SUMNER LANDSLIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7562, 29 May 1885, Page 6

SUMNER LANDSLIP.

TO THE EDITOB. Sib, —Mr E. W. Roper’s “ten years’ residence and constant travelling oh the Sumner road” must surely have either weakened his eyesight, or sadly impaired his powers of correct observation. The feeling “ prevalent with the public ” that pieces of rock had been “ detached from the permanent cliffs,” no doubt arose from the account of the occurrence furnished by your reporter in the Lyttelton Times of Friday last. He described the position and nature of the mishap with perfect accuracy; hence, without doubt, the general and correct impression which has arisen. Referring to the fallen mass, your reporter stated that it had “broken away from a place about forty feet above the road, at a

point where a steep slope leads from the latter to the foot of the crags.” That is exactly what happened. Anybody can see the spot for themselves, and the whitish portions of what Mr Roper rather .quaintly terms the “ permanent cliff ” where the large masscs of rock broke away. Naturally, they differ considerably in colour from the weather-worn parts surrounding them. The sandy slope at that point, of course gave way . under the enormous blocks, and came sliding down, bringing with it much small ddbris which had been lying there for years. The worst of the stuff, however, consisted of masses that had been detached from the cliff itself, and it took nearly two days’ hard blasting and navvy work before the road was perfectly clear again. Had the obstruction consisted only of small stuff, it is not likely that seven or eight willing workers, a dray or two, screwjacks, and goodness knows how, many drills would have been employed, as to my knowledge they were employed, before the job was finished.—l am, &c., V. C.