Hundreds On Their Way

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30901, 6 November 1965, Page 1

Hundreds On Their Way

(N.Z. Press Association) KNIGHT’S POINT, November 5. All “systems” are ready for the opening here tomorrow morning of the Haast highway. Finishing touches are being put to the scene on this magnificent spot, 600 feet above the Tasman, as Ministry of Works gangs tidy up the site in preparation for hundreds of visitors who are converging upon it from all parts of New Zealand.

Among them are the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake), who will officially open the road between 11 a.m. and mid-day tomorrow.

The site itself is dominated by an austere concrete spire, into the base of which has been set the commemorative plaque Mr Holyoake will unveil.

But if man needs to put some finishing touches to his work, Nature today could not have excelled herself. The sun is hot, the sea a wonderfully deep blue, and at the base of Knight’s Point about 20 seals are gambolling on the rocks. Units of the New Zealand Army and the first traffic officers arrived this morning—the Army deployed with ambulances and providing radio liaison for the Transport Department.

The traffic officers are the first of a force of 30 which will patrol the road tomorrow.

Greymouth’s chief traffic officer (Mr I. G. E. Coddington) this afternoon described the improvement in the road over the last six weeks as fantastic.

Only six weeks ago parts of it were impassable. Today —apart from this metal surface—they are almost up to motorway standards. One or two sections between Knight’s Point and Haast over which the Prime Minister will drive tomorrow are still sloppy, and much depends on overnight weather. An indication of the last-minute pre-

parations is a slip at present on the road which the gangs are leaving till first thing tomorrow to clear. , Official forecasts of the weather are bad, but are completely discounted by old roadmen. One, who has been on the job for 35 years, said this morning: “You can’t expect those blokes up there to know anything about our weather. If the Cook river gap’s clear at first light tomorrow she’ll be a good day, mate.” The Post Office has set up a radio teleprinter link with Makara from the northern tip of Knight’s Point, and this message is the first by teleprinter from this part of the world.