THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7647, 21 August 1886, Page 3

THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT

The London Daily Telegraph's article on the recent volcanic eruptions in the North Island gave unmistakable evidence of its author. After describing the beauties of the district, it pointed out that " a valetudinarian &ij home who is weary of Cannes and Nice, and to. whom Monte Carlo is no longer alluring, and the Riviera is no longer attractive; who is sick of Malaga and Madiera, of Algiers and Biarritz, of Pau and St. Moritz, of Bournemouth and Torquay, has only to go down to Plymouth and to take a first-class passage in one of the magnificent steamships of which a powerful fleet arc now plying between England and New Zealand, to find himself in less than 40 days at Lyttleton or Port Chalmers. In less, than seven weeks he can be in the. heart of the wonderland of the Nprtji jjsland. A few hours, however," "by ooach or by rail,^ it is added, " will take the pilgrim from Europe back to the enjoyment of all the comforts and most of the luxuries of advanced civilisation. In lieu of precipices and waterfalls, and seemingly endless vistas of impervious fern scrub and beds of rivers broken up by huge boulders, between which a hundred channels of rapid waters rush ;in lien of spouting cataracts of boiling water, of steaming mud volcanoes, of pits and gorges clouded with sulphureous vapours and reek ing with sulphureous odours; in lieu of an immeasurable emptiness of landscape, with here and there a few wooden shanlies or Maori whares for all human habitation, bo will traverse cities, whose handsome thoroughfares are full of shops vying in tlio variety and richness of their merchandise with those of Kcgent street or Bond street; he will be entertained with splendid hospitality nt well-appointed clubs; lie will be received with eager cordiality in private sooiety which, in culture and refinement, has nothing to fear from comparison with the mother country.- There is no lovelier scenery in the whole world than is to be found in the Hot Lakes region of New Zealand. It is finer even than that of Switzerland cr the Tyrol, It is a fern paradise, The aspect o£ the lakes is enchant-

ii>#, thu mountain views aro superb, the climate is eminently healthy, the hot springs are as eminently health-restoring

And, if the volcanoes of Tarawera and elsewhere are occasionally prone to eruption, it should be renuiinberod that there arc yet close to tlio cUy of Naples, nnd have been lor many hundreds of yens, two pleasant, picturesque, and populous townships, called, Uie one- Portia", the oilier Torre dol Greco, and that both aro closer, and perilously closer, to a certain volcano called Vesuvius."