TO MILFORD SOUND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 12

TO MILFORD SOUND.

NEW ROAD CONSTRUCTION. QUESTION OF COMPLETION. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, Thursday. The Minister of Public Works,, the Hon. J. Bitchener, and the Minister of Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton, returned to-day after a visit to Eglington Valley, where the road to Milford Sound, which is under construction, was inspected. "So far as the road has been constructed to the present time I am satisfied that the expenditure on it has been fully justified," said Mr. Bitchener, "but I . cannot at present state definitely whether it will be possible to take the road further or complete it to Milford. A party of surveyors has been in the country for several months, and I am hopeful that their report will be available in about a month. It will then be possible to arrive at a definite decision whether the road can be continued to Milford." From what he had seen of the work, Mr. Bitchener said, it appeared that the tunnel through the Gertrude Saddle would be a very long one, possibly up to a mile, and the construction of this section of the road would therefore be very expensive. "I am particularly hopeful that we will find it possible to continue the road through to Milford," he said, "as it appears to me that the completed road would mean a great deal to New Zealand from a tourist point of view." Mr. Bitchener added that the new road appeared to have attracted a great deal pf local attention already, and he was convinced that when the grandeur of the scenery, which he thought was unequalled in any other part of the country, was fully realised, the new route would attract the attention of the whole of the. Dominion.