HEALTH RESORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 271, 14 November 1936, Page 11

HEALTH RESORTS.

MODERNISING PLAN.

ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS.

MINISTER'S MANY AIMS,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

The discovery through deep boring of a good supply of hot mineralised water at Te Aroha is likely to give this quiet little health resort a great forward impetus, making it an important adjunct to Rotorua. This was the impression given in an interview with the Hon. F. Langstone (Minister pf Tourist, and Health Resorts), - who mentioned some of the ways in which 'more extensive votes which Parliament-recently granted for his Department can be expended. The Minister intends to take an early opportunity of visiting Te* -Aroha to inspect the new development.

"We were concerned about Te Aroha owing to the low, temperature of tlie water and a lack of adequate supply" explained Mr. Langstone. "Geologists recommended boring and this has been a hundred per cent successful, so that it opens up great possibilities for the future, when Rotorua will become a firstclass sanatoria on a fairly big scale, and Te Aroha will be a valuable adjunct to the treatment, the curative powers of each place being worked together.

"Dr. Duncan, the Government Balneologist, is at present on the Continent investigating electrical and therapeutic methods of treatment and the equipment, so that any advance we make in this fi?ld will be on the most up-to-date lines. The old hospital building at Rotorua i~ not adequate or convenient, for pptl.ii. .s hpve to be wheeled to the baths and back again. Under the future arrangements the baths will be reached without the necessity of going into the open air. Wc are planning a new sanatorium at Rotorua which may cost possibly £100,000. There is a good eit e available, and the equipment will be

on the best lines for dealing with the disorders for which Rotorua provides a cure. Two Sorts of Tourist. "As I view the tourist trade, it comes into two categories," continued the Minister. "I put first the New Zealander. Then comes the overseas tourist whose expenditure provides us with invisible exports and whose presence does so much to create closer contact and better understanding with the people of other countries. We are doing everything possible to develop that side. "But the real backbone of the tourist trade are New Zealanders themselves," Mr. Langstone declared. "New Zealand is somewhat handicapped by being a long distance away from the great world populations, but once the tourist gets here he finds that closely packed within a comparatively small area is the widest variety of attractions ranging from the thermal regions of the North Island to the splendours of the lakes, the glaciers and the great mountains of tile south. We are aiming to so improve facilities that hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders will be easily ablc to e a the splendours of their own Dominion. "To make New Zealand better known overseas we have been endeav °" r !" g get the Post Office to co-operate in the attractive system under which - J landers with friends in Bintain wiH be able bv an arrangement in N^ land' to "ct delivered to their friends or relatives overseas some of our products, such as lamb, fruit, butter and honey We are also developing the use of the talkie film for advertising overseas.