WE HAVE THE GOODS."

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 120, 23 May 1922, Page 7

WE HAVE THE GOODS."

N.Z. TOURIST TRAFFIC. INTEREST FROM THE EAST. "There is no doubt about it, we have got the goods as far as scenic attractions are concerned, and we should do all we possibly can to encourage the tourist traffic," remarked Mr. VV. R. Blow, who for the past nine years has been in charge of the New Zealand Government office in Sydney. Accompanied hy Mrs. Blow, he arrived in Auckland yesterday by the Makura, after an absence of six years from his own country. Referring to the increase in the tourist traffic since the end of the war, Mr. | Blow said that a pood denl of the trnlfie ! from Japan, Java, and the East generally, was now being attracted to tha Dominion. "Every single tourist with whom I have come in contact," ho paid, "returns to Sydney filled with admiration for this country. I have not met one disgruntled one yet, and I meet n good many in the course of my work; they all return walking advertisements for New Zealand. Of course we do all we can to get them to come across." Mr. Blow added that the improved steamer accommodation and the fact that such steamers as the Niaguja and Makura were now on the Auckland-Syd-ney run was an important factor. "The tourist won't travel unless under happy conditions," he remarked. Mr. Blow went on to say that the New Zealand office in Sydney had considerably extended its operations. it was now a Government office in every sense of the term. Every branch of Government work was now dealt with, and the office did not confine its operations to the Tourist Department as once was the case. He stated thnt during the past eighteen months the office had been busily engaged in negotiating for timber supplies for the Public Works Department of Australian woods for railway and electrical construction works. "In this manner, by availing with the tenders direct in Sydney, T think that I am right in saying we have saved the country thousands of pounds, as we have been able to get right in touch with tho small man.' . The office had also done, and still is doing, a good deal of important, work for the Customs Department, and in many other ways is proving a useful branch of the New Zealand administration. Before returning to Sydney by the Niagara. Mr. and Mrs. Blow will visit IRntorua and Wellington. "One of the principal reasons for my visit is to get myself right up to date in everything New Zealand," he smilingly concluded.