MINISTER GREATLY IMPRESSED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 30 November 1938, Page 13

MINISTER GREATLY IMPRESSED

WITH EXTENT OF WORK ALREADY DONE The Hon. R. Semple said he had been greatly impressed with the amount of work done in the time the company had

been working. It was real pioneering work in country as rough as could be found anywhere in New Zealand. In the initial stage the work had been surrounded with difficulties. Heavy gear had to be got into position. There was, for instance, the construction of the tramline up a mountain 3000 feet high. I including grades of 1 in I*. This all had to be done by human labour.’ Then there was the construction of the road in such country To see the job as it was that day was to realise the tromendoi* work involved in harnessing the rivers for the provision of hydro electric power. He had been told that power would be available by Christmas twelve months. Tf that could be done it would be a great achievement, a credit to the company, and a boon to the Nelson district , The nature of the day made it impossible for him to inspect the site of

hydro-electric power in such mountainous places as this The Hume (Cobb River) Company was deserving of every credit in the world for its courageous undertaking. lt> engineers had been of the right type and skilful, and with the men had been prepared to rough it. The men who were doing this great work were building their own monument They were all deserving of every encouragement. and anything he could do would be done If there were any shallow criticism of the scheme it could only be from ignorance of what was being done. The Minister added he had heard it said that the people of New Zealand to-day had lost the pioneering spirit, and that they had lost their stamina. He always had challenged (hose statements. Those guilty of such assertions should see what these men had done at the Cobb.