TARARUA RANGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1936, Page 6

TARARUA RANGES

AS A NATIONAL PARK 1

COMMERCIAL CONCESSIONS OPPO*SED

The proposal to declare the Tararua Ranges a Centennial National Park for the Wellington Province, was approved at a meeting of the Tararua Tramping Club last night. At the same time, the club passed a resolution urging the preservation of the ranges in as nearly as possible, their original natural condition, and especially opposing the granting of any licences or concessions in respect to the proposed park to any commercial interests. Mr. W. H. Denton presided.

In moving the motion recommending the creation of the Tararua National Park, Mr. D. R. Hoggard said that the proposal had its origin in the movement throughout New Zealand for the establishment of Centennial memorials. He had attended a conference to consider such a memorial for the Wellington Province, and had suggested that the Tararuas be made a national park. The suggestion was not made without some misgivings, but he felt that the only way to preserve the beauty of the ranges was to encourage a public interest in them. It was a question of giving the T."----ruas either to the people, or ta the deer. He contrasted the spar:.ci!_.-.i

of the undergrowth at the present time with that of 30 years ago. With the Tararua Tramping Club supporting the proposal, there was a good chance of its being officially adopted. Mr.'F. W. Vosseler, in seconding the motion, said that it was a fallacy to believe,, as many did, that the making of roads in a national park caused damage, excellent examples to the contrary being at Mount Egmont and in the Eglinton Valley. By the construction of roads, Mount Egmont had been opened to thousands, instead of being available only to hundreds, and yet the forest had not been damaged. The mountains did not exist for trampers alone. The very existence of the club was due to the desire of the people, who knew- the attraction of the Tararuas years ago, to open them to greater numbers. All that the proposal meant was that there would be roads down a few spurs, and that the people who went there would learn to love the forest. and the , flowers. Prohibition of their seeing such things would be a much greater wrong than allowing the beauties of the-Tararuas to be made available to greater numbers.

Mr. H. Armitage said that it was not ihe creation of thej National Park that members opposed, but the policy of roading. . .

Mr. A. H. Hines said that when a park was created the range would be protected. The- Park Board would have a policy, and injurious roading would not be done. The opening up was bound to come in a few years; the club knew how the ranges might best be developed, and might so assist in having the work done its own way.

Mr. N. Dowling opposed the scheme because, he said, the Tararuas, although excellent as a tramping ground, were unsuitable for tourists.

Mr. W. Young added his opposition on the ground of expense, but the chairman replied that finance was not the important■ point,-because the park was a Centennial memorial proposal, and the decision to spend money had already, been made.. HOTEL AND TRANSPORT. Mr. M. Riske referred to hotel and transport monopolies in other parte of New Zealand, and asked whether it was intended to turn the Tararuas into a hunting ground for racketeers. Mr. R. Gray moved an amendment that the Park Board should provide for the limitation of roading, but, on being put to the vote, it was. lost by a small majority. Mr. Gray said that enjoyment of the Tararuas was got from doing, not seeing, and the maximum number of trampers should be encouraged. Mr. E. H. Eoberts, who moved the motion opposing the letting out of concessions or licences in the proposed park, said that the Tararua Ranges were a tract of country where people qould see nature untouched. The opposers of the motion were not selfish. The club should preserve a place where succeeding generations could explore. . , . . ■ . Mr. A. Gillatly said that unless something were done sawmillers and deer would get the Tararuas in 50 or 100 years. ■ : Mr. P. Macpherson said that the creation of a national park in the Tararuas would give trampers a legal right to visit the ranges where, now they went only by permission of the State Forest Service which.had fundamentally-com-mercial interests. ■ . ■

After Mr. Hoggard's reply, the motion was put and carried.

The chairman ruled that the motion which had been approved did not carry with it the detailed suggestions of the sub-committee regarding the provision of hostels, a landing ground on Table Top, and other facilities in the Tararuas. ' ' .. .