TOURIST RESORTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9211, 14 April 1908, Page 3

TOURIST RESORTS.

MR DONNE IN CHRISTCHURCH. IMPROVEMENTS AT MOUNT COOK. Mr T. E. Donne, General Manager of the Tourist Department, arrived in Christchurch this morning on business connected with his department. He 1 spent a large part of the morning with Mr H. G. Ell, M.P. He will leave tomorrow for the south, and, accompanied by Mr Campbell, of the Publio Works Department, will visit the Mount Cook district. He will then go as far south as Invercargill. On his return he will visit Hanmer. He will be in the South Island about three weeks. At Mount Cook he will make arrangements fpr the erection of the new Hermitage. The building will be two storeys high, will have forty rooms, and will be in stone or concrete. It will be erected by the Public Works Department, but, although the plans have been prepared, it is not known when it will be completed. Mr Donne says that the motor service from Pairlie is giving satisfaction. Ultimately several more bridges will be erected on the route, so that the cars will be able to run right up to the Hermitage instead of stopping, as at present, eleven or twelve miles from it. Some developments are contemplated at Hanmer, but Mr Donne feels that they should not be made public at present. Speaking of the past tourist season in Christchurch and in all parts of the dominion, he stated that it .was certainly the best the dominion had known. " There -has been a good deal of grumbling on the part or visitors in. regard to the class of accommodation/" he said, " but people are hardly reasonable iii expecting to find in this remote land the same accommodation as ie given in Paris and Berlin." Mr Donne is well satisfied with the experiment his Department is carrying out at Rotorua. The Department attends to all the municipal affairs of the town, forming and maintaining the streets, making municipal by-laws, and framing regulations for the wharves and jetties, and so on. The land is all held by the Crown. The residents pay no rates, but the rents of the sections, ; and half of the bath receipts, are alloj cated to the maintenance fund. The only charges against residents are for water, electric current and drainage. They pay for as much water and electricity as they consume, and for every connection -with the drainage system . The streets are planted with native and English trees, and Mr Donne speaks with pride of the appearance of the town and of its prospects-