WAITOMO CAVES HOSTEL EXTENDED, RENOVATED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17864, 4 June 1926, Page 3

WAITOMO CAVES HOSTEL EXTENDED, RENOVATED.

GOVT. TO EXPEND FURTHER £IB,OOO THIS YEAR (Special to the “Star.") WELLINGTON. June 3. The Waitomo Caves, which are distinctive among. New Zealand’s tourist attractions in providing the State with a credit balance on their administration, are being provided with further hostel accommodation. The Minister in charge of the Tourist Department, the Hon W. Nos worthy, informed a “Star” correspondent that the active programme of developing this popular resort will be completed by erecting a new concrete accommodation house, having fireproof floors. He had obtained Cabinet authority for this expenditure to be immediately undertaken, and the plans are ready. The new building will accommodate an additional fifty-four people, and will include a dining room, seating 150, and all the usual accessories of a first-class hotel. Provision is also being made for a golf course and tennis courts, and when the new building is ready, the guests will be able to make an extended stay and enjoy the fine drives which are available in the Te Kuiti district. The Minister remarked that one

of the most beautiful drives in New Zealand could be done in one day, from Te Kuiti out to the coast at Marakopa, and by way of the historic Kawhia harbour to the Waitomo hostel. That Waitomo had been receiving the fullest attention possible, in view of other further urgent needs, the Minister made clear by reference to the sums which have been authorised for expenditure on this scenic centre. Last year Cabinet authorised the expenditure of £25.000, and there was placed on the estimates a preliminary £IO,OOO lor the additional building. This year the plans were recast to provide further accommodation at a cost of £IB,OOO. The site for the. new building, including the removal of a hill of limestone rock, had cost £3600, and the lighting of caves by electricity and providing fresh walks and new staircases in them, had involved the expenditure of another £3OOO. In regard to other tourist resorts, the Minister stated that during the past year or so his department had provided practically a new hostel at Waikaremoana, and had spent a large sum on roading from the power-house, along the lake shore to Lake House. It had to build a new hotel at Lake Te Anau, put the Milford track into good repair, and he had now authorised the expenditure of a considerable sum on the electric lighting and heating of the Mount Cook Hermitage, where the accommodation had been largely increased. More had been done during the last year or so in improving tourist facilities and increasing accommodation, than at any other period in the department’s history.