WONDERFUL PLAYGROUND.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 December 1927, Page 8

WONDERFUL PLAYGROUND.

DOMINIONS PLAYGROUNDS. “ALMOST UNIQUE IN EMPIRE.” New Zealand’s natural beauties, particularly the splendours of the Southern Alps_, which he described as being almost unique in the British Empire, were warmly praised by the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery (Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs), when he was entertained at luncheon at Wellington on Thursday by the members of the New Zealand Club and the University Club. He expressed the opinion, however, that the Alps could be developed for the benefit of the people of the Dominion in preference to encouraging tourists to come and enjoy them, says the “Dominion.” Mr Amery was welcomed by the president of the New Zealand Club (Mr J. M. Dale). Mr Amery rose amidst applause and briefly acknowledged his welcome. In a few days more, lie was sorry to say, his stay in New Zealand would come to an end. He had had a most enjoyable time; every minute had been full of in, terest, enjoyment, and profit. He had come to the Dominion to discuss many problems; he also came, and he hoped he would be forgiven if he had done so, to see something off the beauty and variety of the British Empire. And certainly there was no part of the Empire where the traveller eould take more delight than in the natural beauties of New Zealand.

“ALMOST UNIQUE IN EMPIRE.” ‘ ‘ I have spent many happy hours both iu the North Island and the South Island,” continued Mr Amery. “I have just spent a week of enjoyment and healthy exercise in the Southern Alps. You" have, in your mountains, apart from their beauty, something which is almost unique in the British Empire. There are higher mountains and greater ranges, I know, but I know few mountain ranges to compare to what I have seen in New Zealand. There are two ways in which a nation can make use of its natural beauties. One is to talk about them, to advertise them, to induce people to come and look at them and incidentally to make money out of them. I do not for one moment decry that use, as it is a means of producing revenue. A much more important use can be made of the beauties of your country and its opportunities for sport by enjoying these facilities yourselves, and by regarding them as an asset in strengthening the health and mind of your own people. ’ ’ A NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY.

Referring to what had been done in Switzerland, he said that to-day the people revelled in the beauty of their country and derived the full benefit from wandering about in God’s high places. It struck him during the last few days that there was an opportunity for the people of Xew Zealand which they had so far on the whole rather neglected. “You have in your mountains a wonderful playground, which you have not made much use of for yourselves. These facilities could be brought to the door of every able-bodied person, young or old, rich or poor.” A NATIONAL ORGANISATION. .The existing organisations in New Zealand, added Mr Amery, should get together and form a national organisation of sufficient membership, so as ] to be able to add to the number of huts and to make the mountain available to all who wished to use them. There was something uplifting in going aloft and looking upon the world from the pinnacle of some great mountain; there was something very inspiring in crossing great snowlields, with not a footmark on them, with all the sense of being away from the world, the cities, and the crowds. (1 In our modern life there is no corrective more valuable than that of being able to get away to the simple life under wild, primitive conditions, where you have to rely on your judgment, on your strength, and on your nerve for the safety of your life, and where you feel pitted against the forces of nature, and not mcr ely one small cog in the complicated machine of human life. ,“In the high mountains every man is | master of his own fate. The elements are his opponents, and sometimes his conquerors, but the sensation of being in the open, of contending with nature, is something which does add to the whole value of life, and something which offers a complete change fom the ordinary conditions of everyday life, particularly to the men in business or to those who give their time, as university men do, to strenuous sedentary work. “There is a wonderful opportunity here for making more of your country. It is a thing that ean be done, not so much through tourist agencies, but rather by the young people of New Zealand if they will get, together and organise themselves, so as to be able, -at a reasonable cost, to secure the proper enjoyment of their heritage.” On the motion of the president of the University Club (Professor H. B. Kirk) a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Amery.