The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1928. THE ALPINE CLUB.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 March 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1928. THE ALPINE CLUB.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera., Manaia., Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltha.m, Maneratoki, Kaponga, Hurleyville Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremere. Fraser Road, and Ararata.

The enthusiasm with which the. project to form a. mountain tramping club has been taken up by climbers and by persons who desire- to become climbers, must have surprised even the most sanguine of the originators of the movement. An attendance of about eighty persons at last night’s meeting could have been scarcely anticipated by the conveners, but the fact that there was such a large attendance, and the additional fact that applications for membership came' in from persons living far beyond the boundaries of the province, provide in themselves the best proof that could be possibly given of the need foT such a club. Doubtless people will soon be asking themselves, if they are not already asking each other, why such a movement was not put on foot years ago, with the example provided by Tongariro National Park, Mount Cook, and the Tararuas to act as an incentive to those who live at the foot of one of the most attractive mountain playgrounds in the '•Dominion. But speculation and questioning on that score are meaningless now. Those who have taken the initiative are deserving of the thanks of individuals and communities, for though we have always had the mountain: with us, and there have been always some amongst us who have recognised its beauties and the joys it can provide through the expenditure of little money and much energy, there has never been before a joint and continuous effort to make those attractions knovrti .to the. public generally. Now that the effort has been made to such good purpose, and with the agreement and promises of support of the authorities, it would be ungracious, perhaps, to remind ourselves that wons a community have not always done as much as might have been done to attract visitors to Mount Egmont. The best work of-a publicity nature that has been done for Egmont has been done by private individuals who have lost no opportunity of introducing visitors from outside the province to the beauties of Dawson Falls and by those keen climbers whoso enthusiasm for the thrills of an ascent to the summit lias not stopped with their own personal enjoyment thereof. It is duo solely to the public spirit of individuals that the Alpine Club has come into being, but it is pleasing to find that they, having made the movq, are meeting with the assistance of the authorities. "With ( Mount Egmont obtaining Dominionwide notice through the activities of

c .]ub —it is the object of that body to organise winter sports on the mountain —the controlling authorities are presented with one of the strongest “selling points” they could possibly wish for, and it is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when steps will be taken to bring under the notice of those who patronise other tourist resorts the attractions which await them at Dawson Falls. So far as the members of the now club are concerned, that is a business detail, and they are not throwing their energies into the movement to foster alpine sports from business motives, but. it is certainly a detail to which the Tourist Department, the Publicity Department and the Mount Egmont Park Board should give the fullest consideration. For directing public attention towards the mountain the promoters of the club arc deserving of the community’s thanks, but it is ! because they are seeking to make mountain climbing a pastime available to the average citizen who has hitherto seldom or never known its joys that they will earn and receive widespread personal appreciation of their initiative and enterprise.