THE BELTS AND STREETS OF CHRISTCHURCH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1614, 15 February 1866, Page 2

THE BELTS AND STREETS OF CHRISTCHURCH.

All that seems to have been done to the road between the Albert Edward Oak, and the Avon which crosses the belt at the terminus of Kilmore street, has been to separate it from the side walks by digging trenches a spit deep, and rounding off the edges of them on the road side; and consequently the road is in a bad state. In such weather as the present it is well enough, but in winter it is so bad that horsemen and the drivers of carts frequently turn aside from it, and ride or drive along the side walks ; and by the ruts and sloughs so made, render them impassable by pedestrians. All along the east side, the frontages of the adjoining lands are fenced ; and this is true, with very few exceptions on the town side also. And on this side there is a hotel at the corner of Cashel street, a modest-looking building called " The Eastern." Four of the streets which abut on the belt are continued on the oiher side of it and are the means of communication between it and several considerable suburban neighbourhoods. These streets are Cashel, Worcester, Gloucester, and Armagh, and besides these outlets of the city eastward, there is an accommodation road in Ihe same direction. At the junction of Armagh street with the belt, there is, even in this dry weather, a pool of water which comes _ from the artesian well in this street belonging to Mr. Hobbs ; and some of this water is continued along, what may some day be ent tied tj be called a side channel, to the river, where it does not discharge itself through a wooden culvert planted there. There is, probably, not sufficient fall to the culvert, but another cause is that the pretence of a side channel is choked with weeds and mud. Between Chester and Kilmore streets there is a terrace, from two to three feet high, extending half over the eastern side of the belt, and having a post and rail fence along its front; and at the back of this terrace, on private property, is a very fine row of gum trees extending northward to the malthouse of Messrs. Hamilton Ward & Co., the brewers. On the other side of the belt, and opposite the malthouse, is the brewery, and these two buildings terminate that part of the east town belt which is south of the Avon. There is no bridge across the Avon here, nor would one bridge suffice, for the stream is so tortuous at this point that no fewer than three bridges would have to be built to connect the two parts of the belt. The nearest bridge is that at .Madras street. Having crossed the Avon, we find the remaining part of the belt to be narrower by about one-third than that south of the river, but the road i 9 much better, being metalled. No footpaths, however, have been made. A creek which runs along the North Belt crosses the East Belt here, running southward for a short distance, and then turning off eastward into the enclosed grounds. This creek is spanned by a bridge of planks placed on a level with the road. A few yards further on, and we are at the northern extremity of the East Belt, and by the grounds of his Honor the Superintendent, which form the outer angle of the junction between the east and north sides of the Town Belt. In these grounds are abundance of handsome willow and gum trees shading well-kept drives, lawns, and flowerbeds ; among which the open gate seems to invite the hot wayfarer to rest awhile. We have now quitted the metalled road, which continues its course northward, and turned into the almost entirely unimproved North Town Belt. Having again crossed the creek just mentioned, and by a bridge similar to the other, we come up >n an area which is entirely covered with weeds and a few flax bushes, having a narrow track on the north side worn by the feet of passengers, but bearing scarcely a vestige of horse or carriage traffic. Passing along this wilderness of scrub and tussock, by the margin of the creek which skirts its northern side, we find no continuations of the streets which abut on it and until we have reached Colombo street, no accommodation-road; but here there is one called Caledonia road, and a little further west another—Springfield road —both leading to the suburban village of St. Alban's. Between Barbadoes and Madras streets there is a creek or ditch across the Belt, bridged at its north end by a culvert, affording carriage way of about fifteen feet in width. But as this culvert is covered with earth, it would not afford any indication to a driver approaching the spot of the presence of the creek; and, especially in the dusk of evening, he would be very likely to make that discovery by having dnven his horse into it; and as it is about five feet wide and three deep to the water, and remote from help, he would find himself in a very troublesome position. West of this creek the soil seems to be composed of peat, and is so spongy as to be quite impasiable for wheels ; even the footpath is interrupted in some places by a bog, which the passenger has to make a oiwiuitous route to clear. At Madras street there is another stream across the belt, conveying water from the creek along its North side into the town. This stream, which is as largo as the last, is quite open, except for the space of a foot bridge of planks. Running into this from tho westward, along tho South side of the belt, is another watercourso, which has apparently been made partially to drain some swamps in its neighbourhood, chiefly lying in a piece of uuinclosed land within the town. The components of the belt at this part are chiefly bog and stagnant pool. At Manchester street things begin to mend. A strip of bare ground into which wheel murks are indented, connects thin street with the belt and curves westerly, soon improving into a-tolerable road. 11 ere cottages, and dwellings deserving of a better name begin to appear, aud trees to adorn and shade tho belt, from tho enclosed ground* on both siues. At Durham street two fine rows ot' these extend themselves an far as Montreal street Of course there have been hitherto no trees planted on the belt itself ; but at this spot there are, on its north side, two long open plantations, in which the trees are not placed as in those on tho east belt, in ■ positions in which they are to remain, but close together, as in a nursery. One of these contains only a few trees at its cast end, > covering about one-ton th of the area; there- 1 malning nine-tenths being possessed by weeds, i chiefly d >cks and sow-thistles, some of the ] latter beinit grown to a height of five feet. The other plantation is nearly full of healthy < young trees of various descriptions. From < these we immediately approach the Whately Road and the Carlton Hotel, and from this 1 point to the west end of the belt—a very short disUnoe—the road is metalled. At the extremity of the belt it is divided into two, the fork crossing the Avon, and running on ( to Prebbleton, and the other being continued • parallel with the rirer in nearly a western direction. '