MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 155, 29 December 1910, Page 2

MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS.

* EFFORTS TO POPULARISE THEM. A BEAUTIFUL RESORT FOR TOURISTS. Marlborough Sounds have a peculiar charm of their own. They ought to bo exceedingly popular with Wellington, 'holiday makers, but they either do not know of the beauties of ' the Sounds 01, having had experiences of the accommodation for tourists, do not wish to repeat them. Whatever be the cause the Sounds are not so popular as they ought to be, sonsidering how near they are and how cheaply they may be reached. The Picton and Sounds Piomotion Sociely has got lo work and has issued an attractive and well-illustrated booklet on which it claims to be "tho finest holiday resort in the Dominion of New Zealand." No doubt Rolorua, Queenstown, Hamner and some other equally fine holiday resorts will dispute "Picton's proud boast; but allowing for excess of local enthusiasm the Sounds are certainly very beautiful, and the motor launch has made the most remote parU of them accessible. Leaving Wellington for the Sounds in a Union steamer is one of "the most ' agreeable experiences that can fall to ! the lot of man, given fine weatheV. Tho grim Terawhiti coast, the swirling- currents in the Straits, the graceful outline of the northern end of the South Island, and tho ocean stretching away down to frozen Antarctica, all conspire to make this short sea run interesting aud enjoyable. TORY CHANNEL. Then comes Tory Channel, with lte needle-like rocks at the entrance, tho swift current rushing through the narrow entrance, the lochlike smoothness of the water, the densely-wooded hills rising sheer out of the deep water; the curious things of the sea and the air which frequent the Channel. And after Tory the beautiful approach lo Picton. All so far it is a pleasant, enjoyable, a short and usually smooth passage, made in a comfortable steamer 3 and iv very oeautii'ul scenery. All, of course, may now have been changed by the disinterested efforts of the local Promotion Society, but last year, at any rate, there were many things done and many things left undone that were not calculated to make the Sounds as popular a resort for Wellington tourists as they could and should be, But all may be different now. "A GREAT DAY TO COME." "Picton's magnificence," the Promotion Society admits, "has dwindled, until in the present day its inhabitants turn their eyes to the misty^ pages of the future and look for the grandeur that is to arrive with the completion of the South Island Main Trunk line, the establishment of a naval base, and other entrancing but mistily outlined rli-eams of a great day to come." Of the j Sounds themselves the Promotion Society waxes eloquent through ita oificial publication. It asks : "Is the reader a city man or woman, fagged with a year's toil 'midst uncongenial surroundings ? Is he suffering from that annually recurring uncontrollable longing for three weeks' release from tension? Does he feel that searching desire for the sun's kiss that .inevitably comes to us who dwell in cities, after twelve, months' strenuous working within walls? Is it the rest and glamour of open spaces that he seeks ? Does the gentle, cheerful nor'-easler. curling blue waters into brisk wavelets chattering to yellow benches, allure him? Does he desire to toss in a, boat on idle waters with a perfunctory deep sea fishing-line in his hand? Have blue and purple and green hills, stretching luxurious limbs to the caress of warm translucent wavelets, any appeal to his tired brain? Is he, in short, a man for whom sun and water, lavish camp fires, toil at the onr in a boisterous wind, the chatter of breaking wavelets, the call of pcagulls, the splash of the diving gannet, the- colours of sunsets on distant hills, the shine of star?, the cool night breeze, the rising of the sun over still waters, tiave any attraction? If he can answer these questions in tho affirmative let him be assured that, if never before, he will enjoy thfse to the full in the Marlborough Sounds."