TRADE RATHER THAN TOURIST TRAFFIC

Northern Advocate, 31 March 1937, Page 6

TRADE RATHER THAN TOURIST TRAFFIC

v Potentialities Of North Hardly Scratched

“It seems to me that not sufficient notice is taken of this Northern territory by those of us who are nearer to the seat of Government further south,” said Mr H. D. Bennett, of Wellington, who has been paying a brief visit to Northland, in an interview with the “Northern Advocate” this afternoon.

Mr Bennett, who is paying his second visit to this part of the country, has had a distinguished career in local body activities, and was for many years a member of the Wellington City Council, for a term chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board, and president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

He was the founder of the Taihape Freezing Works, and a chairman of the Taihape Co-op. Dairy Company. Mr Bennett is a brother of Bishop Bennett. Wonderful Potentialities. “What has impressed me, and others from the south,” he said, “is the v/ derful potentiality of Northland. “However, the development of the North is not so much a matter of increasing tourist traffic, which seems to be the opinion held by some local enthusiasts. While tourist traffic has its advantages, Northland cannot yet be described as a place to compete with other

better known resorts.” Mr Bennett considered that the attention of the authorities should be drawn to the wonderful country which lay from Auckland northwards. It was not too much to say that up to the present the surface only had been scratched.

“It is a surprising thing,” Mr Bennett said, “to one accustomed to working on the land, to find in different parts of the North, highly improved paddocks with wonderful pastures, lying side by side, with only a fence dividing them, with land which has been regarded as the* rough gum-lana of the North. Call For Co-operation. “As to what steps those in the North will take yet remains to be seen, but the/e is an urgent call for the co-op-eration of southern residents, for after all, the opening up of the North is a national matter. The Northern country at present provides the best locality for the various immigration schemes suggested both here and abroad.”

Mr Bennett added that what was needed in the North more than anything else was the development of the vast area which was available, and national attention should be drawn r to this.