NATIONAL PARKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 115, 16 May 1936, Page 15

NATIONAL PARKS

ALPINE CLUB COMMENT

ACCESS TO THE ALPS

REFORM IN CONTROL

"The national parks of New Zeaand have been run in a most hap- J lazard manner and without any plan >r policy whatever," said Mr. A. P. ' Harper, A.C., at the annual meeting of ( ;he New Zealand Alpine Club, last ■ light. Public reserves had been 1 eased to private commercial interests, i ;aid Mr. Harper. Administration of ihe parks was spread over several de- ; partments. The Alpine Club fought for two ob- '■ iectives, unified control and the right 3f access to the mountains. The last j question particularly was one of very considerable importance, especially in the Mount Cook district, where mountaineers had in former years found their access to the Alps denied. The Alpine" Club "also claimed that when climbing huts were not provided, any reputable mountaineering organisation should have the right, subject to proper governmental regulation and control, to build such huts as might be required. On the question of control of the whole system, Mr. Harper referred to the wonderful way in which national parks were run in the United States and Canada. The New Zealand Govment was being asked to set up an organisation similar to that in the United States, with a central executive, of which the Minister would be the chairman! This central executive would have the right to lay down the general policy, and local committees would deal with particular parks. An important point was that members elected >to the central or local executive should be elected on the knowledge of the problems to be met, and not on the strength of local body offices they might hold. A central committee properly organised would do [away with the difficulty of dealing | with a multiplicity of departments as at.present..- ■ .;. ; .Mr.L. O. Hooker, president of the Federated Mountain Clubs of New* Zealand, said that this was one of the most important public questions that the j people of New Zealand had to face at the present time because it concerned the disposition of their own birthright, and the heritage of their children. National parks were to be run by and for the people and not for the advancement of commercial interests. The national parks system was a "Cinderella" as far as New Zealand was concerned. The Mount Egmont area, a "mere shovelful of earth" compared with some of the huge parks in the United States and Canada, had four committees and a board to run it, and £-23,000 has been spent on a single road, politically procured but never required. Commercial interests had been the big handicap with past Governments. A proper central controlling authority, as in the United States, would-avoid this difficulty and would work more easily and more cheaply. Views were expressed by other members present,.urging the unification of control, and particularly freedom of access to the mountains with the right to build high climbing-bivouacs. In the words of one member, "we want as a minimum the .right, to put a few sheets of iron together as a bivouac on Mount Cook. We want at least a shelter, sufficient to save a man's life."