ON PLEASURE BENT.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10269, 11 February 1899, Page 6

ON PLEASURE BENT.

Man, as a modern writer says, is a "pleasure loving animal," and in the strain and stress ctf modern life we perhaps need more change of occupation than we even now take. In the United States it is said people work harder than anywhere else in the world, but they also take tho most pleasure. They have "off" days, and many of their men who are soonest tired —their professional men and merchants never take less than a month's holiday in the year. The Americans, however use system in thoir pleasures, as in their business. Pleasure is not merely a' '"loaf," but a change of occupation. There are two kinds, at least, of pleasure-seekere who do not make the best use of their time. One ceases work and does nothing and often for want of exercise becomes ill. Another thinks the only way to obtain rest is to undergo great physical exertion. The first will sleep long, take his meals, and loaf about an up-country hostelry, whilst the other is never content unless he is climbing a mountain or taking a long and wearisome ride on his bicycle or over-tiring liimself by some other physical exertion. "We doubt if either way is tho proper means to adopt to give mind and body rest. What is required is change of scene and change of work, and we in New Zealand have as yet organised our pleasures badly. Save the Sounds trip, taken once a year by a Union Company's steamer, and an occasional trip to the islands, we have not the organised trips that are so common in Europe and America. We lack also any organisation in our pleasure and health resorts Let us take Sumner, New Brighton, and the Harunor Springs. If these wore in the United States they would be very differently managed. During at least three or four months in the year theYe would be music every afternoon, perhaps outdoor entertainments as well as concerts. . There would be amusement and instruction, and various schemes would be put in operation to make the stay of persons on pleasure bent agreeable to them. In some places . a hundred or two agree to go together, \., so that those who go will know their % companions, and have the pleasure of 1| agreeable human intercourse. Now we 1 might set about organising our pleasure i haunts. We have a Borough Council iii ' Sumner and one in New Brighton. The \ Borough Councils have, however, limited powers and limited functions. They are are merely street-making and repairing bodies. They must, if their statutes permit, do much more, and they should lay thenfselves out .to make their boroughs agreeable places of resort, not only for Christchurch residents, but for visitors from various parts of New Zealand. Hanmer also might" be made a popular place of resort, and not merely one for those afflicted with *rheumatism, or for people who go there to regain health. Then there is Timaru, which has to some small extent become a bathing place. Through the accumulation of sand > in Caroline Bay, a fine bathing beach has been formed. Could not the people of Timaru make greater exertions to attract to their pretty town more tourists and nfbre people anxious for a change of .air and scene, and could they not in the summer months have other attractions besides their splendid bathing beach ? Li some parts of England and on the Continent such a beach would attract thousands of visitors. What are required are comfortable boarding-houses and more of them, some amusements for those who go there, and the town beautified. In some bathing places a band is engaged to play every afternoon. Walks are made and other efforts made to attract and amuse visiters. It would, we believe, pay the Timaru people to do all this. ' . ' Then there are various mountain resorts ■* in Canterbury lying unused and waiting for development. Mount Cook has had - a. little done for it, though much more remains to be done, and there are others fc nearer Christchurch that might be made . pleasant resorts. To some men jaded in - business nothing would be so refreshing and life-giving as the mountain air, but - the places where this can be obtained j\ must be made In fact we murt '■ imitate the Americans, and look after . pleasure-getting as a business that has to be provided for. In Canterbury and in . easy reach of Christchurch we have everything that is needed within ourselves. We , ihave excellent seaside resorts,we have mountain resorts, and we have the hot , baths of Hanmer with its fine climate. We must, however, be more systematic in utilising our great natural advantages, , and never forget that there are hundreds " of people who, in addition to seeking a ", , change of air, are on pleasure bent. We have not referred to the railway fares, which always enter largely into the question of holiday-making. These should be greatly reduced, and it would pay the railway to reduce them, for the passenger receipts would not only increase, but . there would be more goods to carry. Those who travel to Hanmer and to the mountain resorts, require food, etc., and the railway would Have to carry their requirements. The fact is, the railways should be run as merchants would run them— to make traffic, and encourage people to go on trips. As our London correspondent shows in the letter we publish elsewhere, the fact of a fast special train being put on the Brighton line has greatly increased the traffic, and the same result I would, we are sure, follow in New Zealand if the railway authorities made an effort to encourage people to'travel.