TUNNEL ROAD.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20175, 2 March 1931, Page 8

TUNNEL ROAD.

UNEMPLOYMENT board approached. LEAGUE SUBMITS A SCHEME. The tunnel road scheme) to provide access from the City of ChrlstChureh to Its port, Lyttelton, has been brought under the notice of the Unemployment Commissioner With the -view of the labour required to construct it being provided by the Unemployment Board. As to the material required, the Port and City League has informed the Commissioner that there is a likelihood of a construction' company providing the finance for the material, subject to a satisfactory guarantee whereunder it •will recoup itself for its; expenditure from tolls over a convenient period, or by some other method. "The Port ahd Oity League," Mr H, M. Chrystall, ergattislng secretary of that body, told a representative of This Press on Saturday, "has every hop# that the Unemployment Board, in its desire to find some avenues for continuous employment to replace the present spasmodic schemes of work, will be ready to consider schemes of this nature and may, if it decides that they are desirable, adopt them. We understand that the Board has before it, or will have before it, the Wainui-o-mata. development scheme."

Letter to Commissioner. | The Poi't and City League in its' letter to the Unemployment Commissioner (Ms Malcolm tfrdSef) Bets out that though the Access to the Sea Commission made no recommendation as to the ihlti&tion of the works connected With the tunnel fo&d, the proposal received the Commission's hall-mark as to its practicability. The scheme "stands to-day as Ohe of the few public Works of magnitude in Canterbury which " can stand the strictest scrutiny as regards reasonable cost and degree of utility to the community RS tt whole." The follow* ing special points were submitted for the Board's Consideration: (1) The scheme would free the people .of Canterbury, for whose direct benefit it would be carried through,- of practically all the present and immediate burden of unemployment. (2) That, as'is only just in a scheme of this kind, the money spent on the scheme would be circulated mainly in the district benefited. (8) The bulk of the money would be absorbed in the payment of New Zealand labour and material., y (4) The scheme, unlike .many that, have been initiated in other countries 'which were known to be unproductive and were merely undertaken for the sole benefit of the Unemployed, Would Secure as its result an enterprise Which Would be definitely productive, and moreover, in a short spaed of time,, would become self-supporting. (5) It was substantially proved at the Access to the S&a Commission that the scheme would pay eventually as b provincial enterprise.

Question of Material. < > "Although at this"'stage/? the letter sets out, *<lt may appear rather'prema* turn* J Would Jikej to tiring f ,to ydtiif,. nptico the fact that, if by ineaits br the' relief scheme wO, .suggest, .the labour costs in whole, or in part,, could be guaranteed, or subsidised by the Unemployment jPund, there is'every chancy that a ,construction company, could be found to undertake the Jrcsponsibiliiy of carrying out tho subject to a. satisfactory guarantee collectable from tolls spread over a convenient period) or other method. Thus Wduld 4he (Joyern" l < menfe, or tho munifeipality. be relieved Of the responsibility for fiflaneing aud carrying out -the work. , Indeed, at the moment of writing,' the lie&gue h&s com-' municated with three corporations of the .highest standing whd are eompe» tent> and moreover are prepared, to consider. a construction ■ contract suitable to'.beth patties." In acknowledging, oil February l&th, the League'® letter, Mr JFra&er wrote i that the Board'was not then in a position to consider the question of subsidising an undertaking of this magnitude, and other, similar undertakings. ."While it is very unlikely that- any assistance of the nature you request will be available, „1 have to state that'your aotjlication is noted for consideration as ejwwtunlty offers." '■, ■ , On oehalf of the League, Mr Ohrys* tall has written;to the Unemployment Commissioner asking that the details Of the Sterne should be discussed by the fiotttd at its earliest possible .convenience i and also that the Board receive' a deputation from the teague (m the. ' iubject in the near future.'