Proposed Telephone to the Lakes.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 11, 12 July 1905, Page 3

Proposed Telephone to the Lakes.

ACTION BY IHE OIAUTAU lOWN BOARD. At the meeting of the Otautau To .v.i Board, on Monday evening last, the chairman brought up tbs matter of f c . proposed telephone to Manapouii. He said, the tourist season would soon be com'ng on and something should be done m th: m itter. It would not cost a great deal to construct a telephone from Clifden or Eastern Bush to Manapouri, and representation* should m his opinion be made to the Member for Wallace with the vie .v of getting it done. r J he sooner they to >k the ma ter m hand the bet'er, be cause it meant a good deal to Otautau, by assisting m tbe development of ths country. If propsr representations were made to the Postmaster General, he had no doubt thxt the line would be constructed bofora tha tourist season came on. Mr Officer endorsed the remarks of the chairman. The clerk sta.ed that when Sir Joseph Ward was last m the South, he and Mr W. | Saunders, of Otautau, waited upon him m regard to tbe telephone. The Mini ter had msntioned m his speech that the Government intend luring the for.hcoming year to expend a considerable sum of money on telephone extension, and upon their mentioning the telephone to Manapouri be stated that the Djpartmant had prepared an estimate of tbe cost of taking the section from Otautau tg Manapouri and it amounted to £2,400 —a s im thought too great to be warrant d for expenditure, m view of the comparatively Bmall j amount of revenge to be derived from the ! h"e. Mr Saunders pointed out that since the. estimate was made, the Department h =d oarried tbe telephone as far as Ulifdon. abou* 24 miles out of ihe 00. and the wire would not require to be duplicated betwe n Otautau and Clifden. He also pointed out that the material for tho telephone po3ts was available alon* the route. Therefore, the co3t of the section wou'd not amount to nearly a* much as was originally estimated. Sir Jo3epb Ward replied that h? wis anxious to open up the Cold Lakes, and the route via tbe Wa ; nu valley was one the Dapartment would give every consideration to, and he strongly recomm3nd»d ihat tha msmbar for Wallace should be asked to endeavour to get a substantial vote paced on ihe estimates for carrying this line through. W hilst he could not commit the Government to bavin? the work done, he would be m favour of reconimsnding it. The Chairman : It would not cost half th* amount uf the estimate you mentioned. There is timber all up the Waiau Valley, suitable for posts. The telephone could go fr an Eastern Bush or Clifden. The clerk said the places were about equally distant and it would not matter which place it went frr>m. The Chairman then moved the followtn V resolution : «• That the clerk write Mr J. C. Thomson, M.H.R for Wallace, requesting him. to br:ng before Parliament the neoessity, m the deyelopn^eut of the tourist trafito to the Cold L^kes, of having a sum placed on the Estimates, to continue ths present line of telephone from Eastern Bish or Chfdan to Manapouri-, through the Waiau Valtey, and to point out that suitable timber for- posts is available aU along the line \ that In the opinion Qf this Board the exptnditure would not he heavy, and that it would m iterially assist m opening up a now and attractive ' route for tourists and result m taair making tho round trip instead of bavins, as at present, to duplicate their trip In one direction,' 1 The reso'qtion was seconded by Mr Officer and oarried,