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Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1098, 20 May 1863, Page 4

When describing a short time ago the progress made on the roads which connect the plains and the port, we pointed out the necessity of forming that portion of the road between Lyttelton and Governor's bay, which extends between the port town and Dyer's pass. Until this portion of the road is completed, all the work on Dyer's and Gebbie's passes are valueless, so far as communication between Lyttelton and the plains is concerned. We have lately been informed that the Provincial Government, under authority of a vote of the Provincial Council, gave instructions that this road should be taken in

hand, but that they were obliged to postpone the work in consequence of the exorbitant demands of some of the land-owners on the line of road for compensation on account of a few diversions which the Public Works office considered it advisable to make. The greed for compensation is evidently growing; and it is found that the examples which have been set by some of the successful claimants against Government have been very contagious. In this case the sufferers by the conduct of the obstructives are for the most part persons who have no immediate pecuniary interest in the dispute. But it is manifest that the Government are bound to resist an unjust pressure. We do not pretend to know the merits of the case, and we hope that the Provincial Government will lay the particulars before the Council at the next session. If it is true, as it has been said, that the cost of the slight diversions proposed would make the road a great deal more expensive than if it was completed on the existing line, would it not be better to open it at once without the diversions? It may be that the present line of road would entail constant repairs so expensive as to make it unadvisable to construct it. But unless this is the case, we should be very sorry to see the public money go to encourage further the exorbitant demands of private individuals, who may fancy they have a chance of squeezing the public purse.

Land is bought week by week at the sittings of the "Waste Lands Board much faster than the surveyor can lay out roads through the province. To lock up the country until surveys are completed would be an undoubtedly greater evil than the risk run at present of sowing a crop of claims against the Government for diversion of roads. But in the face of this constantly growing danger, the Council ought to reconsider the question of roads diversion. "We want a tribunal before which, while private interests are respected, the interests of the public should be also protected. The system of arbitration as hitherto worked is no protection to the public treasury.