BIG UNDERTAKING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 2, 2 July 1938, Page 13

BIG UNDERTAKING

NEW MILFORD ROAD

EIGHTY-ONE BRIDGES

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, July 1.

Four of the eleven miles of road which have to be constructed from Milford to the Homer tunnel are already formed for the traffic of motortrucks, but before this section of the Hollyford-Milford Sound road is completed 81 bridges will have to be built. These and other interesting facts were discovered by Mr. A. F. Clark, a wellknown Invercargill business man', who has just returned from three weeks' holiday at Milford Sound. Those three weeks Mr. Clark spent in Public Works camps at the Sound, and it was from living with the men who are carrying out the work on the road that he gained a true appreciation of the gigantic nature of the undertaking. "This road is being hewn out by one of the finest bodies of men in New Zealand," said Mr. Clark. "They use only barrow, pick, and shovel. There is no assistance apart from that given by blasting. The work that has been done and that is being done is a credit to the engineers, overseers, and the men themselves."

The camps were very comfortable. The tents had wooden floors and iron roofs, and one or two men lived in each. The men were well fed. There was a baker who made fine bread, a butcher to ensure a plentiful supply of fresh meat, and a Public Works Department canteen catered very well for the men. The men cooked their own meals and made a splendid job of it. The grandeur of the rugged country through which the road was being driven, the apparently insurmountable difficulties which the men met and overcame as part of their daily work, and the epic nature of the project have left with Mr. Clark a lasting impression.