No Tractors at Homer Tunnel

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 154, 2 July 1938, Page 4

No Tractors at Homer Tunnel

MEN USE WHEELBARROWS, PICKS AND SHOVELS BUSINESS MAN IMPRESSED BY PROJECT Per pi ess Association. INVERCARGILL, Last Nigkt. Tour o£ tho 11 miles ot road, which have to be constructed trout Millord to the Homer tunnel are already formed for the traffic of motor-trdeks, but before this section of tho HollyfordMilford Sound road is completed, 81 bridges will have to be built. These aud other interesting facts were discovered by Mr. A. E. Clark, a wellknown Invercargill business naan, who has just returned from a three Weeks’ holiday at Milford Sound. Those three weeks Mr. Clark spent in the Public Works camps at the sound, and it was from living with the men who are carrying on the work on tho road that he gained a true appreciation ot 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 tho barrow, pick and shovel. There is no assistance apart from that given by the blasting work that has been done, and what 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 robfß 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 beihg driven, apparently against 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.