SOUTH ISLAND TOURIST TRAFFIC

Evening Star, Issue 21316, 21 January 1933, Page 17

SOUTH ISLAND TOURIST TRAFFIC

“ IRRESPONSIBLE CHATTER OP OUTSIDERS " A SATISFACTORY EXPLANATION A complaint was recently received by the secretary of the Otago Expansion League (Mr W. B. Steel) from the Mount Cook Tourist Company Ltd. that Sir Berkeley Sheffield, who recently visited the Hermitage in company with his sister, Lady Arthur Grosvenor, had stated that before he left Homo “everybody” had tried to persuade him not to come to the South Island, as there was nothing to see there. Mr Steel forwarded the complaint to the general manager of the Tourist Department (Mr G. W. Clinkard), asking whether it would be possible for the department to ascertain through which channel Sir Berkeley had been booked, whether by some tourist agency, or through the High Commissioner’s Office. “ Your predecessor, the late Mr B. Wilson,” the letter added, “ used to say that if he could only pin down who that ‘ everybody ’ was he would make him sorry that he ever said ‘ South Island.’ This is no new complaint, and we feel sure that ‘ where there is smoke, there is fire,’ and we would be grateful (and we know you would he) if we could ‘ nail that story to the counter.’ ” In his reply Mr Clinkard stated: — As you will see from the attached copy of a report from the department’s district manager at Wellington, who called on this visitor, nobody connected with the New Zealand Government or with any shipping interests mentioned anything to Sir Berkeley in regard to not visiting the South Island. I feel just as strongly as my predecessor did in regard to any officer in my department, in the slightest degree, belittling the South Island, and so far I have not discovered one instance where this had been done. It might be of interest to your league to note that the chief executive officers of the bureaux at Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, and AVanganui have all been born and brought up in the South Island. From this it will bo seen that if there were any personal leanings so far as the majority of our booking officers are concerned it would be towards the South Island.

I would like to take this opportunity of saying that there have recently been indications that certain, parties, for reasons which I do not wish to discuss, have evidently seen fit to encourage the belief in the South Island that this department is responsible for advising tourists against visiting the South. The instance quoted is a case in point. All our officers know intimately what is to be seen in various parts of the dominion, and it is their constant object and their clear instruction to make their first and main duty one of satisfying our clients. It_ appears to be the policy of certain interests to make these general and indirect attacks on the department, but these critics have never been able to show that there is any real justification for the insinuations so freely and constantly made. As I have already mentioned to yon, the department is keenly conscious of the very important disadvantage which the South Island faces as a result of the present lack of direct overseas shipS connections, hut the department is not, I am confident, fairly to be charged with a bias against any district in the dominion. The report of the manager of the department’s Wellington office was as follows :—I saw Sir Berkeley Sheffield, and he stated that no tourist agency or shipping company tried to persuade him not to visit the South Island. He never discussed the North Island or South Island at any office, nor did he make inquiries at the High Commissioner’s Office. What Sir Berkeley did say was, that nearly all his friends at clubs, etc., who had been to New Zealand and professed to know something about the country, gave him the impression that there was nothing much to see in the South Island. He is now very surprised that he should have been advised in such a manner, as in his opinion the scenerv in the South Island is much better. He himself will advise tourists to spend longer in the South Island. He is of opinion that the reason that the North Island is better known is: (1) The unique attraction of the thermal district; (2) Zane Grey’s book on deep sea fishing; (3) the stories of large catches of fish at Taupo. In his acknowledgment of Mr Clinkard’s letter Mr Steel stated: — I am more than pleased to learn that it was only the irresponsible chatter of outsiders which was repeated by our recent visitor. Unfortunately these stories gain credence and are magnified in the telling to such an extent that if they are not challenged and discredited they presently assume the form and almost the sanctity of a fixed belief. My long personal connection with the Tourist Department has convinced me beyond peradventure that it is out for “ the greatest good to the greatest number,” and that the South Island does not suffer through any of its actions. Holding this belief, I am always loth to repeat such “ traveller’s tales,” but have to do so occasionally to prevent the unchecked growth of an unwarranted legend.