E. DoBSON. — State of Applied Science in Ganterhury. 133 



of proper wharfage in Lyttelton Harbour. It is to be boped that tbis 

 urgent Avaut may sbortly be supplied by tbe works now in progress. 



EoADS. — Tbe level character of tbe Canterbury Plains, and tbe abundance 

 of gravel suitable for road metal, bas made tbe construction of tbe main 

 roads tbrougb tbe eastern portion of tbe province a very easy task, respect- 

 ing Avbicb tbere is little to record of scientific interest. Some few exceptions 

 may be bere noticed. 



Tbus, in tbe construction of tbe Sumner Eoad, between Cbristcburcb 

 and Lyttelton, tbe original gradient of tbe ascent to Evans Pass from Sum- 

 ner Valley was altered to correspond witb tbe slope of tbe lava streams 

 of wbieb tbe mountain is formed, by wbicb means full advantage could be 

 taken of tbe natural terraces formed by tbe projecting edges of tbese streams, 

 wbilst tbe road was made wider and straigbter tban it would bave been as 

 first laid out, and tbe amount of rock blasting was reduced to a minimum. 



It may be interesting to glance at tbe nature of tbe channels tbrougb 

 wbicb tbe great rivers of tbe Canterbury Plains find tbeir way from tbe bills 

 to tbe sea, as tbey all possess, to a greater or less extent, tbe same features, 

 wbicb govern tbe selection of points of crossing, and, as a consequence, 

 tbe direction of tbe main lines of road running parallel to tbe eastern sea- 

 board. 



Tbe general section of tbe Canterbury Plains, taken in a direct line 

 from tbe sea to tbe bills, may be described as a curved line, differing but 

 little from a dead level near tbe coast, but rising at a gradually increasing 

 gradient until it reaches the foot of tbe hills, wbicb, in most places, rise 

 abruptly from tbe plains. On the other hand, the river beds themselves 

 rise from tbe sea to the mountain gorges at a tolerably regular slope of 

 from twenty to thirty feet per mile, running from the gorges between 

 terraces of great height, which gradually diminish until they die away 

 altogether, leaving the rivers to run on the surface of the plains for a short 

 space, after which they again sink below the level of the country, ajid run 

 to tbe sea between high cliffs of shingle, whose height varies with that to 

 which the edge of the plains rises above the sea beach. 



Thus, with few exceptions, every one of these rivers presents a point at 

 which it may be crossed on tbe general level of tbe country : below which 

 it is either inaccessible on account of tbe cliffs by which it is bounded, or 

 difficult to cross on account of- the number and depth of the channels into 

 which it spreads on the surface of the plains, and above which it can only 

 be approached by long sidling descents cut in tbe terraces. 



Between Cbristcburcb and the Waitaki, a distance of 143 miles, tbe 

 position of the southern lines, both of road and railway, has been determined 

 by considerations of this nature, and witb the following result, viz., that 



