The Arthur's Pass Road. (TO THE EDITOR.)

Progress, Volume III, Issue 4, 1 February 1908, Page 135

The Arthur's Pass Road. (TO THE EDITOR.)

Sir, — In your issue of 2nd December I notice a letter from Mr. G. Thornton, denying that my father, Mr. Edward Dobson, made the road over Arthur's P^ss. Mr. Thornton says : " Now, as I was the Acting Provincial Engineer " for the Government at the time, viz., April, 1865 " and the whole road from its initiation to com " pletion placed in my hands to lay out and con " struct, I most emphatically deny that Mr. E " Dobscn made the road over the Pass." Further on he says : " Mr. Dobson explained what he proposed " doing in the Bealey Gorge, but gave no sugges- " tion for a road over Arthur's Pass and down " the Otira Gorge ; the latter was the key to the " whole question and required a vast amount of " consideration." I emphatically say that the above statements are false, and that the following documentary evidence which I quote vvill prove them to be so :—: — Among the reports and letters published by the Provincial Government in 1865 is the following report, written by my father, dated 15th May, 1865, entitled, " Report to the Secretary for Public Works upon the practicability of Constructing a Bridle Road through the Gorge of the Otira, etc." This report contains complete detailed plans of the road, as surveyed thiough the Bealey and Otira Gorges, and over the Pass ; complete specifications and priced-out schedule of the work to be done in constructing a road from the Bealey river bed over the Pass and down the Otira to the lower Gorge — a distance of some 4 miles 20 chains, and included with this report is the contract signed by John Smith, contractor, and approved by E. Dobson on behalf of the Provincial Government of Canterbury, under instructions from His Honour the Superintendent, dated 14th March, 1865. In a letter dated 11th April, 1862, Mr. E. Dobson wrote to the Secretary for Public Works — " I think you will be pleased with the road I am "laying out. I have cut a 4-ft. wide track at a " trotting gradient from the foot of the Pass " across the saddle, and am going down the Otira " riverbed as fast as thirty good axemen can cut " their way through the dense scrub." Further on he writes " Through the Otira Gorge there will be about " 90 chains of rock cutting, but no real difficulty " about the whole matter, provided the necessary " funds can be obtained." When these works had all been put in hand Mr. Thornton was placed in charge. Mr. E. Dobson was granted a gratuity of (in addition to his salary) for the report and work done in connection with this matter. The report itself was a unique production, and contained forty illustrations and an appendix. It attracted considerable attention in Europe, and was the cause of Mr. Dobson being elected a corresponding member of the Imperial Geological Society, of Vienna. I think that should settle the question of the Pass. Now, with regard to the completion of the road : In a report signed by Mr. E. Dobson, Provincial Engineer, and dated 22nd October, 1866 writing of the Christchurch-Hokitika road, the report says : " The road has been begun as a bridle road, has " been finished as a dray road, and opened in " March, 1866, the work on the Otira road being " under the Superintendence of Messrs. W. and E " Blake and Mr. Aitken." The report goes on to say : " Mr. E. Blake will be continued m charge oi " the road," the services of the other gentlemen being utilised elsewhere. From this it is evident that Mr. Dobson was m charge of the work at the time of its comple tion. In the Lyttelion Times of sth February, 1869, in enumerating the public works executed by Mr. E Dobson, amongst other works it says : " The West Coast road, passing over two snowy " ranges, was his work, and was opened for traffic " within a year of its commencement." The public documents I have quoted from can be seen by anyone who cares to look up the matter, and I contend they distinctly prove the truth of my statements and the error of those made by Mr. Thornton. In the foregoing I use the word " made ' ' in the engineering sense, viz., of the work done by the engineer who surveys.sets out, and lets the contracts, and not of the contractor who actually does the work, or the assistant engineer who supervises it. — I am, etc., A. Dudley Dobson/ i f i City Surveyor, Christchurch