OF OUTSTANDING MERIT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 102, 11 April 1933, Page 8

OF OUTSTANDING MERIT

HASTINGS MOTORISTS’ CAMP. HOLIDAY-MAKER’S IMPRESSIONS OF OTHER SITES. A better conception of the reason why the Hastings mot;rists' camp at Beatson’s Park is so popular with visitors from all parts of the North Island was obtained by Mr. L. J. Harvey, of Hastings, who, with Mrs. Harvey, has just completed a 720-miles motor tour of portion of the island. When interviewed by a “Tribune” reporter this morning, Mr. Harvey expressed himself as most disappointed with the camping sites that he had occasion to visit on his tour. “We had glorious weather throughout our holiday, so we camped out every night,” he said. “We did not come across a single camping ground that was any way near as good as our own at Beatson’s Park. We can appreciate all the more now what a wonderful place our camp site must be to those motorists who make a habit of touring all over the island and why it is that they speak so highly of it. ’ ’ Mr. Harvey mentioned that thev had journeyed through some of the most interesting parts of the Dominion, visits having been made to Taupo, Rotorua, Coromandel and the Thames Valley. “In such places where there is something of national, if not world-wide, interest one would naturally expect that everything possible would have been done to encourage visitors to make their stay as long as possible,” he said. “Yet there appears to have been little consideration given to this aspect of making the resorts popular. Of course, camp sites have been arranged, but nothing like the same attention has been given to them as has been the case in Hastings. “In too many instances the grounds are too far away from the town,” he said. “Then, some are not at all convenient to the places of interest; also no attempt has been made to develop the site and make it a place of beauty instead of merely a paddock, casually set aside for the use of motorists.”