NEW ZEALAND'S CREAT ASSET.

Cromwell Argus, 2 March 1908, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND'S CREAT ASSET.

HOW IT SHOULD BE WORKED

At Waikouaiti on "Wednesday night Mr Thomas Mackenzie said that the Tourist Department might be made -one ©f the most important of the State's concerns. Much as our mold yield had done for the colony, we had in our grand scenery and the curative properties of our thermal fields assets that in the future ware capable of yielding more than our gold mines. France obtained annually £100,000,0(10 from her tourists, equal to £'o per head of her population, whilst £5 per head was the value of her exports. Italy received £20,000,000 per annum. in Lucerne last year no less than 200,000 visitors were there within a few months, and the money they left averaged £69 for every inhabitant of the place. In this country we had unequalled attractions to offer. In the North Island there was a perpetual Bethseda, and a perennial Siloam, to which invalids from all parts of the world came. The North Island might fittingly be said to be the sanatorium of the Southern Hemisphere,, as the South Island would become the healthrecruiting ground of Australasia. What could surpass the grandeur of our southern scenery r There were the great Southern Alps, extending throughout the whole length of the Island, culminating in Mount Aorangi (the sky piercer), from whoso shoulders great snowfields extend for hundreds of miles. He may be said to be the veritable throne of the ice king and the birthplace of the glacier and the avalanche Down his huge sides there coursed vast rivets of ice towards the eastern plains and the Tasman Sea. Then away to the South was our grand national park, with scenery unrivalled on the face of our planet. The development of our scenic resources was as yet practically untouched. Queenstown should be made the centre, and connected with Milford Sound at the earliest possible date. A tunnel 400 yards long would bring it within touch of Milford. which would make a 'western port to it. The possibility of development by such a process was practically unlimited. The development also of Mount Cook and Lake Wanaka should not be overlooked. But New Zealand required to give her tourists mora than scenery. She must stock her rivers with trout and salmon, and her alpine heights with chamois, deer, and other big game. New Zealand, our scientific people told us, was the most interesting country in the world ornithologically, geologically, and botanically, and it was our duty in dealing with a country not to carry on one interest alone, but to unite in carrying on all, in order that we might derive the greatest possible benefit from the resources at our command.- -Evening Star.