THE MAIN SOUTH ROAD

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21510, 27 June 1935, Page 10

THE MAIN SOUTH ROAD

I A . * GERALDINE VIEW OF DEVIATION LETTER TO BE SENT TO HIGHWAYS BOARD A telegram stating that a full reply is being prepared to refute many statements in a letter about the Main South highway deviation which Mr C. J. McKenzie, chairman of the Main Highways Board, wrote to the Geraldine Business Men's Association, has been sent to the board by the association. The position was discussed by Mr A. G. Brown, a member of the Geraldine Association, last evening. Mr Brown also made reference to statements made about the deviation by the District Public Works Engineer' Mr F. Langbein, which appeared in "The Press" yesterday morning. Mr Brown claimed last evening that it was obvious that the Highways Board was either side--stepping the association, or had not grasped the many advantages of the scheme which it had advanced. Some of the facts contained in Mr Langbein's statement of the position were, said Mr Brown, misleading if not erroneous. It was interesting, said Mr Brown, to observe the undue haste with which the board was pushing on with the survey on the RangitataWinchester part of the road, in spite of the statement made earlier in the year by Messrs Langbein and C. J. Talbot at the time they visited Geraldine as representatives of the Main Highways Board. Messrs Langbein and Talbot had said at that time that there was no need for the association to have any anxiety, for the board intended to consider the position very fully before proceeding with the work, and ample time would be given, they had said, for objections to be made from Geraldine. This haste on the part of the board in the face of its previous statement, together with the long delay which the association had in receiving official advice from the board, inclined the members of the association to the belief that the Main Highways Board was not anxious to face the weight of the association's arguments. "The association is preparing a full reply to the board's letter, and I cannot release anything at the moment," said Mr Brown. "I might hint, however, that the board's estimate of the expense is most deceptive, and their statement is in error about the number of railway crossings. Now that we have something concrete before us about the board's attitude and arguments. we are more than confident that our scheme will finally be adopted, because it has all the national and local advantages," concluded Mr Brown. The text of the telegram which the association has sent the board is as follows:—"Full reply refuting many statements in your letter being prepared. Please suspend action meanwhile.—Geraldine Business Men's Association." The task of drawing up the association's official reply to the board has been left to Messrs A. G. Brown and E. Twigg, members of the executive of the association, who state that they have the full support of the district and the goodwill of the majority of the motorists in .Canterbury behind Uujm. •