ROAD TO SOUTH WESTLAND

Southland Times, Issue 22993, 12 September 1936, Page 11

ROAD TO SOUTH WESTLAND

Te Anau-Milford Route REPLY TO CRITICISM A reply to a statement made in Christchurch and published in The Southland Times that the “HollyfordHomer” route from Southland to South Westland was 1000 feet higher than the Haast Pass and thus more subject to snow risk, was made by Mr J. S. Dick, secretgr” to the Southland Progress League. The statement in Christchurch had been made by Mr M. Grant, a well-known photographer and tramper. Mr Dick said that by the “HollyfordHomer” route Mr Grant presumably meant the road from Hollyford to the Haast river, via Lake McKerrow, which was what the league had been advocating. He claimed that the HollyfordHaast river road did not rise more than 1500 feet at any time and was subject neither to snow risk nor to avalanches. “The proposed road from the Haast river to join with the Te Anau-Milford Sound road would run down the coast and up the Hollyford river and would not rise much higher than 1500 feet at any point,” Mr Dick said. There would be no actual pass to cross like the Haast Pass, and it is a mistake to say that this proposed road would rise 1000 feet higher than the Haast Pass road, because actually it would be a great deal lower. It would be absolutely free from avalanches, for the Hollyford Valley is not a canyon and is approximately twice as wide as the Eglinton Valley. “Snow does not lie at any point on this proposed route at any time of the year, and at the time of the heavy falls of snow in the Upper Hollyford Valley there was practically no snow in the lower Hollyford Valley. Mr Grant shows lack of knowledge of the region when he says there is a greater snow risk on the Hollyford route, because this proposed road would join the Te Anau-Milford ' Sound road at a point some eight miles below the locality of the Homer Tunnel, and at this point (which is the nearest on the whole route to a snow area) there was hardly any snow during the past winter. “The reference that this road would begin at the Homer Saddle is misleading, because actually it would start from a point about one mile past the head of the Eglinton Valley. It might be better to call the proposed road the Eglinton Valley-Haast road, so that it will not be confused with the Homer tunnel project. “The statement of Mr Grant is inclined to give the public the impression that the route is a dangerous project. The whole route is through bush and open river flat country, and it would enable tourists to travel direct from the Franz Josef Glacier to Milford Sound, Eglinton Valley and Lake Te Anau in a few hours through easily the most magnificent country in New Zealand.”