THE WAITOMO CAVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19389, 26 July 1926, Page 8

THE WAITOMO CAVES.

There are very good reasons for the indignation expressed by the Te Kuiti Chamber of Commerce at the delay in the provision of additional accommodation for visitors at the Waitomo Caves. Three or four months ago, the department intimated that the excavation of the site for the new hostel had been completed and that tenders would be called for the building. • That action has apparently not yet been taken, so that the prospect of adequate accommodation being available next summer must be abandoned. The long tale of delays and postponements which have prevented the modernising of the Waitomo resort cannot be attributed wholly to external circumstances; there is a clear indication of a positive lack of energy and resourcefulness in some place. Two years ago Parliament voted £SOOO on account for the additions to the hostel; only £765 were spent, and last year the vote was increased to £IO,OOO. Previously the Tourist Department might have had some excuse, though not a sufficient one, for its failure to secure the necessary buildings, fcut once those amounts had been appropriated, it had to accept the full responsibility for the rate of progress. The money comes from the Public Works Fund, but it "does not follow that the Public Works Department has been dilatory. It may provide the money, but it must wait until the Tourist Department has its plans ready. Excavation of the site involved a considerable volume of work and a substantial amount of last year's vote, but it was a relatively simple piece of work the completion of which might have been forecasted to within a week or so. Had the department managed the business capably it would have called tenders in "such good time that the building contractor could have started his work as soon as the site was ready. That would certainly be the proceeding in any private enterprise of the

kind. If the Tourist Department has not yet'realised the necessity for businesslike methods in its general administration, it should have a better appreciation of them in dealing with Waitomo, since, in spite of adverse, conditions, that is a profitable business. Under privat p management there would be no con donation of such delays as have oc curred; nor should a businesslike Government be any more tolerant of such carelessness in a public department.