North From Karamea

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31596, 6 February 1968, Page 12

North From Karamea

The building of a coastal road north of Karamea to join the highway from Collingwood to Nelson is a desirable step towards completing a tourist circuit encompassing much of the South Island’s finest scenery. It is surely well within the capacity of the Ministry of Works to continue its survey of the area so that when economic conditions allow construction to begin, much of the preliminary work will have been done. The interest of the South Island Publicity Association in the planning of a route naturally has particular regard for the road as a scenic highway. The influence of such a road on the development of the Buller district is no less important Five years ago the Department of Industries and Commerce made a study of the Buller region. It sent its report to the Cabinet in 1963. The Department could not then forecast the use of Buller coal to generate electricity in the North Island. Nor could it take into account the impact of this plan on the Westport Harbour. Although the harbour has now been improved as an outlet for the Buller region, the change in the pattern of production that is needed to stimulate the district’s economy still depends upon closer relationships between the Buller area and its neighbours—particularly Nelson. In 1963, the department said that, given the type of industrial development which depends on power, minerals, and forests, Nelson and Buller could eventually form one industrial group. In spite of the harbour improvements, one of the main difficulties of the Buller area is that much of the region is a cul-de-sac north of the main road between Nelson and Westport Although the road through the Upper Buller Gorge has been improved, this has not diminished the isolation of the settlements north of Westport Were the purpose of linking Karamea and Nelson only to open a northwest tourist route the suggested road could have no high priority among reading schemes. The local and national benefits to be won from developing the resources of the Buller region should encourage the Government to press on with the road surveys that are now being undertaken.