that he mistakenly wrote the word "in" instead of "out of"? I am quite eafsy about it, and will give fcim leave to niakei the necessary alteration of this important phrase without prejudice. When he gets a few years older, like me, he will also get wiser and will be able to see through all the whitewash plastered over the hidden snags and shams of every Estuary proposal that has emerged from the cockleshells, drifting sands, sharks ' eggs, and seaweed of Pegasus Bay. Yours, etc., LYTTELTON. March 26th, 1930.