A NATIONAL HERITAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 November 1932, Page 4

A NATIONAL HERITAGE.

The official opening of the road to an eastern plateau of Mount Egmont yesterday marked the successful issue of much public spirited effort on the part of the East Committee of the Mount Egmont National Park Board. Through good times and bad the committee has Worked hard and continuously with the single-minded endeavour to make Taranaki’s priceless heritage more readily available not only to the public in the district served by the committee, but for visitors from elsewhere. Nor has that organisation been alone in its efforts to improve access to the mountain, to kindle enthusiasm for mountaineering, one of the;healthiest of recreations, and to do its share in preserving a national park of untold value. In the southern district the same enthusiasm and hard work have been evinced. Track cutting and marking, hut accommodation erected at a height which only the dogged personal labour of enthusiasts made practicable, and in many other ways the South Committee is doing its share to improve the wonderland entrusted to its care. So, too, in northern Taranaki, where the committee has acquired a hostel erected by enthusiasts who did not expect and did not receive any return for the money invested. Much good work has also been done in other directions to popularise visits to the mountain. Even the western side of the mountain has not been neglected, for the same spirit exists all round the National Park. The Park Board, as the central controlling authority, has done its best to stimulate and supplement the loyal and enthusiastic work of the committees. Its efforts in reading, in the suppression of the goat pest and in the general protection of the forest have been generally successful, principally because of the support it has received from its district committees and the local'authorities of the province. Mount Egmont and the forest reserve which clothes its base is a wonderful heritage. The pioneers who reserved the forest did more perhaps than they realised for the benefit of posterity. Without the mountain forest the productivity of Taranaki would have been sadly diminished. Its protection is sound business as well as a good deal That protection has called forth splendid public service, as yesterday's function indicated. It is to be hoped that public opinion generally will actively suppoit those who are trying to prevent the

repetition of past errors and to increase facilities for enjoyment of mountain scene and atmosphere. They are doing bo for no fee or personal gain. The satisfaction of serving the community is their only reward.