CANTERBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 313, 28 November 1857, Page 5

CANTERBURY.

(From the Lyttletan Times, Sept. 26.) A discovery has been made during the past three weeks which adds wonderfully to our knowledge of the geography of the Province of Canterbury, and throws a good deal of light upon the hitherto imperfectly known formation of this middle of New Zealand. As usual in ' these cases, the wonder is, not that circumstances are found to be as they are, but that they haTe not been known to be so long before now. The following facts, taken from the statement of Mr. Dobson, the Provincial Engineer, and from maps and drawings of the localities made by. him, will.be interesting tp our readers. Of course, we cannot give full particulars ; such must

be left for the official report which it will be the duty of Mr. Dobson to lay before the Government. A. Maori path has from the first been, known to exist from the East to the West Coast, by the gorge of the Hurunui, at what is called Mount Noble, near Mr. Mason's station, "Waitui ; and from the accounts, of Maories, the existence of some level land in the interior has long been understood. A certain precipitous gulley in the gorge above mentioned, which the Maories crossed with flax ropes and ladders, has been always the obstacle to exploring expeditions in this direction. Mr. Dobson in the exercise of his duties and opportunities endeavoured to find a passable road for horses along this route, and with Mr. Mason, Mr. Taylor, of the Wairau, Mr, Dampier, a shepherd of Mr. Mason's, and, we believe, another man, attacked the precipitous gulley in question with spades and pick axes. In four days a track was cut by which horses could be led from one side to the other, and the party pursued their way up the gorge, keeping a little above the river bank on the south side. In a very short time they came upon flatland. This was the half expected country; superior to their anticipations in many respects. Dry, though well watered ; open grass country, but with clumps of wood standing upon it and with corners of the forest running down to it from the mountain spurs ; enclosed in hills, but containing, more or less, 60,000 acres of pasture land. A good denl of limestone and quartz prevail in the neighbourhood. The timber trees are the ordinary varieties of pine and totara, with some white birch. I The genera] level is about the same as the great plain, perhaps at the highest 600 feet above the water level. The main branch of the Hurunui flows slowly along the northern edge of the basin, forming the boundary of the Province. On the southern side of the basin another stream of the river flows, and forms an island, which again is divided down the middle by a third water-course. On all the streams there are lakes, six in number in all, which have been already named by the discoverers ; one of them, called Lake Sumner/on the northern side, is of considerable dimensions ; judging from the sketches taken by Mr. Dobson, they are all beautiful, and the valley itself is most picturesque. The valley is not all flat, but contains ranges of low grassy hills parallel to and separating the streams, with several insulated mounds. The soil is of various descriptions, well covered with grass, and not at all swampy. There is some sppar-grass, but, we need scarcely add when the level is remembered, no snow-grass. A tributary stream falls into the Hurunui from the northward close to Lake Sumner. The main stream, somewhat diminished in size, flows into the plain we have endeavoured to describe down a long valley, half a mile to a mile in width, still ornamented by clumps of wood and off-sets from the mountain forest. Up this valley the party proceeded, the river flowing smoothly along between somewhat steep shingle banks, and indicating by its slight velocity that no great height was being gained. The head waters of the Hurunui were reached, a low saddle was passed over, and in a short time the party found themselves upon a tolerable stream running westward. They had passed the water-shed line between the east and west coasts, and might have reached the sea without the slightest difficulty. Unfortunately, four days bad weather stopped further progress. Mr. Dobson's professional knowledge enabled him to mark his progress with accuracy, and to carry away with him the features of the country. We are, therefore, by this expedition, put in possession of the information that the saddle between the Hurunui and the stream running westward, no doubt the Brunner, is only a little more than thirty miles from the West Coast, and, though the highest point of the line traversed, is only about lOOQ-ieet above the sea level, or the height of the bridle path hill above Lyttelton. The road from that point to Christchurch wants but \ery little to be passable for drays, and there can be no doubt that the West Coast is equally accessible. A few miles down the Hurunui the valley has a branch to the north-west which is terminated by a low saddle, behind which is evidently the river Grey, said by Brunner to pass through a valley 60 miles long and full of Likes. Mr. Dobson was not contented with discovering this country, but has laid out a road of easy execution to traverse it. The whole available land has been taken up as sheep runs. W"hen we consider the facts now determined, that this island, instead of being longitudinally divided by a backbone range of snowy mountains is traversible laterally by a road nowhere getting more than 1000 feet above high water mark; that this road opens the West Coast to us and passes through a piece of country which, instead of being rock and snow, is a smiling and beautiful valley, with almost every capability for use ; that abundance of timber is thus afforded to the destitute plain of the Hurunui; and that an extensive territory is here added to our province ; we have surely said enough to show the importance of the discovery. It is almost too exciting to be told that the protruding rock in the neighbourhood, described as abounding in quartz, indicates the more than probable presence of gold. What a splendid location for a township this valley would be, in the very centre of auriferous mountains ! _ We cannot but expect great results from these discoveries. It must be looked upon as a most likely circumstance that the rivers "Waiau to the north and the Courtenay to the south divide in a similar manner what has hitherto been called the snowy Range: though it is by no means to be looked for that the water-shed line will be found to be at such an inconsiderable elevation. Exploration will be found advantageous, for if the West Coast be worth nothing when we arrive there, every acre of land found on the way will give room for population and add wealth to the settlement.