THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1918. THE TOURIST RESORTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16761, 30 January 1918, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1918. THE TOURIST RESORTS.

The proposal of the British Army Council to send invalid officers to the Rotorua district for treatment suggests a future for Rotorua as a sanatorium of which few New Zcalanders have any conception. Shipping difficulties have compelled the abandonment of the project, but the world's traffic will not always be at the mercy of German submarines. When the seas become free we may expect travelling upon an unprecedented settle. Soldiers who have been wearied in trenches and civilians to whom the ocean routes have been practically closed for years will be looking for rest, change, and health. Rotorua should attract great numbers of such travellers. It is widely known, but by comparison with the health resorts of older countries it is as yet in a primitive state. Nature has given it rich endowments, but our own contributions to its improvement have been spasmodic, and apparently controlled by the moods of the Ministers who may be temporarily in charge of the portfolio of Tourist and Health Resorts. At present Rotorua is suffering from neglect. This is certainly not tho time for lavish expenditure, but in Rotorua New Zealand has a splendid asset, and it should not be permitted, even in war-time, to become a wasting asset. Under the control of an enterprising Minister some modest improvements could bo effected now and plans could be laid on a greater scale for execution in tho early future. With continued neglect Rotorua may remain for generations much as it is, an undeveloped possibility. With energy and enterprise it may become renowned as a Mecca for pilgrims from all parts of tho world. Modem tourist resorts are made: Rotorua can be one of the greatest of them if we care to make it so.

One of tho first endeavours should be to increase the available knowledge of the curative properties of the waters of the whole thermal region. Much that is of great value is already known, but the waters still hold secrets which may be discovered by skilled and painstaking research. By exhaustive inquiry along these lines the New Zealand Government may do a great service to humanity, and it can do a certain service to the Dominion -by adding to the attractions of Rotorua as a tourist pleasure resort. This year visitors are loud in their complaints of the lack of attention to roads. , These criticisms, are thoroughly justified. The maintenance of pumice roads is inexpensive, and the pressure of war does not excuse the condition into which the roads of Rotorua, and especially some of those leading to outlying sights, have been allowed to fall. A trip to Waiotapu or to Tikitere has become a toil instead of a pleasure. The administration needs to be more wide awake and more active in these matters. The Government is deriving a lucrative revenue from Rotorua, and it is only reasonable that it should be expected to give money back ungrudgingly to maintain the facilities and attractions of the district.

Going a'little further afield the completion of some 14 miles of road would bring Lake Waikaremoana within about a day's motor journey of Rotorua. This is a fine lake, equal from a scenic point of view to Manapouri, and with probably a greater diversity of river scenery. Trout abound in the district. There are numerous attractions, but few can enjoy them, because they lie out of the beaten track. The tourists who reach Lake Waikaremoana by the roundabout road through Wairoa come back delighted with what they have seen, and amazed at the short-sighted policy of not linking up the lake with the main tourist route by a connection with Rotorua, to which it rightly belongs. Further south there are opportunities for Tourist Department activity in making New Zealand's National Park more accessible and in catering for visitors to Mount Ruapehu. This year the Government huts on Mount Ruapehu have been so crowded that travellers are pointing out that they can enjoy the comforts of a Mountain House at Mount Egmont and at Mount Cook, and they are asking if the time has not arrived for the erection of such accommodation on Mount Ruapehu. By these and other means the Government can bring directly to itself, and indirectly to the traders of the country, a substantial and growing revenue from tourists. But the tourist has to be caught. He is shv o"f countries and resorts where attractions aro undeveloped, and where the travelling and residential facilities are indifferent. On the other hand he can be easily drawn in great numbers to countries which have reached the stago of being placed on every first-class tourist itinerary. New Zealand is so favoured by Nature that the line slie should take is self-evident. It lies with the Minister for Tourist and Health Resorts to come to an early decision upon a course of action, and to pursue it vigorously whenever the circumstances are favourable.