EDUCATIVE TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 205, 30 August 1928, Page 9

EDUCATIVE TOUR.

SPECIAL TRAIN ARRANGED. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. INSPECTION" OF PROVINCE. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Full details of the special train which is to run over the lines of the Auckland Province to enable sixty members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to study the resources of the district are set out in the annual report of the Department of Industries and Commerce. The train will make possible a nine days' tour at the end of October this year. An interesting itinerary has been tentatively agreed to, which will enable leading business men of Auckland to visit Hamilton and inspect the railway housing factory, the Ruakura farm and leading factories dealing with milk, butter, cheese, casein, and milk powder. It is proposed that the train shall enable calls to be made at Arapuni works, and at Tauranga the harbour facilities will be studied and visits made to the citrus fruit areas of the Bay of Plenty. The development that has taken place in this area in transport by railways and roads will also be inspected. A visit to the Waihi gold mines is also contemplated. The train will subsequently travel to points of interest in North Auckland, including Dargaville, Hokianga, Bay of Islands and Whangarei districts.

The train will comprise four sleeping cars and a parlour car. Special facilities will be provdeid for the convenience of passengers by way of telephone and radio, and telegrams will also receive prompt despatch. Light refreshments will be srved on the train twice daily, but the main meals will be provided in each of the towns visited en route.

This tour, the first of its kind in Xew Zealand, will be made for the definite purpose of educating the commercial men of Auckland as to the resources of their province, and with the aid of bulletins, which will be issued each day and distributed on the train, information relative to the areas visited will be afforded to those making the trip. In addition, agricultural, forestry and other experts will accompany the train ! for the purpose of explaining features of interest throughout the tour. It is further expected that the visitors will have special facilities provided by local bodies, harbour boards and chambers of commerce in each locality

Should the experiment prove a success the Railway Department has pro-| mised to co-operate in future tours of the kind in the various provinces of New Zealand, and thus assist to remove the reproach that many business men lack a practical knowledge of their own country. The Railway Department has already done splendid work by means of their farmers' trains and are to be complimented upon their readiness to place such splendid facilities for transport at the disposal of the Auckland Chamber.