TROPIC ISLE RESORT.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2775, 17 October 1923, Page 7

TROPIC ISLE RESORT.

BEAUT* OP RAROTONGA. LACK OF TOURIST FACILITIES. The Cook Islands, and particularly the principal island in the group, Rarotonga, present many possibilities tor tno development of a tourist resort for New Zealandera during the winter season in the south and for Canadians and Americans later in the year. This point was made recently by Mr Harvey Turner, of Auckland, who has just returned from a visit to the inlands. He referred to the proximity of this Dominion possession to New Zealand and the fact that intending visitors from this country are not troubled with the formalities which prove so vexatious to passengers setting out on a journey to other points abroad. He thought, however, that there was great need for some better provision for the accommodation and entertainment of visitors to Rarotonga, as at present the facilities are very limited. He thought that if the New Zealand Government would provide a hostel or accommodation house on the Island numbers of people who now merely passed through Rarotonga could be induced to make a stay of a month or more, to the decided advantage of the natives and the white population a?ike. As showing that Rarotonga held much for the visitor, Mr Turner said there was a good motor road right round the island, passing through unique and beautiful scenery, while there were many magnificent spots in the mountain country, and the mildness of the climate during the southern winter held much that was attractive to visitors from the South.