AN OCEAN ROAD

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 253, 9 July 1926, Page 5

AN OCEAN ROAD

FROM SEATOUN TO LYALL BAY THE GAP BEING REDUCED Very quietly but purposefully the work of forming the road between Lyall Bay and Seatoun via the seashore is being pushed forward at the present time through the medium of moneys that has been made available for relief purpose this winter. There are at present some sixty men employed on the formation of this road, and as there is fairly good metal obtainable near the road, the progress during the last week of fine weather has been most satisfactory. Formerly the road round this part of the Cook Strait coast was not a road at all, but merely a rough dray track about eight feet wide made by the fishermen. With little deviation the line or that truck has been adhered to, but the track has been widened out to an eighteen foot road, with a solid body of metal as a foundation—the forerunner of what one day will be a permanent smooth-surfaced road, and probably one of the most popular motor drives in the whole of New Zealand. There is still well over a . mile of road to form before a connection is made with the road that extends southward from Breaker Bay, but that the proposed road is practicable was shown a few days ago when the Flavor drove a heavy iimousine the whole way round, and but for one shingle bed encountered would have made the round journey under the car’s own power, a feat that was considered impossible, and had never before been attempted. The completion of this road has been a far-away dream with many people in Wellington. Successive Mayors have been equally enthusiastic about the formation of this road, but it would seem that, as with several other city possessions, the object is more likely to be gained when there is unemployment about, for it seems that it is only on each occasions that works other than those that are strictly necessary are carried out. Most of the city’s parks have been formed by what are known as relief works. That applies to Anderson Park, Kelburn Park, and Prince of Wales Park, as well as to several roads.