A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 October 1928, Page 7

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS

NEW -ZEALAND’S FINE HOADS. BEAUTIFUL VIRGIN HUSH. (Otago Diiily Times.) An interesting and interested visitor to'Dunedin iit present is Air F. A. Evans, governing director of the London -nine and spirit firm of Southard and Co. Mr Evans arrived in Dunedin 'from the north after a tour of the Dominion, which not many people have done and which few would undertake. Indeed, one of the visitor’s little surprises has been that so few people who have lived a lifetime in this country have visited the places he has seen in the past mouth. “ I really believe,” said Mr Evans, “that fully nine out of ten of the people I have spoken to about my wanderings round New Zealand have had to> admit that they have not seen this or that place.”

When interviewed Mr Evans express -j ed the greatest admiration for New Zealand and its people. Its variety and charm were endless, and in many places the scenery reached perfection. “It is natural,” he said, “when looking at some of your beautiful native bush in the wildest of country for Ihe mind to turn instinctively to the Creator of the Universe, who made the earth yield up such splendour. That that has been lny experience at least.” Mr Evans’s opinion of New Zealand, pads, could he communicate it to the members of the much-maligned Main Highways Board, would make glad their hearts. Of course, his experience of roads in this country has been confined to the main arterial routes between the scenic resorts and chief centres of New Zealand. However, be lias nothing hat praise for the hundreds of miles of roadway along which he has passed. That he is competent to pass an opinion will be recognised 'from the fact that he has travelled nearer 3000 than 2000 miles in New Zealand in the past three weeks and a-lialf—a performance of which few New Zealanders cna boast.

“I was amazed,” he said, “to find such a continuity of fine roads over the most difficult and otherwise inaccessible of country?' The gradients that the engineers have tackled and the tortuous routes the surveyors have mapped out are marvellous. I can safely say that one of my chief impressions of this country has been its good roads. They are triumphs of construction.” And. in this connection Mr Evans had yet another word of commendation to utter. He was particularly struck with the surprising network of motor car services, with expert drivers, which linked up with the railways and made it possible for the tourist to penetrate into the heart of the country and sample to the full the glorious scenic possibilities of which one got only, a hint from the train. These he considered, were likely to prove effective magnets in drawing tourists to New Zealand, especially when they had such excellent roads on which to travel. But he was by no means unduly fulsome in bis praise. In his opinion the hotel accommodation offered .to tourists was not all it might be. He thought a good deni more could be done to make the hotels attractive. He visited one well-known AVest Coast scenic resort and spent a day there. He felt he could have lengthened his stay, but it looked as if rain was likely, and his party left the town because they were appalled by the prospects of spending a wet day in the dingy hotel sunoundings where there was not a book, news" paper, or magazine at the disposal of guests. Mr Evans bad no words adequately to express bis admiration of the beauty and grandeur of New Zealand scenery. One could travel miles with a neverending vista of attraction, without ever tiring, because of the infinite variety to be found in the most confined space Every bend of the road held a new prospect and a changed view. And some of the best places, in which he could spend as many days as he had spent hours, were quite unknown to many New Zealanders lie had met. I hat was very strange.

Tbe only eyesores be bad encountered in bis tour were tbe burnt out remnants of 'forest and bush. It was a sad sight, he said, to see so many ugly stumps and charred tree trunks. It was a dreary prospect, and reminded him of Flanders battlefield after a heavy bombardment. Still, the bush that remained intact made up for all that. He had never before in all bis travels encountered so much virginal growth. He bad beard of New Zealand hush, and thought to find tangled roughage and wild growth. Instead, lie found tbe most beautifully formed ferns and fresh-co’oured foliage in a profusion, tbe extent and glory of which showed Nature at her very host. Never had it been bis privilege to view such incomparable beauty as that to be found in the bush lining the route

from Ross to the Franz Josef Glacier It was very lovely indeed. Mr. Evans spent yesterday on a sight seeing trip around Dunedin, and was more than charmed with all ho saw. The harbour from the top of Mount Cargill was shown him, and he. remarked particularly on the. picturesque touch that was given to the scene by llio little villages and hamlets, as he (■ailed them, tucked under hillsides and on the seashore. The coast line to F north of'Dunedin struck him as being particularly beautiful. I icing a free agent with his movements not directed by the opinions ol the Government Tourist Department ■officials, Mr Evans lias seen as much of the South Island as lie has of the north, and he states that he cannot understand why it is that the department in mapping out its itineraries so frequently books tourists all thro" the North Island, and all but omits the south. A tour of the North Island only, said Mr Evans, cannot fail to give the traveller an unsatisfactory idea of the country. Complete acquaintance with New Zealand, in his opinion is only possible, after a tour of both islands, because they are so different from each other. The North Island was very beautiful, but it lacked the numberless streams lakes, and waterways that made the South Island scenery so remarkable. He would have been very sorry indeed if he had been advised to omit the South Island from his travels.