Heads shake at rimus' return

Press, 29 July 1976, Page 3

Heads shake at rimus' return

Staff reporter Greymouth Conservationists would not believe that nature would take its course and soon heal the scars of road construction, the National Roads Board, on tour in South Westland was told yesterday. “You can show them the young rimu and other native trees coming back, hut they just shake their heads and don’t want to see the regeneration,” said Mr J. P. Kerr, resident engineer in Greymouth. When the South Westland highway was diverted through Ferguson's Bush and round Lake lanthe the

conservationists made a big issue of it, he said. Today there were few signs of the work, and the board could see the exuberant regrowth on the road verges and banks. “We can’t seem to get the message across,” said Mr Kerr. Because of pressure from conservationists the Lake lanthe lavatories had been built on an unsuitable site, he said. The septic tank outfall was to the lake by the jetty. “I suppose that is the place where nine out of 10 neopie would fill their billies,” said Mr Kerr.