THE LATE MR. E. DOBSON.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 178, 22 April 1908, Page 11

THE LATE MR. E. DOBSON.

INCIDENTS IN EAIILY HISTORY OF CANTERBURY ; .; cokbesponbent.) . 'christohuroh, Apnl 21 du'o.t'o the lato.. Mr. Edward ; . Dcisoii,?C.E.,'that/tli9;EaSt: Cast:was linked ' ;j.up;,S'!thVt)ie'AA 7 esfc.'Coast;-■ vlt ;was recorded in .' September, .1857, that a discovery. ha,d been made .by; Mr.- Dobson, then provincial engineer, : in ' the preceding ' few weeks, whicl' ~ 'added'wonderfully, to the. knowledge of/t-bc ' geography of Canterbury. A Maori: patl hid been believed to exist from East to Wosi ■ ,by the gorge of tho Hurunui.' A certain pre cipitolis gully: in tho river gorge, which tin .Maoris: crossed ..with ladders ; of i.treo vine! i : : and';-flax ropes, was 'pointed out to Mr.' Dob; EO!i, J ',and ;ho and four,'others;, in order t( .discover'-a'.:-track.'-'toytho'rWest.;Coast > thai jV^i^ij}Wpa^bl8 -s .{dr;.!liorscs, 'attacked thii • gully ■"'with spades and nicks. In a fow day: i: a';ti'abkj;Was cut bv which .horse's could :be let • ' illrot^ t^^d^tbV^rty^'P^s)ng.,iteyn ui ' tho >;Himmui; : ,Gorge .above . the, . river level ; caiiiejput' on some fliit/.land", superior to theii " anticipations in many .respects: .-The .mail •brarich of the Hurmiui flowed slowly t-hrougl it, and on all its streams: were: lakes. .- Tin head! pater's of tho Hurunui .were reached fo; . ;■- the first time. Mr.;Dobson -was not-conten' ..i. withfexploring'.the'country, but proceeded,ti ■ ■Kyjjputi'a '.road: through'. it., and "this; oighyeSrs later, became ,-the .first .road to. the. >Ves (the diggers' who [ made. ,tho tusl to^.t-ho. Coast goldfiolds, which in one yea produced a return of a huge amount of gold • Ihe. whole available 7 GO,OOO acres of land re : ' ,ferred.;t6 'as discovered at'- the .head .of t'li Hurumii' wero taken up m a fciv weeks fo a-sheep run. Later years found Mr.- Dobsoi a\busy-man with.Lytlelton wharfago, prepar v y -iufe,"plans .for . the breakwater;': attending t> •11 tlib jphristchurch and Lyttelton .railway am : 'tunnel ; . ; works, "v.'ibhj occasional. visits to th .' .j -'Waiihakarifi and the points of tho river fron ■" .were .threatened. Hi : ■ services were,in request throughout the pro vinoiftl district- wherever: a public work ha l to. be -.bogun. In .1865 ho accompanied- th lato Sir John Hall part of tho timo m a snow storm laying out a road through the Otir . .and -putting the gangs of I'men ,to work i order- to' assist-tho, constant 'stream of gold on . their-way into 'Westland.':■