“That perseverance which has commanded success for England in so many fields has achieved another triumph in New Zealand. For six years has a quiet, but none the less remarkable, work been going on in the range of hills that divides Christchurch from Lyttelton. Possessed of a splendid harbour, the Province of Canterbury has had to suffer ever since its foundation from the difficulty of communication between its capital and port. At first sight the range of hills appear impassable, and are sufficient to frighten new arrivals. For the first years of the settlement’s existence there was nothing in the shape of a road until the track over the hills was widened into a bridle path. All goods destined for Christchurch had to be sent round in boats up the river. Then came the cutting of a cart road winding round the hills, and eventually reaching Heathcote (which may be properly called the Christchurch side of the range). The latter road was opened in 1859, and ever since the traffic on it has continued increasing. In 1856 an attempt was made to introduce steam navigation on the river, for the quicker and cheaper conveyance of goods, this unfortunately terminated disastrously in the wreck of the steamship Alma. The course of the river having been staked out in 1858, the Planet commenced running, and from that time the number of coasting steamers has steadily increased, while the sailing vessels from being confined to craft of 15 to 20 tons have risen to 100 tons. Still the great desideratum of a _direct_ and _rapid_ communication remained, and various schemes were propounded, but none carried into effect till May 1861, when the Provincial Government accepted a tender from Messrs. Holmes & Co., to complete a line of railway from Lyttelton to Christchurch (a distance of six miles) in five years, for £240,500. In this contract the tunnel, 2,838 yards long (the cost of which was estimated at £195,000), was included. The first sod of the line was cut on the 17th July, 1861, and for six long years, night and day, has the process of boring through the mountain gone on. During that time the contractors have met with all sorts of difficulties, not the least of which have been the attractions offered to their men by the successive outbreaks of the Otago and Canterbury diggings, but, lending their whole energies to the task, the works have not been stopped for a single day. The completion of this work must be productive of the highest benefits to Canterbury. It will thus be seen that this tunnel cost at the rate of £69 per yard forward, and it required six years to complete it at a cost both of money and time very onerous to a young settlement. With Mr. Fell’s system the tunnel would have been altogether avoided, and it is probable that the line would have been completed in about two years, at a price not exceeding £60,000, instead of the £240,500 it has cost the colony to construct it.