on arrival in canterbury, smith & knight’s miners drove trial shafts at each end of the tunnel. nine chains from the lyttelton end they encountered rock much more difficult to bore through than what they had been led to believe they would encounter from samples that had been sent back to england. given this new information, they concluded that it would not be possible to complete the contract for the original amount, and they sought an additional £30,000 to complete the work. after consulting with the provincial engineers, the canterbury government decided not to proceed with the services of smith & knight. it was later discovered that smith & knight were in severe financial difficulty at the time, a fact which may possibly explain their request for the £30,000 extension on the contract.