FIORDLAND.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13342, 6 February 1909, Page 10

FIORDLAND.

ITS CHARMS AND POSSIBILITIES

THE HON. T. MACKENZIE INTERVIEWED.

The Hon. T. Mackenzie, who arrived from the South liy the. first express last night, t=noke enthusiastically regarding the charm am! possibilities of -the West Coast fiords to a representative of •■Tho I'rws." It will bo recalled tiiat Mr Mackenzie has just concluded a tour of the district, and that it :s a district with which lie is intimately acquainted, as he has done much oxploririLC work in it. Tho object of Mr Mackenzie's trip, and the territory covered, have already been referred to in these columns.

Of tho beauty of Dusky and Doubtful Sounds, and their attractiveness from a cruising point of view, Mr Mackenzie had much to say. "My idea i>,'' remarked thu Minister, "to make the. track from Hull's Arm, Doubtful Sound, to Manaixniri —tho track over which a i'ortioii of tho Christchurch expedition to tho Sounds travelled— an<l the Milford Sound-To Anau track, the rwo upon which the Tourist Department should concentrate attention ; the trac-k from George Sound should be abandoned. The track to the Soa-l-iiiii should bo kept open as far as it is made, and used as a sort of recreation wiilk for those visiting the Sound in Ktra-mers. This track leads over tho .Mackenzie Pass to tho .south-west arm <>l Mniiaiiouri, but that point can b<better readied by tho track from Doubtful Sound.

"I hare in my mind ideas of oxour- ■ iun> iliat could bo carried out embracing, u<» ii-ill s, ;l y. Dusky and Doubtful Sounds—excursions which should bo provided at moderate rost. and taking only a few days, thus bringing our beautiful si-enic country u-itliiii the reach of those who have only short holidays and moderate means. There i.s also room, 1 think, for many improvements in connection with getting visitors to Manapouri and To Aiiau irom Dunedin and Invercareill. Tho present connections, in addition to being costly, occupy too much time. Until some means are adopted for getting people more quickly to tho lakes, the question of improving the steamer service on the lakes can, iii my opinion, stand over. 1 recognise that the Fiord country, the .National Park country and the Gold Lakes is just tlho olaco for our Australian friends who desiro to leave their sun-parched country and seek the refreshing shade of our sylvan groves, and who long to bathe in our 000 l lakes and fountains. It is really the health-re-cruiting ground for Australia; we have, therefore, to open it up, make it known, and give reasonable facilities and comforts to induce our own people and those from Australia to visit it." He thought it would bo a grand thing, if possible, tor an up-to-date steamer to run excursions occupying two days and three mghie from Australia to Milford Sound, which is about tho nearest point to the Commonwealth. With a tunnel 4000 yards pierced through the saddle access ."would be given to the Lake Wakatipu and country. Tho tourist from Milford -would follow up the Cleddau river and behold the magnificent Alpino country towering above him about 10,000 feet, and the vast glaciers of that region, and then by the tunnel he would; emerge with the Hoilyford country and thence on to. Wakatipu—a distance of thirty-five miles. A traok is being cut at •present between the head waters of To Anau, which would join tho tunnel tracik to Arilford, about half-way there, and make a highway into the Martin's Bay country. If these undertakings were carried out the visitor could obtain, -within a very short distance, tho enjoyment of scenery ■unsurpassed in any part /of the world. Regarding the complaints made about the Milford track, Mr Mackenzie said,that he found that the state of the track was not so bad. A good' many ipeoplo ■expected to find! tracks ire mountainous country in a condition in which it was impossible to keep them. He had ordered certain deviations in this and other tracks, and so avoid some of the most dangerous and troublesome places, and from his knowledge of the country he had been able to advise the surveyors regarding deviations on. tracks under construction.

Regarding native T>ird life in the regions visited, Mr Mackenzie said; that he believed that it "was holding its own, and he had heard a cood description from one of the guides'of an encounter that took -place between a weka and a ■weasel, in "which the "weasel came off second , best.

Mr Maedonald. the Tourist Department's photographer, accompanied the Minister and Mr Donne on the trip and took some really fine- views of the scenery. Some entirely new country was photographed, and "under Mr Mackenzie's instructions, (panoramic .photographs wore taken of McKinnon's Pasj and other places of note. Amongst the views taken was one of the spot near •where vMoKinnon was lost—a beantiful island known as lone Island. On a rocky islet near Lone Island there roete on its topmost part a square block of white granite on which Mr R. Honry, of Resolution Island, carved McKinnon's name, and where a cross was erected. A photograph of this interesting spot was taken by Mr Macdonald.