CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 21, 24 January 1877, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

■ v . . THE BAI. VALLEY. ji-jTo THB EdIXOR OF THB 'EvENINO Milt/ |i — Many^bf 'ybue readers wilLbe-glad *;*to> hear that Dr Hector has ridden through the; Rar Valley, and. to scad the accompany- • ing: letter, in which he gives his opinion bn that line of road/ • I hope that yon will oblige . ' .them and me by making room for it in the ' Mail.— l am, &c, '""*,* A. S. CoLLtSH. Hill wood, Jan. 22nd Mr dear Collins.— l send you my notes on the'.Rai Valley road to the Pelorus, as you desired to have my opinion. My estimates of distance and gradients I have put in* tabular form. The latter are average gradients, but they are .nearly, true throughout. As , there is no hill on the whole line, even in its present state, as steep as Jenkins' Hill on j. the Waimea Road, I am quite at a loss to understand how any donbts can have arisen as to the feasibility of this route. The bridle track as far as the Rai Pass is in good order, except where two or three trees have fallen across it.. The descent to the Rai Fiats has been marked out on an. excellent gradient, and, although there is no path, it is only necessary to dismount for about three chains where the hill is a little steep and rocky. The line cut down the Rai Valley is on good sound ground and requires only a little root-clearing and some nine rough bridges across muddy -creeks to make it passable. About £400 spent on the four miles be- : tween the Rai Saddle and the Pelorus would open a bridle road . that I. feel surg would supersede the toilsome climb, over the Maun- . gatapu track, which is now in such disrepair as to be dangerous to horses, and I think it would be.befcter to. open the Rai.raad than to spfend a much larger sum in patching up the other. For the coach road, which must at sometime be made- to connect Nelson with this Wairau, I believe the Rai Valley route to be[ the only one possible, and it has very remarkable advantages in its easy natural gradients and in the large extent of good country it would open up, probably little short of £50,000. worth of land fit for settlement. For the wheel road I noticed where seyeral advantages deviations could be made from the present line. I believe it would be an easily made and cheaply maintained road. Many thanks for your kindness in assisting my visit to this charming line of country. i"*""' I am, &c., | James Hectob. Nelson, Jan. 17, 1877.

From Nelson as far as. Lud Bridge, Happy I ! Vallej, a metalled road. i rA ""2 «ci «n3 HBio2g„ *»5 s| -s-ssS I*l i I .-. ...; !_. p Pfq OH • i h.m. mla. End Bridge ,*:*..» 120 Saddle; j Bridlepath*... 15 5 1 140 tin 26 Bo River do . ... OSO 4 590 1„ 34 ,; Collins' river junc-. **" ' . tion d 0... ... lio 7 75 1,, 480 Rai Saddle do ... lis 5 765 l„ 34 B4. Slats; cut line: ) r SO 2 260 1,, 21 Pelorus Bridge, do i2O 8 140 I „340 - I ■•'■•'• - ■'•; " ■• . 730 31