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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Sumner

Sumner is one of the beauty spots of Canterbury. Nestling under the steep hills and cliffs, washed by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, and drawing its robust yet genial atmosphere straight from the sea, it is, firstly, a health resort, and secondly, a pleasure resort, for the toilers and moilers who dwell in the city, about eight miles away. Sumner can be reached in an hour on the tramcars, after a delightful ride past fields and pastures, cottages and mansions, gardens and beautiful vistas formed by the winding course of the Heathcote river. In the warm weather it is specially well patronised, as then sea-bathing is added to other quiet attractions. On Saturdays, and public holidays, the tramcars are generally crowded with visitors, who have taken “a day off” to spend it in recuperative recreation at Sumner. Settlement at Sumner was begun as early as the year 1851, and even earlier, for before that time Captain Thomas, the Canterbury Association's advance agent, had established a store, as he had also laid out and commenced the Lyttelton-Sumner Road before the arrival of the first four ships at Lyttelton in December, 1850. The colony's Institute for Deaf Mutes is close to the town. At present (1902) there is a proposal to construct a small harbour at Sumner, and to complete the Sumner-Lyttelton Road, with a tramway to Lyttelton, running through the hill at Evans's Pass. In this way Christ-church and Lyttelton would have direct communication by means of alternative routes.