NATIONAL MEMORIAL HIGHWAY.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1919, Page 3

NATIONAL MEMORIAL HIGHWAY.

A BOLD PROPOSAL. ; A national memorial highway for New i Zealand was proposed in a paper preseated by Messrs S. A. R. Hair, and N. j Crofton Staveley at tho Town-planning ! Conference. The fitting commemoration, of the Great War could best bo achieved, urged the authors, by the building of ono great national memorial. The Dominion had established an enviable reputation for boldness and initiative in Imperial j matters and therefore the proposal to , build a memorial highway throughout j the length of New Zealand as a tribute to our soldiers should commend itself to the Conference. Admittedly the scheme was a hold and costly one, hut ' not an extravagant one, as the resources ! and the natural beauties of this Britain of the South deserved, and would 1 andsomcly repay the incidental development. The location would no doubt bo something of a problem, and it would require tho services of an independent commission of experts to provide a solution. It should bo governed largely by economic and aesthetic consideration in linking up the large centres with the productive and the scenic areas, and avoiding as far as possible contiguity to tho main railway routes. Roughly, the length of the projected highway would ho some 1200 miles. The initial construction would no doubt ho chiefly along road lines at present in use, and it could be presumed that local bodies would gladly bring their portion of the formation into line with requirements, preparatory to the construction of the actual traffic bed, which would be varied in width etc., according to traffic and other conditions. Local memorials, in tho form of parks, amusement grounds, scenic attractions, accommodation shelters, etc., would be laid down by the various communities providing one great combination if me. morials . Estimating the length of the

road at 1200 miles, to connect Auckland and the .Bluff, the authors considered it would cost about £SOOO per mite, or £6,000,000 to complete. Such an expenditure, made at tho rate of. £1.000,000 per year, should he well within the resources of the Dominion and would bo thoroughly justified by the economic development it would promoto.