The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1936. CENTENARY HIGHWAY.

Evening Star, Issue 22363, 12 June 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1936. CENTENARY HIGHWAY.

If the completion of the new scenic highway to Milford Sound does not spell the end of that remarkably beautiful track, which, perhaps with some justification, has been acclaimed the finest walk in the world, New Zealand may yet have the distinction of possessing also the most picturesque motor route in the world. Already there are many attractive tourist roads in the Dominion which can be said to vie with one another for premier honours in the estimation of people with an eye for lands«ape loveliness, but there are reasons for believing that the EglintonHollyford route to Alilford Sound will eclipse them all. If any doubt on that point exists, it should be finally dispelled when connection is made with an arterial West Coast road, thus providing a long and truly magnificent run through the whole of the South Island from Invercargill to Nelson. We published yesterday a summary of an alluring proposal made to the Prime Minister by Air .D. J. Evans, of ■Hokitika, that, as a national commemoration of the centenary celebrations of New Zealand in 1940, Westland should be linked up with Otago and Southland by a route traversing either the Haast Pass or the country lying between the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers and Alilford Sound. Commenting on the scheme, a North Island newspaper has declared that such a road would provide “on© of the most famous trips in the world.” It should not be difficult for southerners to agree. Not only on account of its scenic value but also because of the potentialities it offers for closer land settlement on the western side of the divide, we have always pressed for the construction of a motor route over the Haast Pass, and, indeed, we hold the opinion that, irrespective of centenary considerations, it should come next among the more ambitious efforts of the Public Works Department.

The full report of Mr Evans weighs without bias the claims of the proposed Haast and Hollyford routes, and, while it points out through the reproduced views of authorities that the completion of the former highway would enable tourists to drive down the West Coast to Milford Sound and go back north via the lakes and Mount Cook without covering any portion of the same ground again, it recognises that, if the new route is, to combine scenery with development, the Haast Pass is unchallengable. The district Public Works engineer at Dunedin (Mr Ball) has furnished Mr Evans with the practical information that the Haast Pass would give the cheaper interprovincial connection, but that the alternative route, besides making a connection invaluable to-tourists, would also open up the country between the Haast River and the Hollyford Valley. This reading, he says, would ultimately he required even if the Haast Pass link were completed. The distance from Haast to Makarora is about fortyseven miles, and. according to Mr Ball’s approximate estimate, would cost £4,000 a mile, including bridging. The distance from Haast to the junction of the Te Anau-Milford highway in the Hollyford Valley is 110 miles, and a good route on easy grades, with no high saddles, could be obtained. Mr Ball’s approximate estimate for this is £2,500 a mile. The hope that in time it will be possible to have both highways must be allowed to linger, but undoubtedly the Haast should be given prior thought. Before beginning any such scheme, however, the Government should have its land development policy definitely fixed. The river flats which it should be its intention to open up are suitable for fairly small holdings. It is understood that at present they are held by a few men on lease. Unless care is taken that the land is obtainable for sub-division purposes on

terms which will enable prospective settlers to make a good start, unfettered by sevei-e financial handicaps, the authorities should make up their minds that, if the road is to go through at all, it might be wise to regard it as a tourist route and nothing more. There is no suggestion that any step in the- nature of land speculation will he taken. We draw attention to the matter purely in a cautionary way.