MANAGING HANMER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1332, 9 January 1912, Page 2

MANAGING HANMER.

A MINISTER'S COMMENTS. PLACE OUGHT TO BE LEASED. The Minister in charge of the Tourist Department (the Hon. T. Mackenzie) was waited upon yesterday by five business residents of Hnnmer, who drew his attention to several details in connection wilh tho management of the placs, which, in thtir opinion, required looking into. One member of the deputation (Mr. A. P. Smith) stated that a story had got about in Christehurrh and elsewhere thiit the. boring for water at Hanmer ■had been unsuccessful. As a matter of fact, plenty of water was available. Mr. Smith went on to .state that the con.tractor who put down a bore at No. 1 pool, at a spot selected by the Rev. H. .Mason, struck a 15-gallon per niinute flow, with a 15ft. rise, at a depth of 80 feet. Acting under instructions from somebody, tho contractor continued boring, and completed his contract by sinking to a depth of 100 feet. In this way the benefit''of the well at 90ft. was lost. The Minister stated that he would obInin a report from the engineer (Mr. H. Vickeriiiann) as soon as possible. He added that ho hoped to leave for Hannier himself on Wednesday, as he desired to have a look right through 1 the place. "He was pleased to hear that a plentiful supply ol' water was available at Hannier, because he thought the place had a future. . A member of the deputation denied the accuracy of a statement that the. boring had interfered with the supply of natural gas. The gas supply, he said, had been very bad for the past eighteen .mouths. Reference was also made by the deputation to an apparent lack of supervision of details at some of the Hanmer establishments. The matter of admission to the golf Jinks called for attention, and the bowling green was in need of repair. Notices advising visitors where and how to go were required. . ■ The. Minister said that such details should be attended to by the people in charge. ""As a matter of "fact," he added, ' the. place ought to bo leased and managed.- It. was distinctly difficult to look after these places" from such a distance. Did it not show that the Government was very foolish, to bother with these places at nil? Ministers should havo something, else to do than to be bothered with the ndminisrration of these resorts. They could never be made to pay under existing conditions. After some further talk the Minister promised to get a comprehensive report on the whole place. lie referred again to the matter of tlieso and similar Gov-ernment-run institutions and remarked that as such they would never be permanently satisfactory. "Take Rotorua," he continued. "Wo have had more objection from Kotorua proportionately than from : any-'other place. A great deal of this opposition was carping criticism, biit .there is a lot of it merely political. If Kotorua is not satisfied with what has been done, what can be done with other places?" A place like Haunter could always 1)0 'best managed bythose resident and interested in the place. Those people could, do a great deal of minor work which did not involve a big cost. Other complaints wore made that the farm was run tco extravagantly, nnd that wove not in good order. The pointed out the Government had spent, .something like ,£IO,OOO in the l:\st three years in improvements in.iiml about Hanmer. He reiterated that in-his opinion, the best thing that could, be' dcine wns to lease the place to somcr ono as a sanatorium.

~A member: If you'only'got .£IOO per year from it it would be more than. the ■place is earning now. The Minister: Its object has boon to hcln Canterbury and tlio.se who wanted a change. ",? The- members of the deputation 'concurred that so fay as thoir knowledge went the- sanatorium was run to -absolutely the best advantage. "If we are going oil with this work, and Iho people are not satisfied, one asks what object is there in pursuiiig.it iurtherr" concluded the Minister.