A GATEWAY TO THE WEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 6

A GATEWAY TO THE WEST.

POSSIBILITIES OF HAAST PASS. “MACANDREW’S DREAM AND SEDDON’S REALITY.” In the great Southern Alpine chain, five gaps only are available as overland routes between the east and west coasts of the island. The most northerly of all, the Buller Gorge, is well known to most travellers who have made the trip to the West Coast, and the route over the Tophouse from the Wairau, although not so well known, is also popular. Then there are Arthur’s Pass, the old coach route from Canterbury, which has now given place to the recently-constructed Otira funnel, and the Copeland Pass behind Mount Cook, which is dangerous and anything but easy of access. Curiously enough, the lowest and easiest of them all, the Haast Pass, is the one which, though possessing the greatest possibilities, from a tourist and commercial point of view, is least heard of. Lying as it does at the lower end of Westland, whence it gives direct access to Lake Wanaka and thence to Otago and Southland, the Haast Pass, which is only 1716 feet above sea level, offers great possibilities as a trade route. It# opening would mean that Otago could be brought into direct touch with Westland, and thus the necessity of travelling to the West Coast by way of Christchurch and Otira Would be eliminated. The building of a

road through it, which would assuredly mean that a railway would follow in time, would result in the opening up of huge tracts of virgin country in Westland, and this road would confer inestimable benefit on the settlers of north-western Otago. The adjacent district is particularly rich in minerals. Deposits of asbestos, chrome, iron, and coarse gold occur, and it is possible that these and other minerals would prove one of the resources of this part of the country in time to come. Besides, a railway through the Haast Pass would, by its continuation into the north of Westland, tap a huge virgin forest of magnificent timber—probably the largest expanse of untouched timber country now remaining in New Zealand. For the tourist, this route would open up a magnificent round trip abounding in scenic variety. Should he wish to visit a thermal region, there is a miniatme Rotorua near the Fox Glacier, of which, probably, not more than 400 people in the Dominion know the existence, and the country through which any road or railway from the Haast Pass to Hokitika would pass, is rich in scenic grandeur and natural beauty. Further, the ethnologist and the curio hunter should find the district in' the vicinity of the Pass a prolific field for research. It is a matter of common knowledge that the Haast Pass was known to the early Maoris and constituted one of the routes used by their foray parties and in their quest for the much-prized West Coast greenstone; and local settlers are continually finding evidences of their having passed that way.

It seems a pity that these great natural advantages should be locked up as they are at present. All down the West Coast are assets of paramount importance to the Dominion only awaiting development and advertising. A road or a railway through this wonderful country would not only give access to a nature-lover’s paradise, but would undoubtedly prove of immense economic value. Many years ago, Mr James Macandrew, when Superintendent of Otago, visualised the possibilities of such a route, and advocated it. That great stateman. Mr Richard Seddon. also favoured the scheme, and in speaking of it in 1906, in the last public speech he made on the West Coast, he said : “It has been called Macandrew’s dream; I am going to make it Seddon’s reality.” Unfortunately, the fatal voyage to Australia intervened, and the possibilities of a railway journey from Dun edin to Hokitika by way of the Haast Pass seem to be as distant as ever. Still, if one is to believe the optimists, and those who have studied the subject from every angle, it will come. Indeed, they go further, and say it must come.