TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18763, 17 January 1923, Page 7

TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK

A NEW BOARD OF CONTROL. (Pek United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 16. An interesting statement regarding the appointment of a new Board of Management for the Tongariro National Park, under the amending legislation passed last session, was made by the lion. D. H. Guthrie (Minister of Lands) to-day. Genesis Park, an area of 6508 acres comprising barren mountain tojjs, was originally set aside by the late Hon. To Heutteu Tukino, chief of the Ngatituwhare-toa tribe, as a reserve. Subsequently an addition of 65,792 acres of Crown land was made to this area by the Government, making altogether an area of 62,300 acres. The Tongariro National Park was constituted under the Act of that name passed in 1894. The controlling, body was a special board of trustees consisting of the Minister of Lands and six others. This board administered the park until 1914, when section 54 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposals and Public Bodies’ Empowering Act of that year dissolved the board, and vested the control of the park in the Tourist and Health Resorts Depart mont, which has administered it until now. For some time back there has been a movement to improve the facilities of the park and to offer greater inducements to the general public to utilise its varied attractions. The Act of last session increased the area of the park to 145,000 acres, and appointed a Board of Management consisting of the Minister of Lands, the lineal descendant of Te Heutteu Tukino, the permanent heads of the Lands, Tourist, and State Forest Departments, the Mayors of Auckland and Wellington, the warden of the park, and four other members to be appointed by the Governor-General. These latter appointments are about to bo made. The first meeting. of the board will be hold at Waimarino on Thursday, January 25, when steps will be taken to put the machinery of the Act in working order and to arrange for the development and the best utilisation of the park. The gentlemen to be appointed comprise Mr \V. H. Field, M.P. for Otaki, who is an enthusiastic mountaineer, and who lias always taken a keen interest in the development of the natural scenic attractions of the district; Mr Thomas Blyth, schoolmaster at Ohnkune, who has made 40 ascents of Ruapehu, and who knows every inch of the park; Mr Alexandra Alexander Simpson, Hunterville, who has given valuable services as trustee in the estate of the late Mr R. C. Bruce, who bequeathed the greater portion of his wealth to encourage the preservation of the flora and fauna of New Zealand; and Mr William Salt, of Wanganui, president of the Ski Club, who has done a groat deal for the park, and has already built temporary huts and put in whole weeks of his time making improvements to the park. The Maori member is Mr Hoani Te Heutteu, grandson of To Heutteu Tukino. Taken altogether, the board will bo a most representative one. It is composed of men who will do their best to develop the park on modern lines.