WAITOMO CAVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 24 December 1926, Page 8

WAITOMO CAVES.

SYSTEM OF LIGHTING. CRITICISM ANSWERED. At the annual meeting of the New i Zealand Tourist League, held in Auckland, several members expressed dissatisfaction at the lighting arrangement at the Waitomo Caves, and considered that there was considerable room for improvement. To the criticism, Mr. B: M. Wilson, general manager of tourist resorts, has now replied, and takes exception to many of the statements made. Mr. Wilson says that the lighting, of Waitomo Caves was carried out on the lines of a report from Mr. J. S. Coirmack, Director of the New South* , Wales Tourist Bureau, which controls the famous Jenolan Caves. Mr. Cormack has had about 40 years' experience, and Mr. Wilson asks what experience the members of the New Zealand Tourist League can claim. Before the work was carried out the Tourist League was consulted and asked for suggestions. The same system of flood lighting is adopted in the Waitomo Cathedral as obtains in the Right Imperial at Jenolan. He points out that the wiring of the caves at Waitomo was the first work of its kind to be done in the Dominion, and mentions that at the Cheddar Caves in England rewiring had been done at least four times in twenty years, while during the present year yet another system had been adopted at Jenolan. Mr. Wilson considers that the lighting at Waitomo reflects great credit upon the Public Works Department, and he is prepared to abide by the opinion of visitors to the caves.