Cutting a Road Through The Haast Pass

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Cutting a Road Through The Haast Pass

By H. L V-

WITH his invention ot metaphorical running shoes, New Zealand's Minister of Transport, the Hon. Robert Semple, became as much a household name as did England's Hore-Belisha with his celebrated road beacons. lint if New Zenlanders of a. future da v and generation remember Mr. sample, it will be. R«i much a« anything. t'i>r the great programuiu i>f highway construction initiated under h i-i Ministry. To-day, in various puts of the Dominion, the strength and rexmm. , of thousands of men. and the eoncentruteil power of the latest mechanical aids, are concentrated oil building many league* of new highway* where until the present the wheel of motor has never run. Of tlie many projects in hand in Xew Zealand, noiK! is more imaginative in concept, and none so calculated to bring ■the peerlese scenic lweuties of tin* <'ountrv before the eye of an admiring

world, ae the completion of a motor rmid between South Westland and Otago. by way of the Haast Pass. To-day the (ireat South Koad in Westland i* a "blind alley"; it has no exit across the Alps op down into Southland, while from these latter province? there i* no traffic route to the golden ( <>as<t more direct than that through Arthur'* Pass. Completion of the Haast Pass Road, from Makarora at the. fo<rt <>f Lak<> Wanaka to Weheka at the foot of the l'o\ (;i«i<ier. and with it of the Homer tunnel, will change all that. From j Milfi.nl to Xplsou there will stret<h a mad as colourful, though the shades l>e different, and as allurin_'. for it~ pn>>|K'<:ts «ill be more noblv. as lh;it which i ho poet. glim|v-e<l unfurling to Samarkand. Such ft road is bound to draw thousands of pilgrims, not only from all corners of Xew Zealand, but from overseas. Milford will become an important point of arrival for tourists, who will explore there the grandeur* of the South Island, driving through the Homer and over the Haast. Though they may not all have caught thet vision, not one among the hundreds of men now labouring on the Haa«-t road but i* aware of the magnitude of the task to 'which he is addressed. Before

the gap is closed, two mile* ol bridge* have to be built, many miles of tx?eoh foreet felled, <-liff faces bla.-tfd and hewn away, tens of thousands of tons of earth and rock ehifted in c.vcevations and fillings. On the WVptland -iile jranjrs are enjrajred bridging river aftrr river be tween the placiers ami Hrueo Buy. 11 miles eolith; at l'ruci 1 May it«-«-1 f there ie a oamp nf about I'M* hhmi. who have already cnin|>]i*tod some mile- nf broeid hiplnvay northward from tin , |>ii"tiire-.o,iiv timber town. Hut tin l only diieet approach t<> the Hn.-irt Hivcr %;iTI'-v ;i----yot i« that from tlu> r-i«l. . ,\i\<\ n< I)a\is oil inp. 11 miles limii M.ik.iiiM .1. nearly 2dO men are iicrnmmodiitr.l. Aln;id of them the survcynr~ liM\e ;ili<'.k!v <-iiriie<l the mute i>ver the ai'tlliil <li\i!'. ,it IS.'ill fee't. wllirli .Tllli:i- Von H;i;ii-t. iiidefatipiblo «'\iilnrer trmii ('a titeriiii! \ . ilic-oiivored in ISii;?. Frnm thai divide t<> tiu , mmilli nf tinllrtflst I'iver. Mime >n mile- a«ay. lln road now in the making « ill run ilirnii^l , i-ountry of uiidniibted unind.-iir. <i laiP 1 of and lllnlintaill |H'ak ;in<l jniilimer able silver eilM-iidi'* llwiuiii'J I heir Imm ill v ivaiitimly down liil'-idr-. 'I'lie slhmt jinidiiiality «itli whieh i!n-«r (■out rat-tin ■_' land-'-ane- 1 have been f;i~hioiie.l i< bi-ynnd dc-eription. The oiil\- dwellers in tlii' rej-'mn ot -pjuioiir. )iaiklan<lf- are the deer and tli<' iiittivo liinW whi'li sliil Mini in' the valley of the lTan<t :i f-nre a-vlu'ii from the liiind f>f man. At present the H.i.i-t ran be troveived only on foot or on horsehai'k. and only a har<lv minority has enjoyed the privilege. But ti>-da\ a frroat Department. of State i* directinsr the enerjrie* of onyi'ieers. isiir\eyoiv. carpenters. bri<l'je-biiilders. navvios to the laudable end of buildinpr a road, so that to-morrow a "renter but no lernpproeinHvc |iubli<- may enter into ithoritape.