THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 180, 13 May 1896, Page 2

THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT.

It is needless to say that one of the' most valuable assets of the people of Auckland and of the people of New Zealand is the wonderland of the Thermal District, Already its fame has gone' through all the earth, and as years tiass on, it will, Unless by our indifference or neglect we mar the prospect, be the cynosure of the world's wanderers, and be eagerly sought by thousands of voyagers from distant lands for its healing waters and its weird and imposing manifestations of the forces of Nature. That there is a fortune in it cannot be doubted by anyone capable of casting his mind into the future and tracing the sequences of thingt-/ and it will be a grave blunder if the Government allows the creation of any condition that niity operate against the attractiveness of the district to tourists. We do not desire to accentuate existing evils, or to refer unduly to the results of insanitary conditions in the Rotorua district which were painfully familiar to the residents during the pi.st season, hut which properly enough vere not given publicity. For the' evils which produced those results are capable of removal, and ere another tourist season comes round they' may have ceased to exist.. But it isnot too much to say that if those arc left to exist and develop, and the world of tourists become apprised of it, as they" urc sure to be, they will shun the districtas a pla'gue spot. From tnftt township' and district the Government receives a very large annual revenue from rents, and it is but a matter of justice that some' reasonable proportion of the money should bo devoted to prevent the recurrence of a malady which during the past season, by its prevalence "and severity, gave so much cause for alarm. With a liberal water supply tliers is 110 system of either drainage or sewerage at Rotorua, a combination of circumstances which has often been found to produce more insanitary conditions in a town than if the water supply dicf dot exist at all. For want of funds the Town Board is unable apparently to do anything for the improvement of sanitation, except in the most peddling way, arid such as lnid generally been better left undone; and the nuisances that make themselves palpable to the senses, in a stroll along the foreshore of the Lake and even'in the ; Vicinity of the streets in the two townships, leave one no cause for' wonder at the prevalence of sickness during the ptist toifrist season. What is wanted is' a system of surface drainage, concreted, if nothing better can be given, which the copious abundance of water supply could keep continually flushed or running; and what is not, less urgently imperative, some place remote from residences, and beyond the possibility of contaminating thfr creeks running into the lake, where the nightsoil and garbage, at present polluting the atmosphere, could be deposited with safety to the inhabitants and visitors.. It is extremely discreditable' to the Government that a township the source' of so much revenue, and one the attractiveness of which may be a mine of wealth to the Colony, should have-been allowed to get into such an insanitary state. A very large amount of capital has been invested in buildings, including among them probably the largest hotel in New Zealand, and a number of other hotels and boarding-houses which would be worthy of the best water-ing-places in the colonies—investments that will bo Virtually fuined if tie" idea gets abroad that the place has the character of a fever' bed.- No harm has yet ensued but the incidents of the past season should bo a warning, and the Government will bo severely to' blame, if, before tlie next, tourist season eomes round, stepsare not taken to prevent Rotorua from getting the name of being a death-trap to tourists, instead of being as it was by nature, and as it still may be, the niast charming and effective sanatorium in" the Southern Hemisphere.—N.Z. Herald.