SOUNDS ROAD

Hokitika Guardian, 19 June 1933, Page 1

SOUNDS ROAD

SOUTHERN COMMENT GLORIOUS BUT IMPRACTICABLE INVERCARGILL, Jims 1(5. “It is as impracticable as it is glorious,” was the comment of Mr Leslie Murrell, of Mnnapouri, who knows the Sounds intimately, on the road round the Sounds suggested by Mr R. A. Anderson to the Southland League. As lie visualised the scheme, one quarter of tbe road would have to be hewn out of solid rock, and lie did not think that any engineer would seriously survey it. It was inconceivable to him that anyone who knew the character of the country and the Hoods that swept down the valleys, transforming them into lakes, could propose such a road.

The road suggested by My 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 so much and the Government and the Main Highways Hoard eaeu granted 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 a level of 500 to 700 feet ware maintained it would he 1000. He could see as much at £IOO,OOO a mile being spent <,n some parts.