HOLIDAY RESORTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13947, 2 January 1906, Page 6

HOLIDAY RESORTS.

A Marlborough newspaper which enjoys .the distinction of having the name of a Minister of the Crown on its imprint complains very bitterly that the Tourist Department takes no trouble to bring the attractions of the Wairau Sounds under the notice of visitors to the colony. Tourists, it points out, are directed to the hot lakes and the cold lakes for health and recreation, to the Walrarapa for doer-stalking and to South Canterbury for trout-fishing, but they are -never recommended to see the beautiful fiord country that lies along the north-eastern coast of this island. The innumerable inlets from the mouth of the Wairau River round to Nelson offer some of the most glorious scenery to be found in the whple colony and are already a favourite resort with holidaymakers from Wellington. But tho Tourist Department seems to have no time or no inclination or no capacity for the development of districts that do not possess a boiling lake or a well-be-haved geyser or at least a phenomenal waterfall. It is more concerned just now by the inactivity of Waimangu than it would be, probably, by tho total disappearance of the fairyland of beach and bay to which Mr C. H. Mills is so fond of leading his fellow members of Parliament. Sven in Canterbury we have some cause to complain of the Department's lack of enterprise. Hanmer is not the only spot within reach of Christchurch that is worthy of a little judicious -advertising. Akaroa, for instance, is at this season of the year one of the most delightful resting; places that the heart of the weary city man could desire, and added to its great natural beauty there are its historic interest and the charms of its yachting and fishing. It is, perhaps, largely the fault of the local people that the at- | tractions of their pretty little town are j not more widely known, but it is clear-

ly one of tlie duties of the Department to see that tlie rich possessions of these hospitable, easy-going folk are opened up to the enjoyment of the general public. Then there is Kaikoura in the north, where Wellington visitors are going in increasing numbers every year and threatening to make it their own watering-place, when it ought by every geographical argument to belong to this province. These are not, we know, the so rt pf places that travel lei’s come from Greijt Britain and the Continent and Amtrica to sec, but they are the sort of places that our own people would visit at holiday time if they knew how to reach them cheaply and comfortably, and were assured that they would find suitable accommodation. And this is the information which the Department should distribute broadcast over the country. It does not exist, wo take it, merely' for the convenience of visitors from abroad, but also for the guidance of our own holi-day-makers. ’ We hope, at any rate, that Mr Mills will continue to urge this view upon the Minister in charge of tho Department and that by the beginning of next summer the beauty spots of the South Island will bo as well known as the wonders of Rotorua.