DEPRESSING WHAKA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17116, 23 November 1929, Page 4

DEPRESSING WHAKA

SADDENING EFFECT A PRODUCER WANTED When visiting Wlmkarewarewa after an absence of some years one. lias to confess that the place—whilst being one of the most- remarkable outcrops of thermal activity in the world—-is fearfully depressing in the manner in which its wonders arc presented, states a Rotorua message. There is something wrong with the management of the place when ii visit such as mine conveys a feeling of depression, and, in a. measure, disanpointtrienl on account of tlie state ol things that engenders that depression. And it could easily be all so different. Rotorua should 'riot he permitted to forgot that without its Wliakn. its Tikitin, Fairy Springs, and its Hammana, it would slid be a little hamlet- by the lake. That air of neglect, that, facility for allowing tilings to remain exactly as tliev were 20 years ago. has a. very definite effect on the impressions of everv visitor.

Whalen is always one of the first- places visited because it is nearest to the town and is one of the most extensive fields of thermal activity in New Zealand. To approach tlie place one has to pass over a poor sort of wooden bridge that spans a muddy stream, and immediately that point is reached the Maori boys and girls begin to ply their trade--pennies for them to dive for. Then one has to pass through the native village inhabited by the Wliakn Maoris. They do not live as their forefathers did. They iniiubit wretclted little old nnpninted pakelia eotinges, some of them with rotten hoards and slinky verandas, altogether unpietiiresqo and giving out (however falsely) an air of allied poverty.

There is no order in the manner in which these 1 ittlo cottages are built, possibly-owing to the thermal erosion 1 lint is going on all round: there are no fences, no attempt at making the places neat- or decorative with bits of gardens (though perhaps that mav he due to the nature of the ground), Tlie whole aspect of I lie approach through a cluster of deravine shacks, past old steamy holes half filled with rubbish, past an ancient, motor car (long since shorn of its essentials lo speed), past some concreterapped graves, to Hie entrance ol the Government- reserve of Wliakn, where aman shows you photographs of people you have no interest- in at all. with tlie object of adding you and your friends to his gallery at a price, is depressing.

The reserve proper is as wonderful as over. That is to say. the. geysers and void springs are still at it. Old Poliutu plays fairly regularly, and Papakura. down under tlie model pa. was extremely violent whilst the writer was there and was much photographed bv the dozen or so tourists present. But nothing has been done to imnrovc the precincts; that is to say. Whalen is still an unimnroved Wliakn.

MODEL PA PROCESS OF DECAY. But- where the greatest- mistake lias been made is in allowing the model pa to go to wreck and ruin. The idea of having a model na, brought about when Sir Joseph Ward was • Minister of Tourist Resorts, was quite a good one, ns it gave at a glance the standard -form of the na, and bore testimony to the logic of tho native mind as applied to matters of defence and illustrated vorv well indeed the domestic lay-out. But alas, tho natives could lint be persuaded to live in the pa. Tt- was too far away from their rooking holes and washing pools—ten minutes’ walk away—down near tho entrance to Wliakn. So the fern-trunk houses are falling to decay, the floors of tli(> look out towers no longer afford safe foothold for the look-out men ; the roofs of the houses no longer resist the rain. All is decay. What Wliakn wants is a supervisor with the ability of a theatrical producer. Probably tlie most surprising item of news from outside received during the last few days was tlie vole, of £IO.OOO for tlie Taupo-Rotorua road. This road is really a very good one, but. like all pumice roads, it- is liable to break up either in very wet or very dry weather,* but comnarod with the Tnupo Plains road is heaven to the motorist. Why such a. lai;ge amount, should be allocated for the Taupo-Rotorua road caused considerable surprise even to local people.