ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIPS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7047, 8 February 1910, Page 5

ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIPS

A COJriTtBIEENSIV’E SCHEME. In ocumoction wilk tho endeavour to ■attract .sorno cs the rmui<l-tlie-worldtoui;-M.i trUlic t;hvs.t anniudiy How.-; tmvutUi t) r . Ear Eaat dovr.i to A\iM-raUa, tno No-.vVYalos Tourist iiurcau Juu, iirrtUJtfed a tour, ritned to leave Aiamia ’.u Juno Kith. Tho tour lake* iu the ctudem Aa.straliau Shitcw, calling fir.-sfc in; Tluirt’day island, jk-i-'bane. Scrno days ui“.r spent iu Queensland, and tho travellers gn •c.v-orlaiid to Sydney, w-iioro they make anulhrr Ktav, hein'j tdicavn the chief Ner.v Wales sights, and going- on to AleU hdin'r* a-Tikn by mil. In Victoria sevend .ddu trips” are kstbd, and on the fc;,u!;!:crn Elate a return is* made by rail \r* Sydney, where the h/tooraer for the iLVist may bo joined, or the tourist may ftftay at bis own expense for several ■jroi'tlis. tho return steamer ticket c&ver'lr*; tho lioineward without adcli-'t’ona-l charvrc. The faro from AlaniJa, iitclusive of all cbaiTges and. living expenses ashore, is .CIOO. and arrangements have been nra.de for touinsb? to join tho ; steam or at Miaiila at .special ixutos from {Shururhad, Ilimkow, Tientsin, ifong'kqns, Nagasaki, Aloji, Kobe, and Yokohama. Tho tour is anttnsed and manured by (the New South Wales Government Tourist .bureau, with the approval and supljx>rt of the bureaus iu Queensland and and in conjunction with Messrs ilturns, P’h'i'lp, and Co,, the local agents for the Japanese lino of steamers. A ‘speri-at Itooklct. produced in attractive fadliion by the Government l > rinter, ibeanng on a h'andsome cover a kangaro>'s heod and tho inscription" to Australia/’ has been issued, with full details of the arrangements for the tour. ’Tills will bo circulated in tho East and 'through America. Speaking of tho tour, Hr Percy Hun;tcr, the director of the bureau, says the (idea follows on. tho lines of a scheme rwliich he soiggested eomo time ago for a fßystcmiiatio attempt secure the dofiaction to Australia of the round-the-world jtcurißt tmffic. Y.f.r Hunter attended a iconfercnco at Ihonolulu in 1908, and there propounded a scheme for the encouragement of America a tourist traffic |to the South Pacific, via the Hawaiian. .Islands. The idea was that tho Australian; States, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii should combine, and sharing the ’expense, open a bureau in New York to premote an interest in tho Southern ‘Pacific countries. There is a largo and •ever-increasing traffic of 'wealthy tourists from New- York; but they generally keep to the Northern Hemisphere. What is wanted is a deflection of their route from, tho Far East to Australia and. New Zealand. These are an especially valuable class of tourist, as many of them are prominent American men, and ivory frcqnentlv, when visiting countries ion holiday, gather information which leads to the investment in new industries of conidde-rable sums of capital. From inquiries ho made in Now Zealand, Mr Hunter is confident that a good traffic could be worked up in this direction .if tho attractions of Australia and other countries in tho South Pacific were properly and adequately made known in tho eastern States of America. Tho proposition was heartily endorsed at the Honolulu conference, and has since been approved by the Federal Government, although no steps have y«fc been taken to give cficct to it.