SOUTHLAND SOUNDS ROAD

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1933, Page 9

SOUTHLAND SOUNDS ROAD

‘GLORIOUS IMPRACTICABILITY’ CRITICISM OF THE SUGGESTION. FLOODS SWEEP DOWN VALLEYS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Invercargill, Last Night. “It is as impracticable as it is glorious,” was the comment of Leslie Murrell, of Manapouri, who knows the Sounds intimately, on the proposed road round the Sounds suggested by Mr. R. A. Anderson to the Southland League. As he visualised the scheme, said Mr. Murrell, one quarter of the road would have to be hewn out of solid rock. He did not think an engineer would seriously survey it. It was inconceivable to him that anyone who knew the character of the country and the floods that swept down the valleys, transforming them into lakes, could propose such a road. Tire road suggested by Mr. Anderson would give a complete circle of the South Island, and if carried up some 500 to 700 feet above sea level would provide one of the finest roadways in the world. In his letter to the League Mr. Anderson stated that the road would provide a large number of men with work for a good many years, and if the Unemployment Board would subscribe and the Government and the Main Highways Board each made a subsidy then the men could be employed full time. It was estimated by the president of the League that the road would be 250 miles long, but Mr. Murrell contends that if the level of 600 to 700 feet were maintained it would be a thousand miles. He could see as much as £lOO,OOO a mile being spent on some parts.