PLAN FOR SOUTHLAND.

Evening Star, Issue 25893, 10 September 1946, Page 6

PLAN FOR SOUTHLAND.

Improved tourist /facilities at Queenstown and Stewart Island, which were announced by Mr Semple at Invercar-. gill yesterday as part of the ten-year works plan for Southland, will be generally welcomed as important requirements for the development of those fine scenic resorts. The shortage of accommodation at Stewart Island in recent years has been a serious hindrance to the utilisation of that playground, which offers a greater variety of attractions and scenic beauties than almbst any other part of New Zealand. It is apparently recognised by the authorities that improved hotel accommodation is. necessary at both places if they are to be developed for the overseas visitors who are expected to visit New Zealand in large numbers in the future, Good progress was being made with the provision of access to Milford Sound and other scenic resorts in the fiord region when the work was interrupted by the war, and it is gratifying to learn that those projects have not been overlooked in the* future development plan. The utilisation of these southern beauty spots can play an important part in attracting tourists to New Zealand, particularly from Australia, because the magnificent bush and mountains are of special interest to visitors from warmer climates.

Linked with the improvements to the tourist resorts are adequate facilities for the development of air travel. ,Otago local bodies have given support to the proposal that a trans-Tasman air terminal should be provided.in Southland, making it possible for visitors from Australia and further afield to make a complete round trip, traversing the full length of the Dominion and visiting all its resorts in the process. Mr Semple has promised a close study of this suggestion, and also the provision of more smaller airfields. The South Island has in the past been hampered by a lack of adequate travel contacts with Australia, and tourists have .not unnaturally shown some reluctance to cover the same territory twice to visit’ the southern resorts. That handicap can be overcome by the construction of air terminals near Invercargill. Bluff Harbour was used by flying boats during the war, and the airport situated within a few minutes’ motor journey from Invercargill offers possibilities for extension such as can be found in comparatively few wellpopulated centres. Apart from the tourist potentialities of the far south, the Minister has shown a recognition of the industrial opportunities. Coal and electric power play an important part in the development of most industries, and both are possessed in substantial. measure by Southland. A considerable proportion of the coal used in the South Island, particularly, for domestic purposes, is drawn from the Ohai field, and the greater use of these resources is obviously necessary to overcome the persistent shortage. The opening of a new State mine has been announced, along with improvements at Wairakei. Ultimately, the bulk of the electric power required for the South Island will be generated in Otago and Southland, and an investigation of the possibilities is timely if shortages such as have occurred in the north are to be avoided.

The University of New Zealand has received cabled advice that the Royal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have agreed to the award of two special post-war scholarships to New Zealanders. The persons nominated by the University of New Zealand and appointed by the commissioners are Messrs H. A. Whale, AVI.Sc., of Auckland, whose special subject is in the field of radiophysics, and A. V, Jones, M.Sc., of Canterbury, whose topic is spectroscopy' in advanced chemistry. A return to a little-known but regular Dominion export trade before the war will result from the arrival in Auckland from Sydney of Mr T. A. Gilruth, farm manager for the Falkland Islands Company Ltd., who will purchase about 100 pure-bred Romney sheep for the islands. No shipments of sheep have been made from New Zealand to the group since before the war, and it is hoped to arrange for a ship to leave the Dominion with the consignment about the end of the year. The esteem in which the Dominion’s sheep flocks are held is shown in the fact that Mr Gilruth has flown from London solely to buy 100. After travelling through both islands, he will return by air tp England and continue to the. Falkland Islands by way of Buenos Aires. Sheep play an important part in the economy of the group; On one property of 400,000 acres Mr Gilruth runs 95,000.

A proposal of t}ie Government Tourist Department to erect a large pew hotel at Queenstown on the hill overlooking the Government gardens was announced by the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, when he detailed the 10-year plan for Southland at Invercargill yesterday morning, He also announced that it was proposed to build a new tourists’ hostel on Stewart Island, and to make additions to the existing hostel at Milford Sound. Mr Semple further announced that plans were being made for the resumption of work on the section of the main highway between Te Anau and Milford Sound as soon as . the resources and man power situation permitted. Consideration was also being given to recommencing the HollyforcT to Oknru road, work on which was suspended on tho outbreak of war. The water consumption in the St, Kilda Borough over the fast fortnight was 4,124,000 gallons, representing a cost of £163 4s 10d, it was stated at the meeting of the Borough Council last night. The construction of new access roads to farms and new settlement roads assumed a most important place in tho joint plans of the Government and the local authorities, said Mr Semple at Invercargill yesterday, announcing the 10-year plan for the development of Southland. Within _ the Southland county' plans were being made for tho formation and metalling of the road gap between Haldane and Waikawa; between Wyndham and Clinton; between Mokoreta and Tahakopa; along tho Caddon road to the Waikawa Valley; from Makarewa Gorge road across the Hokonui .Hills to Mandeville, and between Waikaia and Waikaka. A stock route between the LorneviJle saleyards and the abattoirs at Waikiwi was also projected,

To' buy for 24s ■6d from a secondhand shop an ornament which his wife had just sold for 16s 6d was the unfortunate experience of a Christchurch man. On his way home, he noticed an ornament in a shop window, .and as it was the duplicate of one at home, thought the gift would be acceptable to his wife.. When he presented the gift, his wife told him that she did not like the ornament, and had sold it. When notes were compared, the tragic details camp out.

While on his run near Morrinsville recently Mr H. Richards, a mail contractor, noticed a hawk perched on the top of a fencing post, and on closer investigation saw a hare attempting to get to grips with the bird. Upon his approach the hawk fiew away, and the hare ran a .short distance. The hawk circled around and several times the hare ran back to the same spot. Thinking the antics strange Mr Richards investigated a drain on the paddock side of the fence and saw the reason for the hare’s anxiety. She was desperately defending her leveret (baby hare), Mr Richards says that the mother hare almost reached the top wire in her effort to reach the hawk, She had apparently carried her young one to the drain to prevent the hawk swooping on to it. Southland was endowed with almost limitless possibilities of electric power development, and no doubt in the future many of the schemes that have attracted notice in the past would become solid contributors to the wealth of the Dominion, said the Minister of Works (Mr Semple) at Invercargill yesterday. The possibilities at Lake Hauroko were to be further investigated for comparison with alternatives elsewhere for incorporation in the chain of hydro-electric stations to servo the South Island. The possibilities of developing large quantities of electric power in the Sounds area had previously directed attention to the coexistence of deep-water anchorages and raw materials suitable for industries to compete in world markets. A new 110,000-volt transmission line was to be constructed from Gore to Invercargill, a'nd tho Invercargill sub-sta-tion was to be modified and extended to handle the additional power. Later this lino would be connected with the proposed new. hydro-electric station on the Ulutha River. There would be extensions of other facilities for transmission and distribution of electric power throughout the area. At Invercargill additional office accommodation was to be provided for the State Hydroelectric Department.

When outlining the 10-year development plan for Southland yesterday the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, stated that the organisation of post-war civil aviation was likely to demand facilities for every class of air traffic, including overseas air terminals and fields for regular air services, for air taxi services, and for club and private flying, and in some locations provision for flying boats instead of (or as wall as) for land machines. Southland’s position strategically, as well as her welldispersed centres of rural life and the vigour of her industrial life, would undoubtedly make demands for services of all of these kinds. The geograpliical'situation of Invercargill warranted consideration being given to the ultimate establishment there of a transTasman air terminal, and with this possibility' in view proposals for improvements to the existing field would have to be closely examined along with the alternative of relocating the airfield on a more favourable site. Gore, Queenstown, Glenorchy, Otautau, Te Anau, Balfour, and Stewart Island all appeared to require new or improved provision for air transport, Mr Semple said and smaller fields suited to the needs of club and private flying were proposed at approximately 13 other places.

A bush fire on the western slopes of Mount Cargijl last night, which cast a ruddy glow over the northern end of the city, attracted the attention of many Dunedin residents. The (ire started ‘early in the evening and spread rapidlv, but no damage was done to property, and it had died by this morning.

About 70 eases were set down for hearing by the Land Sales Committee at its sitting this afternoon. A farm hand who appeared in the Police Court this morning before 1 Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., on a charge of forgery, was remanded until Monday next. Mr I. B- Stevenson, who represented the accused, intimated that the charge would be denied, and an application for suppression of the name until the facts were gone into was successful. Bail was allowed in accused’s own recognisance of £25,- with an additional surety of a similar amount. The nature of the alleged forgery was the alteration of the amount on a cheque made out to the accused. Chief-detective T. Y. Hall intimated that a further charge of uttering would be preferred. . A small Austin car was converted from Princes street shortly after 8 p.m. last night. This morning it was discovered, upside down in the ditch, about a mile this side of Wnitati township. The manufacture of golf balls from top-grade natural rubber has been recommenced by English firms, states advice received by a New Plymouth importer. Synthetic rubber will no longer be used, Manufacturers state that they are now receiving their requirements of raw rubber, and expect to supply New Zealand in fair quantities by early January. A suggestion that the public should surrender meat coupons for tins of herrings at present being imported into the country from Canada so that a corresponding amount of New Zealand meat could be released for export to Britain, was made at this morning’s meeting of the Otago Famine Emergency Committee by Mr A. Thomas. It was pointed out that herrings could be used ns a substitute for meat. The proposal met with the general support of the committee, which decided to forward the suggestion to its Dominion headquarters in Wellington for transmission to the Government.

Very often the small boy or youth gets blamed for much of the vandalism which occurs with such frequency in and around the city. At a meeting of the Dunedin Amenities Society, lield yesterday, one of the members who is prominently connected with the local Boy Scout movement reported that on a recent Friday evening a Boy Scout drew his attention to two middle-aged women, armed with pruning shears, who had cut a quantity of flowering blossom from the trees in the vicinity of Leith Bridge, and were still so occupied. Although not a ranger, this man approached the women and remonstrated with them, and was roundly abused for his pains. To give him added authority in the future, the society has now sent forward a recommendation to the city corporation that this man be appointed an honorary ranger.