A VISIT TO MARLBOROUGH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 99, 25 April 1873, Page 2

A VISIT TO MARLBOROUGH.

[by a fokmcer resident.] BLENHEIM TO PICTON. A little after three o'clock, Messrs Stevenson and Fiven's coach, drawn by three capital horses, drew up at the hotel door, and I took the seat I had secured on the box, my companion there beiDg. as I shortly discovered, a prisoner, who was being conveyed through to the gaol at Picton. His offence had not been a«very serious one, consisting as it did of a mild assault upon the police in a drunken row, for which he was fined £3 or 14 days' imprisonment. " Jack," for such was his name, considered that he had not been fairly dealt with, and rather than the Government should derive any pecuniary benefit from his laches, he decided to " take it out " in gaol. I was pleased with the simplicity of the arrangements for removing him to his destination. No policeman was in charge, but he was merely handed over to the custody of the driver, who had the warrant of commitment in his pocket, and was instructed to drop bis charge at the gaol. " Jack " was a humorous fellow, and insisted upon seeing the warrant, from a perusal of which, he appeared to derive immense amusement. The news of hia committal had preceded him on the road, and whereever we stopped he was treated with good humored chaff, but he bore his troubles most philosophically, and the only thing that seemed to weigh -on* his mind was a doubt whether tbe establishment tbat was to afford him shelter for a fortnight possessed a library, for he acknowledged to being very fond of reading. Altogether, we were quite a merry little party on the box, the driver, and Jack and I, and I sincerely hope that my fellow traveller's pleasing anticipations of bis brief sojourn in the Picton gaol are being fully realised at the time I write. About a mile and a half out of Blenheim we came upon the first indications of the railway works, consisting of an embankment' by the roadside some four feet in height, and about five feet wide at the top. After passing about a, mile of this work we parted company with it, having to turn off to the ferry, the railway line pursuing a westerly course and crossing the river several hundred yards higher up. There are several fine farms in this, locality, including that of Mr H. Redwood's, whose flour mill forms a conspicuous object in the landscape. Scotch thistles appear to thrive .here admirably, and in one large field that we passed, in which two ploughs were at work} the ground could not be Been for them. Considering: that they stood about two feet in height, and were growing as regularly and

as thickly as if they had heen purposely planted, they must have proved a source of great inconvenience to the horses that were engaged in ploughing them in. Crossing the Wairau river, where we found the Lyttelton loading with grain for NelsoD, we entered upon an unmetatted road, which in winter must provide heavy For remainder of news, see fourth page.

work for the horses, but now was in capital order, and notwithstanding numerous ruts and boles, we rattled over it until we arrived at Massacre Hill, where we once more came upon the railway works that cross the road a little higher up the Tua Marina Valley, and are taken over to the opposite side of the swamp. Our road now, which was as winding as the Opawa river, proved to be in excellent order all Hhe way into Picton, and I could not help '. contrasting its present state with that in which I first found it when riding through with Governor Browne and party in 1859, at which time it was but a narrow clay track. It was now getting dusk, and the sole object of interest in this long wearisome .valley ,i namely, the railway line, was only to be faintly traced by the cuttings through the many spurs which crossed its route. We arrived at Picton about 7 o'clock, and the next day, as the Ladybird was not expected until night, I devoted to examining the works which are providing employment for a number of men, the pay sheet being something like £2000 a month. In company with a friend I walked out after breakfast to what is known as " the elevation" about a mile out of the town. This, the only hill that has to be surmounted on the line, is 280 feet in height, but is being reduced by 40 feet by a cutting through slate rock. The steepest gradient between this and the wharf is one in 37, the average being about one in 40. The works at this end of the line are of a most expensive character, consisting almost entirely of side cuttings, as the line has to be taken round the hill sides the whole way, in order to secure a gradual ascent. Rails from the Dun Mountain " line are laid down from the cutting in the elevation," and tbe stuff taken out is wheeled along the line in trucks, and made use of in filling up the gullies, in some of which the embankments are fully SO feet high. In a few of these gullies I could not help noticing what appeared to me to be a display of decidedly false economy, namely, the construction of •wooden, instead of brick or stone, culverts. These are four feet square, and in the event of their rotting, which they must do in a few years, tbe difficulty and expense of removing them and substituting some more substantial material will be ■very great indeed. In addition tc this objection I should think it very questionable whether they will prove equal to the pressure they have to bear. In one instance the embankment is 150 feet wide, and some 30 feet in height, and the weight of the mass of clay that has to he borne by the wooden box must be something enormous. It certainly seems strange that in a work of this description something more durable than wood has not been used for the purpose. Following the line into the town we sometimes passed through cuttings from 20 to 30 feefc in ■ depth, and at others looked down from the embankments a similar distance into the gullies beneath us, and I must confess that my eyes were opened to the costly nature of railway construction in a hilly country. In one respect the contractors are decidedly fortunate | in none of the cuttings, except that already mentioned at •' the elevation," is there any rock ; it is all clay and rubble, and consequently very easy working. The Waitohi stream, over -which the line is to pass necessitates the construction of a costly work in the shape of a viaduct some sixty feet high, and from 100 to 150 yards in length. A large portion of the timber in on the ground, hut the bridge, which will occupy some time in erecting, is not yet commenced. In many places along the line, which by the way, forms a very favorite promenade ■with the people of Picton, the process of settling down is gradually proceeding, and large cracks, several inches in width and feet in depth, speak of a considerable amount of work being yet in store for the contractors. I was somewhat disappointed at not seeing the men at work, as I bad anticipated a busy scene, but I was informed that their absence was to be accounted for by the fact of its being pay day, and on such occasions, as a rule, the publicans make more money than the navvies. ** On making. a tour through the town, I found that considerable improvements had taken place since last I was there in 1868.; Then, almost every other house was uninhabited, now there are very few chimneys from which smoke is not to be seen issuing, and in addition to this change I noticed several new build-, ings besides tbe sheds and workshops < erected by Messrs. Brogden & Son. There is also a new wharf, which is a decided iißproveinent upon the old one." Thinking that the experience of the Pictonians in the matter of wharf , buuilding might at some futnre date be useful to us in Nelson, . where a similar structure will soon be needed, I made inquiries as to the material used; and the cost of its construction. ; The old wharf had proved to the satisfaction 5, of all concerned, that 'birch piles were fof; ;ri<o;*;«se whatever.- as, they -

were speedily, penetrated and eaten away by the worms, but, accidentally or otherwise, — how it occurred no one seemed to know, — a totara pile had been driven in among the others, and this, it wss found on examination, was perfectly sound and in good condition, not having been touched by the destructive insect in any part. Acting upon this knowledge tbe authorities decided upon having nothing but the heart of totara in the piles that support the new wharf, which is a commodious structure, very nearly as long as that of which we can boast — or are ashamed, aa the case may be — in Nelson, and has been constructed for, what appeared to me, tbe exceedingly moderate sum of £1,400. The Government set to work in a very Benßible manner about its construction, The tenders were first of all invited for the timber, which, before delivery was taken, was examined and approved by the Superintendent of the Province, who took great interest in the work, and has devoted a good deal of study at various times and under diffeut circumstances to ascertaining the respective merits of our New Zealand woods; separate tenders were also called for for the iron work, and for the construction, and a skilled workman was engaged to supervise the work. The result has been that a thoroughly substantial wharf, containing only timber of a description that is proof against the attacks of marine insects, has been erected at avery moderate cost. I am a little afraid that I may have wearied the patience of my readers by giving too lengthy an account of what I caw in the few hours that I was enabled to spend in the Province of Marlborough, but if I have invested my passing notes with one half the interest that I felt in observing tbe progress that has been made wifhin the last few years, I am sure that I shall not have proved tiresome. If I bave not succeeded in doing this, my failure must be attributed not to the unattractive ness of the scenes and incidents I have endeavored •to pourtray, but to the weakness of my powers of description. I am fain to confess that my ideas of the progress achieved within the last few years by the sister province underwent a considerable change in the interval tbat elapsed between the time of my stepping on * Bhore from the Wallace on Friday morning, and my embarkation on Saturday night in the comfortable and commodious steamer Ladybird on my return trip to Nelson. I thought it had been quietly crawling ahead, instead of which I found that it had been progressing with a steady rapidity tbat I should like to Bee imparted to our own march the front.