WITH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21418, 9 March 1935, Page 9

WITH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

lA-i h, v " 09Tae taL." 1 * South reat reason to believe Main Trunk tS wil l not be de- •* '^ le I^ikour 3 fc«h e i l r!. p J assage of the resoh Cram a 'i lc * cor nmendation by flf&te' 1 at its ]as t meeting £ e *\ hap Py beginning, tested in ou March 11, I have 3* ft«l ™ Cheviot to address a I Chlvioj p that very live - B4 ot Progress League,

and I hope to give as much assistance to the splendid citizens of Marlborough and North Canterbury as I did to those who have since benefited by the Otira Tunnel. Briefly, I am urging that the Unemployment Board, the Main Highways Board, the Public Works - Department, and the South Island Motor Union each and all take a hand and fill the 50 mile gap with a concrete highway and railway alongside, as is now done everywhere. If the railway becomes obselete, the highway must persist for all time.

How to finance it? Say a loan of £2,000,000, more or less, at 3 per cent., the interest and sinking fund to be paid out of the unemployment levies of Canterbury and Marlborough. This would take 3000 to 4000 workers and their dependents cut of the slough of no work and despair and give them standard wages and good living. The Highways Board could build the six or eight bridges, each let to a separate bridge building contractor. This would engage another 2000 men, as they could all be started at one time. The Conway and the Clarence bridges could be built first, with a camp at each end, and two major camps in Kaikoura. This great benefit could start right away and an Enabling Loan. Bill could be passed before the Prime Minister leaves for England. * This move is non-political, so I do not need a permit to talk and agitate in Cheviot. This may be my last major operation in New Zealand. Mr Forbes cannot, by helping, infringe any Coalition peace he signed.— Yours, etc.. HENRY T. J. THACKER. March 8, 1935. 1