A TOURIST EXPERT.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13860, 21 April 1917, Page 6

A TOURIST EXPERT.

PRAISES NEW' ZEALAND

SCENERY,

: Mr Le'oh.L. Colivcr/ vice-president of , the Raymond and Whiteomb Company, .... or Boston, the largest tourist organis-, .; ,-ittiori of 'Amorica, arrived in Christ-, ,| church from, the West Coast on Thurs- ~.■:., day on a mission: that lias for its ob- , jeet' the creation'of a special tourist, iro.it in Australia, New Zealand and the . South Soa Islands, which shall bo ofcrcd to the tourists "of America as an , annual attraction. . •■ Mr Collver >ld au interviewer that :J many of flic usual tourist channels were •. closed during thewar. Europe, Palestine, • India, Japan and Siberia were .a 11.,.closed. The Government Tourist Do- .. partment of New Zealand has, kept his company well supplied with "propagandist literature" for several years, and his expectations regarding the charms of .-... the country had been fully roused. Ho ■ determined to add tho Dominion- to his -. personal repertoire, and had come down' ; to write up the.tourist field from the American viewpoint, and to develop • New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania and the South 'Sea Islands as a distinct unit. ' ■

Mr Collver declared that New Zealand was a strong tourist' attraction, and he found much that would make the ' American public "sit up and take notice.!,' He'had been particularly im- ' pressed with the several features of' Rotorua which were not paralleled in the famous thermal region of Yellow- ' sto'no Park. The Wanganui river and the Buller land Otira Gorges had greatly charmed him. They were Splendid material for the tourist agent. His expectations had been fully realised.' ;' "Soaping a geyser" was an entirely novel experience to Mr Collver. At Wairaki he jokingly suggested that the guides must have dropped a ton of Seidlitz powders down the crater to produce the special shot which was witnessed, ami it was then that he learned for the first time that geysers could be soaped. He was fortunate enough to visit Waimangu after the great eruption, and spoke, with wonder of the steam cloud that stretched absolutely from earth to clouds, a phenomenon well worth coming from the, other side of the world to witness. "I am confident that the enthusiasm I shall be able to work up next year will do great things for New Zealand."' said Mr Collver. /