CANDID CRITICISM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 109, 8 April 1936, Page 16

CANDID CRITICISM

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS. SLOW TRAIN SERVICES. Per Press Association., WELLINGTON, April 7. Candid observations on various features which him during a long tour of New* Zealand have been embodied by Major G. L. Asliley-Dodd, a prominent English visitor, in a report which he is presenting to several members of Cabinet. Major AslileyDodd. who has been in New Zealand for the last five months with Mrs Asliley-Dodd, will leave for England in the ltangitata on Thursday. “The New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau,” states the Major, “is on the whole excellently run and is superior to any similar body with which I have had experience in other countries. The hotels are mostly none too good or up-to-date, especially, in Auckland, and are expensive for the accommodation and feeding offered, the former consisting of very small rooms and lack of bathrooms and tbe latter giving no variety.” He praised the fishing camps, considering them on -t-lie whole infinitely superior to the hotels and tlieir proprietors, and said they were assets to New Zealand in attracting tourists.

“The railways,” continued Major Ashley-Dodd, “from wliat 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. Tbe small gauge of the railways is greatly against them. “They are, as far as I know, tbe slowest trains in the modern world and their lack of comfort in quite remarkable. They have no dining cfirs but have frequent stops for passengers to rush out and have scrambles for tea at frequent intervals, which tend to niake the trains ridiculously slow and which is archaic. If tea is wanted every hour or two it should he 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. ANGLING ASSET. “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 Tbe New Zealander must be ■educated to realise that it is not only bis own sport that must be considered but that lie must look at the subject as a national asset to bring money into the country from abroad. If the visitor is jostled in his sport, as frequently happens in certain places in the North Island especially, he goes away with a nasty taste in his month and damns New Zealand fishing morals with no uncertain voice. More control here is obviously wonted to ensure a fair deal for visiting fishermen and for tbe true sportsman. In my own case I 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 unolensantnesses which, if I may be allowed to say so, are a scandal to New Zealand and to sportsmen generally. “One more word on this subject. The various acclimatisation societies are responsible for their various districts and in their own areas 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 as I 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. Only people of practical knowledge should serve oil these bodies and the various societies should meet together at intervals to get a common agreement for the general benefit of not only their own districts but also of the 'Dominion as a whole,” Major Ashley-Dodd added.