TOURIST INTERESTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18674, 6 April 1935, Page 16

TOURIST INTERESTS

reorganising depart -

MENT

A QUALIFIED APPROVAL

In an interview at Dunedin concerning the statement by the Minister in charge of the Tourist and Publicity Department, lion. A. Hamilton, on the reorganisation of the Tourist Department, Mr. R. L. Wigley, managing director of the Mount Cook Tourist Company, said“ What is being done is far from the purpose of the resolution passed at the Minister s own coiiierence last August, but nevertheless it may prove to be a step toward the ultimate goal which is being aimed at by all those who are interested in tourist matters, that is to say, practically the whole of New Zealand.”

Mr. Wigley criticised the existing system of linking the Tourist and Publicity Department with the Department of Industry and Commerce, in portfolios held by one Alinister. In his opinion the tourist assets were sufficiently large to warrant a department of their own. Ihe head of the Industries and Commerce Department had too much ou his hands, and was too fully occupied to give adequate attention to the needs of the Tourist Department. “The" Minister’s move is only a small one,” Mr. Wigley concluded, “but perhaps we can be thankful that the Government has at last done, something to foster onr long-neglected scenic assets — assets which should he among our great, est revenue producers.”