THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1904. DEVELOPING ROTORUA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12544, 11 April 1904, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1904. DEVELOPING ROTORUA.

] There lias been an extraordinary I amount of difficulty in obtaining for Rotorua that energetic and progressive development which would make it a veritable gold mine to the entire colony. But wo may hope that the immediate justification of every intelligently directed expenditure that has been made by the Government with that end in view will allow this Wonderland to be administratively fostered as it would be did it belong to a private company or to a European State. "While recently in Auckland, Sir Joseph Ward frankly admitted that Hotorua had amply rewarded all expenses incurred on its behalf, and had completely defeated the gloomy predictions of those whose parochial ignorance prevents them from understanding how many people are willing to travel far and to pay v/ell; for such attractions as there abound, ', if only reasonable facilities are offered. Regarded as a watering place alone Rotorua is unrivalled in the world, but it is immeasurably more than a watering place. It is the centre of a region literally unique in the world, a region so unique that even the destruction of

the irreplaceable White Terraces

did not in the least affect its attractiveness. So that visitors to Rotorua, unlike visitors to the spas and badens of other countries, are not confined to the using of remedial waters or even to the admiring of beautiful scenery. They have spread out before them in extravagant profusion, marvels of which the reality surpasses the most imaginative expectation, and before which description utterly fails. Whatever may be said of our climate, by those who prefer Italian skies, and whatever may be said of our soil, by those who have seen the vast bottomlands of Continental rivers, the Hot Lakes district can boast that it rises supremely above every possible criticism, and that disappointment has never met the most expectant tourist. With attractions so diverse, so impressive, so fascinating, and so widespread, Itotorua stamps itself ; upon the memory of every visitor, and enlists in every departing guest a voluntary and enthusiastic advertising agent. The only thing that can bo said against it' is that the colony has not exerted itself on its behalf as our business interests would have suggested. Parliament grudges a few thousands of pounds where as many hundreds of thousands would have been confidently invested by a more enterprising and appreciative management, and we are only just beginning to learn, as a colony, that the Itotorua traffic responds magically to every encouragement. It is only within the past year that the daily express from Auckland was experimented with in the face, as Sir Joseph Ward has remarked, of "gloomy predictions." In that single year, through passengers alone increased from 11,000 to 17,000. bringing f. financial increase of £5000 to the railway revenues for said through lares alone. It is the same with every hesitating step. Dining cars arc put on and pay immediately. Baths are arranged and pay immediately. Excursions and carnivals abundantly pay for the trouble. Properly drained, and made in every way a modern and up-to-date place, Eotorua would soon challenge in population any of the second-class cities of the colony— and Rotorua stands on comparatively short-term Government leaseholds. There should be no misunderstanding about Rotorua. It. is not a philanthropic establishment, pushed by the Government in order to enable the world to drink mineral waters and to investigate the. marvels of nature without money and without price. It is a strictly business institution, which appeals to people who have money to spend and who want all that they can get for their money. If there wore no railway to the Hot Lake*, if there were no hotels there, if there were no coaches, if the journey to our Wonderland were like the ascent of Chimborazo, we should still have parties of hardy sightseers regularly entering the region from every advantageous point. But the more easy and comfortable we make the journey, the more facilities and conveniences we afford, the more we bring the minimum cost of the tour within the reach of the average purse, the more we attract visitors from the whole colony and from all the world. For men and women on a holiday generally want not only sensational attractions but comfort, and even luxury. The greatest geyser loses its charms to them if they stub their toes in reaching it, and the finest mineral water that ever bubbled is more invigorating to them if it laves a marble bath. Smoothlyrunning trains, with every modern attachment and starting &i convenient hours and seasons, are as necessary to attract the great multitude of our travelling colonists to Rotorua as swift steamers, with, every modern improvement, are necessary to bring to our shores any great multitude of pleasure-seeking tourists from abroad. We must make a continuous effort to make

everything pleasant and comfortable for visitors if we want them, or they will not come in-profitable numbers. But it evidently only needs a little enterprise on the part of the colony to make Rotorua the tourists' Mecca, to make the railway leading to ib more profitable to the colony and more convenient for the increasing population that it traverses, to make our coasting steamers more profitable and therefor© more convenient to us all, and to niake the whole railway system, North and South, more profitable, because the outsider who comes to Rotorua. rarely leaves the colony without seeing more of the picturesque, romantic, and majestic scenery which is found throughout our islands. For although llotorua is a railway cul tie sac it ought not to be. There should be a line through to Gisborne and the East Coast, which the tourist traffic would help to keep up, and it is already possible to coach that way as well as to go southwards to the Wellington connection. So much for Rotorua and the railways, an important and intimate connection, but by no means the most valuable to the colony. Not only is Rotorua itself, as wo have remarked, on the Crown estate, and practically a Crown fief, but the amount of money " put into circulation' by the tourist traffic is already large and might be enormous. The tourist not only helps to maintain our railways and: our coasting steamers, but he plays a most important part in the upkeeping of our trans-marine communications ; and he spends his money freely while he is with us. We have been told for two or three generations that only exports can pay for imports and vice versa, and many economists will assure us that we are altogether wrong in imagining that we gain by the spendings of tourists in our midst. But the economists notwithstanding, there is not a practical business man in the colony who does not approvingly watch the inpouring of the increasing stream of good tourist gold.