Grey River Argus TUESDAY, January 17, 1928. THE TOURIST TRAFFIC.

Grey River Argus, 17 January 1928, Page 4

Grey River Argus TUESDAY, January 17, 1928. THE TOURIST TRAFFIC.

Accounts from all points go to show that ihe present summer is destined to break all the past records of the tourist traffic on the West (’oast. Visitors from Nelson Canterbury and the North Island have been so numerous as to demonstrate that the attractions of the region between the mountains and the western coastline are becoming better known. The Tourist Department is doubtless deserving of much credit for this satisfactory development, but the outstanding fact is that there' is nothing elsewhere in New Zealand to compare in grandeur and sublimity with natural scenery wherewith nature has endowed our part of the country. The Franz Josef Glacier, given its full due. is probably the most attractive, as it undoubtedly is the most unique glacier, on the face of the globe. It has obviously been the star attraction this summer, and its merit and celebrity are now such that it is able to challenge any other resort in the Dominion as a drawing card, both for the New Zealand holiday traveller and for the tourist from overseas. Australian visitors have been numerous, and it is safe to say that they all will chant the praises of the Glacier when they return to their friends. Those, moreover, who do not limit their visits to this famous resort, but take note of the mountaineering activities of recent

months, will be able to tell that il is simply the centre of a vast wonderland superior in glory to any international playground in the Southern Hemisphere. It is but a few miles distant, moreover. from another glacier, scarcely less beautiful, and nowise less accessible. The Fox Glacier has not yet come into its own, but. when its merits are known, the majority of tourists going to South Westland will undoubtedly include it in their itinerary. The resorts of the Buller and the Grey district have.also attracted an increasing stream of tourists this summer, and there is every reason to think that the not distant future is destined to see this community derive from the tourist traffic a very substantial annual return indeed. Rotorua has an attractiveness all its own. one that no other region in the world can offer, and that town certainly has thriven wonderfully upon the revenue of the tourist traffic. Its appeal is the wonderful rather than the beautiful in nature, whereas the West Coast scenery owes its merit to a beauty that

rivals ami indeed surpasses the famed regions in other climes in their most celebrated characteristics. There is no comparison as between our thermal region and any other, because no other remotely approaches ours in completeness and perfection, but the verdict of world-travelled mountaineers is that the Southern Alps are second to none in beauty and grandeur in the world’s wide range of mountain scenery. KcI cognising this fact, the time has come to ask whether the Govern i ment is fully alive to its duty and ’opportunity in fostering the touriist traffic on this ('oast. It has I l found out that lethargy else--1 where' has cost it dearly, through the competition of the motor. It is safe to say that if Australia, for instance, had anything half as attractive as our glacial region to offer the sightseer, it never would have left such an asset neglected to the extent South Westland has been during the past half century. If there were nothing else in the locality but its scenery, it should have had a railway long since. Apart from its forests, pastoral and mineral resources, the magnilicent scenic assets of South Westland cry aloud for an improvement of the means of access. The flat-topped Blue Mountains of New South Wales, which cannot be compared with the Southern Alps, have been made wonderfully accessible for the tourist, and tin result is that at this time of the year, quite a number of towns on their summit are crowded with visitors. Were there a railway to the Waiho, the summer population there would be possibly the largest, community' on the West (‘oast, ’file revenue of the. railways would be swelled, and ihe Slate would benefit, largely in other directions. Its people would be the gainers by a stay in the glacial region, and the threatened ascendancy of the motor over the railway would receive a cheek in a most profitable quarter. It is certain that the not. distant futurewill see the railway’ extended in this direction, and it is equally certain that the record of West ('oast railways in always paying their way, and something over, would be maintained in the venture. There have been many other reasons advanced for such a line, but the tourist (raffle is probably the most convincing reason of all. As things are, the glacial trip is largely the privilege of the well-to-do people visiting the West (‘oast, but with a railway to the locality a vast increase in the number of visitors would be certain immediately' Io result. The cost of such a line might seem large, in view of the country to be traversed, but the scenic asset, is one that will endure for all time, and will increase in value with the years, so that there could be no safer railway investment for the Government in any part of the Dominion.