The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1928.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1928.

HOADING THE FAR SOUTH Thk value of stock coming out of the far south year by year is a testimony to the increasing production of the district and a tribute to the qualities which go to make up the successful backblock settler. There are numerous examples of settlers in out of the way Y I> l;K ' es who by grit and determination carved out their homes in isolated places, and by patient industry and quiet plodding made good. In some instances the reward came quicker as ! means of communication were pushed | south, and the improved access added . quickly to local values, and afforded 3 better opportunities to reach markets. The far south is the most isolated lo- | eality, yet despite the disability in | access, there are many valuable homesteads there capable of producing richly. The need for reading the district is self apparent, and the value for the reading is justified by the wealth the district is able to produce now under the drawback of poor access. There was a practicable scheme to road the far south from Jackson Bay so that stock could he sent out by boat. As it is, the stock has to be driven over a long dangerous road, crossing a high | mount .in saddle. ATr T. Seddon has i made the suggestion that the road should be deviated and the mountain route avoided. It is a good suggestion, but like the Jackson Bay suggestion it. may have short shift with the powers that he. Officials who report on these projects often are slmrt-sight-ed. and do not view the proposition from the permanent settlement point of view. They weigh the situation by the present, and not with regard to the future when the transformation which will he possible by improved reading has worked its effect. Yet there are railway works in progress in parts of Xew Zealand in remote places not as attractive as the far south, where there is as yet no sign of a permanent road. It is a fact that motoring as at present possible in the future must end at the Paringa, because of the mountain road to l>e taokled along the existing I route. A road is not likely to be built there for the reason that there are places along the line where it is difficult to hold even, a pack track. There is a section of the track known j as Slippery Face, which lives up to its name almost weekly, and for a per man- j ent road such a route would have to be avoided definitely. It was the practice for the early day surveyors to work • inland with the arterial roads. The ( first highway to. Grey mouth wandered l round by Kumara and Marsden to the f ultimate destination, when a straight road along the sea coast would have v been less than half the length. The a road to Ross was taken by an inland j : route almost doubling the length of the p

road. Several sections of the main south road, also, lake to the high country and pass over hill and dale, when a more direct and much shorter line could have been laid by following the coast line. The vagaries fur pushing inland seem strange in the light of the fact that all t raflic originally was along the seashore, the most diieot route of all. Possibly it, was “the desire to open up the country,’’ which led to the surveyors generally pioneering roads into the back country, an I making them over routes which would be far more costly than along th ■ lowlands. However, the roads and tracks are in the more difficult and costly places, and it is not rcniarknhle tin t to-day there is a demand for do.tours to shorten the distances, and to provide readier access. The desire to av iid the .Maori Saddle on the far south route is not surprising. Indeed, it is necessary if a way is to be provided for vehicles, intimately a road down the Most Coast and across by the Haast Pass to Otago will be achieved. and it would lie a good thing if Mr Seddon woro> to commence now working up for the detour section from Paringa to the Haast river, as a first instalment of something which is most needful to assure the permanent prosperity of tho promising territory in southern Westland.