Pity the glow-worms

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33693, 16 November 1974, Page 16

Pity the glow-worms

The formations in the Waitomo Caves have become discoloured by moss and algae. To restore their beauty the formations are to be steam-cleaned. Those responsible for maintaing tourist attractions elsewhere m the country may have to spruce up their attractions in order to meet the competition which the caves, freshly gleaming, will offer. Many visitors to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers in recent years have been disappointed to find that the toes of the glaciers, which appear in old photographs as qlean, white ice, are covered with dreary grey rubble. Perhaps the Westland National Park Board should have the moraines whitewashed. On the other side of the Main Divide, the shape of Mount Cook is, from certain angles, not as pleasing as it might be. A few enterprising mountaineers equipped with jackhammers and gelignite could soon knock the mountain into a more symmetric shape. But will Queenstown then feel obliged to sharpen up the Remarkables? Or New Plymouth to bulldoze away Fanthams Peak to make a perfect cone of Mount Egmont? The cost might prevent Rotorua from piping Chanel No. 5 into the geysers, but the few pounds of dye needed to make the water of Lake Manapouri more brilliantly blue should not be too expensive. Many other ways to improve on nature might be attempted — with as much success, one suspects, as the steam-cleaning of the glow-worm caves at Waitomo. Or will those planning to springclean the Waitomo Caves realise — in time to spare the glow-worms — that nature really needs no improvement?