SCENIC ASSETS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23003, 2 April 1938, Page 16

SCENIC ASSETS

DOMINION PRAISED MOTOR TOUR IMPRESSIONS SIR STENSON COOKE'S VIEW ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS With the conviction that he knew no other country so generously gifted by nature to attract tourists as New Zealand, Sir Stenson Cooke, general secretary of the Automobile Association of Great Britain, returned to Auckland last night in company with Mr. G. W. Hutchison, secretary of the Automobile Association (Auckland), at the conclusion of ah extensive motor tour. Ho said that in «30 dajs of perpetual sunshine ho had seen an amazing variety of beautiful scenery and had met hosts of kind people. Sir Stenson said his stay in the Dominion was the longest ho had ever made in any country at the one time, other than England, but ho appreciated that an even more extended visit would bo necessary to exploro fully tho attractions of which New Zealand was justifiably proud. Tt could fairly be said that New Zealand was a "pocket Europe," comprising tho cream of tho beauties of the famous tourist countries of tho Continent. It was really wonderful that in so compact an area with comparatively short travel in between there should be such a wide range of scenic and tourist attractions.

Variety of Landscapes "Most impressive was tho infinite variety of landscapes," Sir Stenson continued. "At ono ininuto tho highway might be conceived to bo passing through Austria, but seemingly just around the corner there was a different land altogether. It might be a glimpse pf Italy or of France. Again tho scene would change and the tourist might well imagine he was in rural England or Scotland. Such attractive conditions compel attention throughout."

Tho natural phenomena of the thermal regions wero highly spectacular, Sir Stenson said, while the amazing glow worm cave at Waitoino was truly wonderful. In Christchurch and Canterbury ho had found a piece of England.

Commenting upon hotel accommodation, Sir Stenson considered that tourists were well catered for and he spoke highly of the type of hotel which he had seen in tho country districts. These wero of a better class than he would have expected in small townships. Roading Policy Considered Agreeably impressed by the long stretches of dustlcss highways over which he had travelled, Sir Stenson said tho very high standard of construction adopted by the Main Highways Board would be an encouragement for overseas visitors to undertake tours into districts which ordinarily escaped tho attention of the average tourist with an itinerary made up for limited time. The conditions which applied in England a quarter of a century ago were duplicated on the New Zealand dusty metalled roads but, having seen the English roading system develop from a similar state, ho had no doubt that before many years motorists in tho Dominion would have forgotten dusty roads and their attendant discomfort.

Sir Stenson paid a tribute to the excellence of the New Zealand telephone service. Ho said he had several longdistance and inter-island telephone conversations and tho rapidity with which connections wero made and the ease of conversation were equal to anything ho had experienced in the older countries of the world. He added that during tho week-end ho would bo in telephonic communication with London.