VISITOR’S VIEWS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 100, 8 April 1936, Page 7

VISITOR’S VIEWS

Candid Observations on New Zealand RAILWAYS CRITICISED By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, April 7. Candid observations on various features ■which impressed him during his long tour of New Zealand have been embodied by Major G. L. Ashley-Dodd, a prominent English visitor, in a report which he is presenting to several members of Cabinet. Major AShley-Dodd, who has been in New Zealand for the * last five months with Mrs AshleyDodd, will leave for England on the Eangitata on Thursday. “The New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau,’’ states Major AshleyDodd, “is, on the whole, excellently run, and is superior to any similar body with which I have had experience in other countries.” The hotels were mostly none too good or up-to-date, especially in Auckland, he said, and were expensive for the accommodation and feeding offered, the former consisting of very small rooms and lack of bathrooms, and the latter giving no variety. < He praised the fishing camps, considering them, on the whole, infinitely superior to the hotels, and were assets to New Zealand in attracting tourists.

SLOWEST RAILWAYS IN WORLD. “The railways,” continued Major Ashley-Dodd, “from what I saw of them, are not worthy of the country, and if they are going to hold their own against motor traffic they will have to gird up their loins considerably. The small gauge of the railways is greatly against them. They are, as far as 1 know, the slowest trains in the modern world, and lack of comfort is quite remarkable. They have no dining cars, but have frequent stops for passengers to rush out and have scrambles for tea at frequent intervals, which tend to make the trains ridiculously slow, and which is simply archaic. If tea is wanted every hour or two it should be served on the trains. The cars are dirty, and the whole travelling is so utterly uncomfortable that I cannot understand a civilised country putting up with it. “The fishing is undoubtedly the greatest financial asset of New Zealand, just as it is in Scotland, and its development should be very carefully watched. New Zealanders must be educated to realise that it is not only his own sport that must be considered, but that he must look at the subject as a national asset to bring money into the country from abroad. “If a visitor is jostled iu his sport as frequently happens iu certain places iu the North Island especially, ho goes away with a nasty taste in his mouth, and damns New Zealand fishing morals with no uncertain voice. More control here is obviously wanted to ensure a fair deal for the visiting fishermen and for the true sportsman, * CAUTIONED BEFOREHAND. “In my own case 1 was cautioned by former visitors from Great Britain to avoid these places, and thanks to my New Zealand friends I have avoided any of these unpleasantnesses which, if I may bo allowed to say so, are a scandal to New Zealand and to sportsmen generally. ! “One more word on this subject. The I various acclimatisation societies aro | responsible lor their various districts,

and in their own ureas have plenary powers. This is excellent in theory, but in practice it is not so good. They have no united policy, and their boards of control, so far aa 1 have ascertained, have not been elected necessarily for their knowledge of the subject. They seem to be elected more by pull than by piscatorial knowledge. Onlv people of piactical knowledge should serve on these bodies, and the various societies

shuuld meet together at interval- to get common agreement fur the general benefit of not only their own districts, but also of the Dominion as a whole.”