THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. “The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1873.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 134, 13 December 1873, Page 2

THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. “ The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1873.

Air Domett in his South Sea day dream —Banolf and Amohia ” —thus speaks of Rotomahaaa, the pride and glory of New Zealand, and the main hope of the Bay of .Plenty as the loadstone destined before long to attract to our shores wealth, fashion, and rank, invalids, artists, and men of letters : A Cataract carved in Parian atone, Or any purer substance known—■ * * * * * Each step becomes a terrace broadEach terrace a wide basin brimmed With water, brilliant, yet in hue The tfiKfercst delicate harebell blue, Deepening to violet! * * # # « The topmost step the pair surmount And io the cause of all 1 I Look where upshoota a fuming fount— I p through a blue and boiling pool Perennial —a great sapphire steaming, In that coralline crater gleaming, U pwelling ever, araei-hystnl, Ebullient comes the bubbling crystal I Still growing cooler and more cool As down the porcelain stairway slips The fluid flint, and slowly drips, And hangs each basin’s curling ling With crusted fringe each year increases. Thicker than shear-forgotten fleeces ; Afore close arid regular than rows, Long rows of snowy trumpet-flowers florae day to hang in garden bowels, ■ fJ ..eii st/anpers shall these totlds enclose. The Melbourne “ Argus ” of a recent date says : —■ The United States Congress is not altogether indifferent to the health, welfare, and reerca'v n of posterity. It has just distinguished itself bv an act which deserves to be imitated elsewheri . Recent explorations of a tract of country iu the north-west, which was previously unknown, have disclosed the existence of u magnificent valit-v about sixty miles in length and fifty in breadth* at an elevation of 7,400 feet above the seaTev.V in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. ReVhhs* containing a lake as large as one of the smaller English counties, and abounding in scenery of Alpine grandeur and beauty, this sequestered valley includes “hundreds of hot springs of endless variety of temperature, mineral composition, and mechanical force, which rise on all* the slopes. ” Eventually, therefore, it may become the sanatorium of North America. Bearing this in mind. Congress has, with a wise forethought, reserved the whole valley in perpetuity as a national park. The novelty and sagacity 'of this proceeding have attracted attention'in the mother country, and have led to the publication of some correspondence in the Pall Mall Gazette with reierence to the geyser region in tlu northern island of New Zealand. One gentleman, who was cured of rheumatism by bathing iu the hot springs of this solf.dara, states that lie and his companion “ were so struck with the magnificent future which awaits fioLomahana, that wo offered the natives £o,ood for the lake and a narrow' belt round its shore—the extent of the whole of which we guessed at 500 acres only.” Happily, the offer was refused by the Maoris, biu ctocs ifc not point out a moral ? A writer on the same subject tells us m an English paper that in’a short time 4 halt Europe shall do homage to the marvellous beauties of incomparable Rotomahana. A colonial contemporary also remarks ; y Oar Southern Alps arc grand, but the heights °.‘ 1 ue Himalayas are grander. Our lakes have a tnonsana rivals ; our earthquakes, although suluwent.lv startling for a novice, are wanting, 7»s yet at least, in the elements most, esteemed'by sensation seekers: Chili or Pern can bent in hollow. But our bubbling fountains, our cold tepid, and boiling natural baths, our nmvbl» r! races, sculptured by Nature’s hand, and alto.Vlmr passing lovely—-where shall vre find their counterpart ? The ful uro of this district, to a very great extent indeed, depends upon our “boiling spiuigs and those exqusito pink and white terraced fountain* which now lie in solitary loveliness. liotomahana stands without a peer, and is destined to become one of the greatest, if not the greatest, snow place and sanatorium of the world] Last week two tourists returned to Tanranga after “doing ” the La be district. In tne couro of conversation one uoutlemar referring to Eotouiahana, said • '* There is no place in the world like it—so graceful, so wonderful, so perfect a fairy land. Ko orus can describe it, no pencil pour fray

its oil arms " The other (his companion) simply remarked, "A perfect pile-- be.-d. diggings cnit." The conversation re-minded tne writer of a story related of a clergyman and a tailor visiting together the Fails of Niagara. Quoth the parson in boundless; astonishment : " L -vd, how tliy work? asf-'-uud oar t'ves, And fid our hearts w,t ; s jhtd surpri-t" !'*' The tailor o.erely mu..i,- uu- r-.fe-, " Lord' whiU a place to *p'f,_;o ;» eoat !'' to our moral: The Lake district of the Bay of Plenty would be a source of immense wealth to any person or persons with sufficient enterprise to secure the same from the native owners. A J read v our springy have drawn the attention of Europe, and who knows, during the present unsettled state of the Koto malum a negotiation, but that some strangers with large capital may come amongst u.>, and succeed in purchasing and niunopolisingtheeoveted section, converting it into a very T.nn Tiddler's ground for picking up gold and silver. Such a result would be an irretrievable loss to the entire colony. Kotomahana will one day be the health resort of half the world, and the Government should therefore leave not a stone unturned to secure the site immediately, and follow the example of our American cousins Inreserving it for " national use and enjoyment." When all arrangements 'are perfected the authorities could then with perfect propriety open up the territory, and sub-let portions to respectable firms in a position to provide accommodation for visitors to the JNew Zealand Malvern and Biaritz. A special messenger arrived at Maketu yesterday at noon from Opotiki, and utKna.iiiitely wired the following satisfactory mtedigenee to the lioa. A.!.McLean, to whom we are indebted for the information: —'* The Opotiki Court closed last Might. The Maoris were very orderly and well disposed. About 100,000 acres passed the Court."