RECORD MILFORD SEASON

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25784, 21 April 1949, Page 4

RECORD MILFORD SEASON

MORE THAN 1000 USE TRACK HOTEL ACCOMMODATION INADEQUATE (New Zealand Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, April 20. The Milford Track, now ended, has established two records. Never has the track been busier and never has wetter weather been recorded, according to Mr C. A. Humphrey, manager for the Tourist Department at Invercargill, who has returned after a visit to Caswell, George, and Milford Sounds. Mr Humphrey said that more than 1000 people walked over the track. The increasing popularity of the Milford Track and the use many people of the Homer Tunnel route had accentuated the need for increased accommodation at the sound, Mr Humphrey said. The Milford Hotel could accommodate only 46 people. This was no doubt adequate for the purpose for which the hotel was originally built, but the position was different now'. The difficulty of getting building materials to Milford Sound was an obvious handicap to any plan to increase the size of the hotel and he doubted whether there would be any appreciable increase in accommodation at Milford until the tourist camp that the Automobile Association (Southland) proposed to build was opened. * Staffing at the Milford Hotel had been reasonably satisfactory this season.

• Mr Humphrey walked over the Milford Track to report on alternative sites for the" Pompolona huts, which are obsolete. There were two or three suitable sites, he said.