The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1933. THE TWO ROADS

Southland Times, Issue 21997, 22 April 1933, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1933. THE TWO ROADS

While the road to Milford offers attractions of a spectacular nature, despite the fact that it does not open to the public the other West Coast Sounds which are even more beautiful than Milford, the Southland League should not be diffident in its attitude to the road round the Lake to Queenstown, which is a necessity. The agitation for one should not prejudice the agitation for the other. In fact, it is obvious that the completion of a road to Milford will prejudice the tourist traffic to Queenstown unless it is possible for motor-cars to make the trip to the Lake capital on the way north again. This road, it will be remembered, has been carried through a considerable portion of its full length. When work on it was stopped and the gangs were moved elsewhere not much remained to be constructed, and this stoppage has caused some loss, though the use of relief workers would make good that amount. Two factors influenced the attitude of the Government of the day: the needs of the settlers on the far side of the lake, and the capital invested in the steamer service run by the Railway Department. The settlers would still need some transport, but the reduction of the service made possible by the construction of the road would reduce the operating costs and the vessel still required to serve the settlers would probably find lake excursions a source' of revenue. Today the steamer service on the lake results in an annual loss, the amount of which has been cut down as a result of writing off some of the capital, but it must be seen that if motor-cars carry people to and from Milford Sound the necessity of taking a steamer from Kingston to Queenstown will cut down the amount of traffic on the lake. Queenstown’s interests demand the completion of this road, and the Southland League is entitled to press urgently for its completion. Certainly the Milford Sound scheme, which will be very expensive if the tunnel is completed, if of no greater importance. These two resorts should be regarded at least as one, because their proximity enables one to assist the other; but if the Milford road is pushed with enthusiasm while the lake road is advocated with diffidence the result will be a decided loss to Queenstown. From an administrative, as well as from a commercial point of view, Queenstown should be linked by road with Invercargill, and that work should be completed before the Milford route has encroached too heavily on public funds. To-day the demand is for reproductive work, but it is wrong to assume that the lake road is non-reproductive, or that the prospective loss on the lake steamer service justifies the abandonment of it. The lake service will show increased losses if the interests of Queenstown are prejudiced. If Queenstown were wholly a Government resort, there would be no question about the provision of the most expeditious service possible, but the people of Queenstown, apart from tourist traffic, are entitled to a better connection with Invercargill. Capital sunk in the lake steamers should not be the excuse for the continuation of conditions which are prejudicial to Queenstown’s interests. This incompleted road should be a standing challenge to the Southland League, and the more spectacular claims of Milford should not lead to any slackening in the effort to secure the completion of a work already many years overdue.