Road to Westland

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32430, 17 October 1970, Page 16

Road to Westland

Sir, —The road across the Southern Alps over Arthur’s Pass was made and carried its first traffic 105 years ago. Those who send news items to the press referring to places on this road always substitute east and west for south and north. The fact is that the general direction of this road from the foot of Porter’s Pass to the plains on the Westland side is from south to north. This direction was fixed by the mountain valleys cut out by a glacier millions of years ago, and the roads follow this direction with only minor deviations. There are a few miles of road which run west in the Waimakariri Valley. There is also a swing eastwards near Jackson’s but wildly inaccurate directions make nonsense of news items. Could not such items be corrected before publication, please? Due west from Christchurch is Mount Cook, not Greymouth.—Yours, etc., ARTHUR LUSH.

October 14, 1970. [Mr Lush is undoubtedly heading in the right direction; but while it is certainly incorrect to describe a point on the road as being “six miles west of Lake Lyndon,” for instance (because the road trends slightly east

by north from there), it is nevertheless still carrying the traveller along a journey that takes him from an eastern province to a western. We think it would be very difficult to persuade the public to talk of “going northwest to Greymouth” or, in reverse, travelling “south-east to Christchurch.” Ed., “The Press.”]