THE CHRISTCHURCH-SUMNER CANAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXI, Issue 13452, 31 May 1904, Page 4

THE CHRISTCHURCH-SUMNER CANAL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Now that wo are about to take practical steps ia the furtherance of the above project permit me to congratulate the Harbour Board on behalf of the commercial patriots of our city for the decision arrived at, and to offer 'a few suggestions. It is evident that the consensus of opinion is in favour of gradual development as against any large enterprise costing millions to carry through, and with no guarantee as to ability to meet the interest on construction. A project involving the cutting of a canal along the reserve, connected with docks sufficient for our present shipping trade may bo dismissed altogether as being beyond the means of the community, for an indefinite time. At the same time it is a work which, in all probability will be taken in hand sooner or later, and so far as a layman can see, the Avon, at Cowlishaw’s comer will have to be diverted into it for the purpose of giving a current. But for the present time the idea of an alternative port is surely feasible for the very good reason that it already exists. Vessels can come even now to within a short distance of the Canal Reserve, and all that is necessary is to employ what we possess already. If we can now take vessels of 50 tone to the Heathcote Bridge what is to prevent our taking those of 500 tons, and later of 1000? It is all simply a matter of dredging. If ws cannot save all the double handling we can at leant save some, and in time, all required on vessels up to 1000 tons.

It must not bo overlooked that the railway a-s an earning concern does us very little direct good. The earnings are very properly applied to the national weal, whereas the expense and cost of transport of goods from the estuary would be borne and spent by the community. In order to get tbs large ships into Lyttelton it will probably bo necessary to spend large sums annually in any case, and opponents of the alternative port may argue that the whole covers the less, the accommodation for th© smaller ships at Lyttelton being allowed to take care of itself. But this would bo ignoring the main point, not perhaps the tunnel, nor the railway rates, but the double' handling. Of course it may be found in the coming investigations that what would be necessary for one scheme may bo entirely modified in another. For instance, a mere simplification of our present waterway for moderate-sized vessels to a certain terminus, may necessitate one fairway, while a scheme covering the more ambitious project of a canal for two miles inland with clocks at the terminus, might involve a totally different management of th© water in the estuary and sea entrance altogether. Probably a basis for the proposed work will have to be taken from tbs maximum idea, as the one the demands of the future situation will doubtless require. But however large the scheme proposed may bs, wo have tho consolation of knowing that it is one of those schemes which can be half done for tho time being, and no delay in direct results for the work accomplished, for unlike a railway, terminating at nowhere in particular, tho ship’s) cargo has a place to go to, and there will always exist a strong motive, and the best of reasons for reducing the land transport to., the smallest possible distance at the earliest moment. Regarding the dredge work that will bo required it will bo a hard matter to get a better object lesson than now presents itself on the River St Lawrence, in Canada. This ship channel is to bo sixty miles long, about half of which is now completed, and the work is costing £1,500,C00. The channel will bo 250 feet wide throughout and 30 feet deep, a fleet of seven dredges being engaged, one of which is capable of shifting two million yards in twelve months. Tho extraordinary capacity of the Dipper dredge, "which can do everything but vote,” is well known. Seeing tho vast experience the Canadians have become possessed of in this work, it might pay us to import a few of their ideas. Even if Christchurch is not destined after all to become an. ocean port in tho same sense as Wellington, wo cannot afford to give up the idea of utilising our semimarilimo position altogether. No city situated as wo are, can afford to stand still to bo hopelessly beaten as a distributing centre by rivals on either side of her. It has been asserted that wo shall be obliged to have a canal of some sort sooner or later on. account of the drainage. The problem even now being a fairly stiff one, it will as-ramo formidable proportions in the next twonty-fiva years, when, judging ‘

by the past there will he a population of some 100,000 people living at an average elevation above the sea. of about 15 feet, and one can easily imagine the state of affairs by that time, unless something of the kind is done. In a. former letter on the subject I suggested tho advisability of at once acquiring a docks reserve. I am, etc., NAUTICUS.