ODD PAPERS

Southland Times, Issue 20897, 5 October 1929, Page 13

ODD PAPERS

OUR NATURAL ASSETS.

Neophyte.)

(By

Upon many occasions a proposal has been mooted that the Maori village of Whakarewarewa should be converted into a Government Reservation. A large body of public opinion has always associated itself with the suggestion, for it is believed its adoption. being in the paramont interests of the Dominion as a whole, would be an eminently desirable and commendable undertaking. Certainly there has been a considerable amount of talk of late regarding the desirability of converting one or other of our renowned tourist resorts into a Government Reservation of into a National Park. But, naturally enough, everyone is not in agreement as to which particular region should be selected. The proposal, which has received most publicity, and which has made the greatest headway towards possible realization, has Whakarewarewa as its objective. It may be, however, that another body of opinion favours the thermal regions of Wairakei, or of Taupo; another, the Helensville mineral Springs, so noted for their curative properties; another, again,Stewart Island and, still another, the deepsea fishing grounds of Russell and the Bay of Islands. And so on ad infinitum. Each from different points of view, w’ould certainly constitute an ideal reservation or park, as the case might be; that is to say,* each, if it were saved for all time from the hands of the illegitimate exploiter or of

the ignorant despoiler, and, if it were freed from unnecessary restrictions on the right of user or frequenting, would be a boon, a blessing and a source of ever-increasing attraction, not only to thousands of our overseas visitors, but also to ourselves. It must be confessed that we fail to appreciate that any argument of weight can be advanced against a conversion into Government Reservations or National Parks of not one, but of all, our tourist resorts. The matter Is one of the utmost importance 'to the Dominion, and one worthy of the mature consideration of the Government. Any suggestion of party significance should be relegated to the background when this question comes into issue. There is nothing outrageous in the dictates of the concensus of opinion which urge the complete nationalization of such resorts and of the tourist services. The demands appear to be distinctly moderate in tone for they certainly do not savour of an urging for a new heaven and earth. No such construction can be placed upon them, nor, in--deed, even inferred therefrom. Many maintain, and advisedly so, that in the conduct, improvement and maintenance of our tourist resorts, occasion should neither necessitate nor justify any interference whatsoever on the part of the private individual. The Tourist. Department alone, .(it is believed) should have vested in itself, or appropriated unto itself, a controlling and fostering jurisdiction therein. Accordingly, any encroachment of private enterprise should be strenuously resisted. Public opinion advocates, at the least,

the launching of a more courageous and farsighted policy by the Government —a more progressive development of our natural assets. Universal approval greeted the recent avowal of the Prime Minister that Cabinet had approved of a more generous allocation of moneys to be placed at the disposal of the Tourist Department. This expression of policy has been regarded as tantamount to, if not an expressed indication, then, certainly, a tacit admission that the Government recognizes the potential wealth to-be won from our tourist regions. Public opinion urges the Department to arouse itself from the apparent state of coma which has characterized its whole outlook (or indeed, that of it’s predecessors in office) in regard to the fullest appreciation of the undoubted wealth New Zealand possesses in her charming scenic grandeur, in her weird thermal phenomena, in her magnificent limestone caves, in her famous deep-sea fishing grounds, and, in fact, in all her historical, and even romantic associations.

Can any palliation be offered in mitigation of an allegation that the Government’s attitude towards the encroachment of private enterprise upon the Dominion’s natural assets virtually amounts to one of passive acquiescence? Be it granted that probably at one time, a certain degree of lassitude might have been prudential, yet it cannot be gainsaid that, when nowadays, as a sign of the times no doubt, influence is continually being brought to bear upon the Department that it recognize its obligations, the Government—a Government “of the people, by the people for the people”—owes a positive duty under its mandate to exploit, to the utmost, the illimitable possibilities of our tourist traffic. In the stead of his comparative want of progress, the public demands a more vigorous and progressive policy in the wooing of such trafric. For too long a period, has the Government shown a tendency to acquiesce in (with almost an approving smile), and indeed, often positively assist the activities of interlopers in this particular sphere. In the past, it has quite unconcernedly, and with an almost reckless disregard of its duty, countenanced, in the case of the Tongariro National Park, the erection, at the hands of a private syndicate, of a chateau; in the case of the Helensville Mineral Baths and Springs, the absolute vesting thereof in the local Town Board; in the case of the deepsea fishing grounds, the not always legitimate exploitation of visiting anglers by local launch owners and accommodation house proprietors; and in the case of the Upper Reaches of the Wanganui River, the privately controlled plying of a House Boat. Many similar instances might be mentioned. The Government’s attitude cannot be reconciled to the duty it owes to the Dominion as a whole. It appears to be quite inconsistent therewith. Public opinion deprecates such private interference as quite unwarranted. To cool observers, it seems clear that, unless serious measures are adopted to resist such entry of private interference, it is capable of dangerous extension to such an extent that it might well assume proportions detrimental to the general public. In our tourist traffic and in the services pertaining thereto the Department should play a lone hand. Therein it should possess an unfettered jurisdiction. Any argument that the efforts of private enterprise might be calculated to result in greater efficiency is a fallacious one. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company—the ramnifications and extensive undertakings of which might well be compared to those of our Government—controls, with conspicuous success, practically the whole of the tourist traffic in Canada. It erects and controls its own hostels —indeed those at Quebec and Banff are world-famous—possess its own reservations, plys its own ships to and,from Great Britain, and maintains a most efficient railway service. If the Government should prove itself incapable of exploiting the tourist traffic in, at least, as efficient a manner as a private syndicate is able to do, then assuredly the time would be ripe for a change of regime.

(Continued next week.)