The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, SEPT. 20, 1889.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 8903, 20 September 1889, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, SEPT. 20, 1889.

When cloud-capped Aorangi was flrsb seen by the late Sir Julius von Haast, that indefatigable and prescient explorer predicted for the region about the glorious mountain a great day of rent)wn. In his mind’s eye he saw myriads of men and women flocking from all the countries of the world, more particularly the growing Australian centres. They swarmed in the valleys, they covered the giant hill sides, they explored the faces of the glaciers, a few out of the vast multitude stood on the hoary Alpine summits. A new Switzerland had arisen, gifted with the magnetic power over human creatines which belongs of sovereign right to the ancient and picturesque republic of many nationalities and one passion for freedom. All this the delighted savant marked when ho first trod the slopes of the great mountain, measured its wondrous glaciers, surveyed its powerful neighbours, and gave names to peak and valley and running stream. Returning, he published the first description of the region he had seen. In that description he pictured the wonders of the abode of beauty with a vividness, graphic power and literary skill, which took; .the world t>y surprise. It was his

attempt to bring about the realisation o£ hia dream. But it was long before the attempt was followed by any results. The allpervading runholder was the next visitor, and he remained long alone in these vast solitudes. Gradually there came a traveller or two, persevering enough to reach the land he had heard of, in spite of hardships and dangers which were to Rome extent compensated, though never lessened, by the genial hospitality of the few inhabitants. Among them came the veteran Alpine climber, Mr Green, with his two stalwart assistants. They conquered the giant they had come so far to struggle with; they published a thrilling account of their adventures; and Aorangi took his place among the recognised summits of the Alpine tradition. The attention of the world was attracted; a demand arose for information, and travellers began to appear in the land. Lendenfeld and his plucky wife conquered the mighty peak of the Hochstetter Dome, and expeditions began to be organised. The great want of those earlier days was the want of accommodation, and the want of guides. The latter must continue for some time to be felt, though it is being supplied. It is a want, however, which is only felt by the Alpine climber, whose numbers are not the bulk of the tourist visitation of any region. The great aim of the country that would have tourists thronging in its picturesque places ought to be to provide accommodation for the travellers, and the facilities of travel. In Switzerland there is no such a thing for the ordinary tourist as a mountain track, or an unbridged stream. The invalid is carried by steamboat or railway train to the best and most picturesque spots with ease and despatch. At his destination he finds hotels fitted up with every requirement of sumptuous modern elegance, in which it is a positive pleasure to be stormbound. The natural consequence is that the immense tourist traffic is one of the groat resources of the country. In our Alpine regions we are far from the pitch of Swiss perfection in this regard. But we have made a beginning. It is a great fact than good accommodation can be had close to the foot of the great mountain, in a picturesque spot commanding a grand view of the giants of the Alpine chain. And it is another great fact that the place can he reached with ease and rapidity. The Hermitage is the pi'operty of a small company of local public spirited men,; who have established a line of coaches' to connect across the Mackenzie Country with the railway system of the Colony. Eoads have been improved by public money—supplied partly from the Treasury, partly by the local bodies—the principal rivers are bridged, and there are appreciably good tracks in the valleys. There is, in consequence, a steady stream of traffic, the travellers counting up into their hundreds every year. The only thing which checks the rapid increase of these numbers is the inadequacy of the accommodation, and to remedy that possible evil the Company of the Hermitage, under its energetic manager,Mr Huddlestone, is doing its best. We hope the public will come forward with liberality in response to the appeal. It is a liberality which, will, one day, bring its direct reward.

There is an opportunity, we may remark while wo are on the subject now, for a master-stroke in the matter of the tourist traffic. In our island Aoraingi does not afford by any means the only attraction to the traveller from afar. We have the great Sounds and Fiords of the Southwestern coast ; within a few miles of them begin the Southern Lakes; these stretch in close proximity one to tho other, divided by passes of easy access and great picturosquenese, till they enter the Alpine region the glory of which is Mount Cook. Within a day’s journey from the last lies the remarkable country of the West Coast road, with its wonderful contrasts. That country is passing into the hands of a railroad Company in whose train will follow all necessary accommodation. The list of the chain of places of interest presents the field of enterprise. A hotel among the Sounds, with a small steamer or two, would command the whole of that important region* and, in time, would arrest the traffic while increasing its volume. From tho Sounds the traffic could be forwarded by good roads—neither expensive nor difficult need they be—to the wild beauties of Te Anau and Manapouri. Thence to the rugged grandeur of Wakatipu is an easy matter. At the head of that lake there should be a Grand Hotel; or rather it should be beyond it, on the romantic shores of Lake Diamond. People would be encouraged to stay there in great numbers, and the place commands the approaches to Mount Earnslaw, the second of the mountain monarchs of tho Hew Zealand Alpine system. Another hotel at Queenstown would receive the returning tourists, who, if similar accommodation were to be had at Wanaka, would easily be diverted in that direction, whence, after exploration by steamer of that lake and its sister Hawea, the sightseers could be easily sent up the Lindis Yalley over the Pass into the valley of the Waitaki, and so on to the Hermitage at the foot of Mount Cook. Thence they would go by way of Tiraaru to Christchurch to take up tho West Coast trip. A Company providing the accommodation and necessary facilities —the Government would be glad enough to make the roads and provide the bridges—would create an enormous traffic of tourists, and command it for all time. Comfort on the way, guides in every valley, steamboats on every fiord and lake. These and other attractions would bo inducements for a leisurely annualholiday to thousands of people. Such a development would be of the greatest benefit to New Zealand. Is there anyone in Canterbury, where tho chief benefit would be received (as a ghanco at tho map will make evident to tho most careless reader), who has the necessary enterprise and skill to arrange the matter ?

verdicts, our interest doubles. When the verdict goes against them—as it has an unhappy way of doing—we are sorry. Some day, no doubt, a New Zealander will arise against whom the verdict will not go, and then we shall rejoice, “The many fail, the one succeeds but he has not succeeded yet. For instance—the one successful man has not appeared in the person of Mr Luscombe Searelle, who with undeniable courage has lately published in London a volume of blank verso. We have perused it, and sooth to say have found the verse very blank. In his boyhood Mr Searelle lived in Christchurch, and went to school at Christ’s College, Since those days he has written a great deal of music, some of it really pretty. If we thought ourselves competent to advise talent we should recommend Mr Searelle to stick to his music and leave blank verse to Lord Tennyson, one of the very few men still living who can, or ever could, write it well. But Mr Searelle will not stand in need of our counsel. He has received ! various pieces of advice, mostly of a somewhat curt description, from London reviewers. He has even had the distinction of being slated in the Saturday Review. This is what that merciless critic says of his book “ Various minor bards await us, the most ambitious being Mr Luscombe Searelle, whoso Dawn of Death (Triibner and Co.) sets forth in visionary form and stodgy blank verse, the victory of aperplexed soul who held the error that ‘ Mind was attribute of Matter.’ Spirit voices proclaim it to him, * what time ’ as he puts it, ‘ I saw my inmost soul creep slowly from my body,’ and he learned that * all matter is a thing of nothingness,’ and ‘ solidity is but analogy,’ whatever that may mean.” After this, further fault finding would be superfluous cruelty. All we can do is to hope that Mr Searelle will yet gain in music the fame which he is, we fear, hardly likely to achieve in poetry.