COMPLETION URGED

Southland Times, Issue 21856, 5 November 1932, Page 5

COMPLETION URGED

QUEENSTOWN-KINGSTON ROAD. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, November 4. • A further request for completion of the Queenstown-Kingston Road was made in the House of Representatives to-day by Mr W. A. Bodkin during the course of the debate on the first item of the Estimates. Under public buildings, maintenance of roads, etc., there was an item of £7500 for maintenance and repairs to roads under the control of the Public Works Department. A road that came under that category was the Queens-town-Kingston Road, commenced some years ago and on which the sum of £30,000 of loan money had been expended, the road being uncompleted when work was suspended. It had not been taken over by local authorities with the result that the entire cost of maintenance was thrown on the public works vote. Would the Minister undertake to see that the road was maintained in a satisfactory condition and see whether it was not possible to complete it. There was only a comparatively short span to be done and when completed it would form a connecting link between Otago and Southland. There was no road of more importance to those provinces than the Queenstown-Kingston Road. If it were completed it would undoubtedly be taken over by local authorities and probably be constituted a main highway. It might be reasonable to hold up its completion if it could only be gone on with by the expenditure of fresh loan money, but the position was changed. The Unemployment Fund was now available and men could be employed constructing a road which would make the road already completed available and give an indirect return for money already expended.