The sum of Fifteen Thousand Pounds
(£15,000) sterling has been invested under
the warrant of His Excellency the Governor,
in the public funds in England, through
the Commissariat Department, by arrangements made through the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury.

Henry St. Hill.

Provincial Secretary’s Office.
20th May, 1854.

In continuation of the Report of the Lyttelton and Christchurch road commission published in the Government Gazette
of the 1st instant, the following correspondence is published for general information.

H. G. Goulard,
Provincial Secretary.

From the Provincial Secretary to W. B.
Bray, Esq., Chairman of the Road Commission.

Christchurch, 1st May, 1854.

Sir,—I am directed by His Honor the Superintendent, to request your attention to the following observations arising out of the report of the Commissioners on the Christchurch and Lyttelton Road.

His Honor is disinclined to expend any money on the Sumner bar, because nothing which could be effected by any moderate outlay would avert the danger arising from the overfalling sea outside the rocks, which is the real cause of the navigation of the channel being so frequently closed. The filling in the rocks as suggested by the commissioners would undoubtedly render the ingress and still more the egress, somewhat easier, but it would not materially alter the principal obstruction to the navigation to which I have referred.

His Honor also declines to entertain the question of a railway by Gollan’s Bay, because if a railway continued into a deep sea jetty at that place were desirable, the railway through Lyttelton would still be the shortest line of communication therewith, and the value of Lyttelton property would not be injured by such a line; the question then reduces itself to the recommendation of the road or of the railway under the Bridle path: without at present entering into the respective merits of these lines, His Honor is of opinion that the railway ought not to be commenced if the present means of communication are to be left unimproved until the railway is finished, that is, for five years.

His Honor therefore requests your particular attention to the subject of opening some temporary but efficient means of communication pending the completion of the tunnel.

It appears to His Honor that if the railway were made from Christchurch to Martin’s house, which could probably be effected in one year, a temporary tramway might be made over the hill worked by ropes and a fixed engine on the top, by which goods in small quantities, say a ton or a ton and a half at a time, could be transmitted with regularity and security from Lyttelton to the terminus of the railway, and that this work would prove a very small addition to the cost of the whole line when complete.

His Honor therefore will be obliged if you will report whether this plan is practicable, and should you find it so, that you will furnish an estimate of the following works:

1. What would be the cost of constructing the railway as far as Martin’s?
2. What would be the cost of constructing a tramway over the hill into Lyttelton?
3. What would be the working expense of such a line?
4. How soon could it be constructed?
5. What would be the additional expense every year until the whole railway were completed?

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) H. G. Goulard,
Provincial Secretary.

To H. G. Goulard, Esq., Provincial Secretary.

Sir,—On receiving your instructions to report to you whether it would be practicable, during the execution of the railway tunnel, to open a temporary but efficient communication with Lyttelton by means of a tramway over the hill, which might be worked by ropes and a fixed engine, I proceeded immediately to examine the spurs on both sides of the Bridle path hills, to determine the most suitable line for such a work.

I find the ground much more favourable than might have been anticipated; on the north side of the hill, the ascent might be nearly straight from Martin’s, till having crossed the Bridle path it approached the rocks on the short cut spur, when curving regularly to the left it would reach the summit about 250 yards east of the Bridle path.

The descent on the south side might be tolerably straight down the right or west side of the Bridle path spur till it came to the hollow where the Bridle path crosses the spur; there the line would also cross to the left or east side of the spur, and reach the level of Norwich Quay, opposite Mr. Tribe’s store.

The gradients or slopes of this line would be very steep. Beginning at Martin’s with a rise of ten feet in eighty-eight, the line would gradually become steeper, and the main ascent would rise 10 feet in 24ft. The descent would be 10ft. in 26ft.