Expenditure On South Westland Road “Inadequate”

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 June 1950, Page 6

Expenditure On South Westland Road “Inadequate”

The ijroposed expenditure of only £12,000 on the improvement of the highway from Ross to Okarito Forks during the current year was.- described an totally inadequate by members of the Westland Progress League last evening. ' It was stated that at that rate of progress the Government would have no hope of bringing the road up to the standard promised within five years. Mr J. B. Hood reported that £lO,OOO had been allocated for thei sealing of the road from Hokitika to Ross, but only £12,000 fur the major improvement work from Ross to Okarito Forks. The Westland County Council had protested at the inadeouacy of the grant, and he thought the league should support it. “This sum will go no distance at all in bringing the road up to the standard required,” said Mr Hood, stressing the fact that the Government had finally rejected claims for a southern railway, and, as a result, the road would be the only means of access to South Westland and would carry heavy industrial and tourist traffic.

“If we press for this work, would wo not ‘ prejudice, the chance of early 7 completion of the Haast Pass project?” asked Mr D. J. Scott, “The improvements to the road must follow upon the completion of the Haast Pass road.” While only £12,000 had been allocated for the road for this year, it did not necessarily follow that only £60,000 would bo spent in the next five years, said Mr M. Wallace. “But if this rate of expenditure is maintained, it would get nowhere near the work promised,” ho said, adding that general disappointment was felt at the grant. “It is barely sufficient to do a decent cutting job,” he said. He suggested that it would be better if the £lO,OOO allocated for sealing work to Ross was added to the “meagre” amount granted for the section below Ross. He pointed out that £70,000 had been spent on the highway from Greymouth to Reefton last year. The league carried a resolution supporting the protest of the Westland County Council as to the inadequacy of the grant for work during the current season on the Ross to, Okarito Forks highway, and proposing that the £lO,OOO for tar-sealing be transferred to increase the£l2,ooo allocated for the road.

DIFFICULTIES FACING OPOSSUM BOUNTY SYSTEM SET OUT Difficulties facing the institution of a bounty system in an effort to eradicate the opossum nuisance were set out in a lengthy report by departmental officers, received by the Westland Progress League from the Minister of internal Affairs, Mr W. A. Bodkin, last evening. It was suggested that a bounty might increase the tally of killed opossums from the estimated regular •100 000 to a minimum of 600,000 or a maximum of 1,000,000, but the cost would range from a minimum of £30.000 (Is bounty) to. £BO,OOO (2s bounty). Because a big proportion would have been killed in any case, it was suggested that the actual cost per extra opossum killed would be 3s or 4s each. / , t It was essential, it was stated, that the number of opossum skins marketed should not increase, for this would decrease skin values and give professional trappers too low an overall return to encourage their efforts. In any case, it was stated, it would take at least two years for the department itself to get a big campaign under way. . Members expressed the view that it was likely that a bounty system would eventually operate on the West Coast, and it was decided to call once again for an urgent conference to be held on the West Coast so that extermination methods could be devised prior to the next breeding season. I