FIFTY YEARS AGO

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 357, 19 October 1932, Page 7

FIFTY YEARS AGO

YISITOR TO ROTORUA NOT YERY FAYOURABLY IMPRESSED. SHED FOR BATHS. The following is an extract from an article which' appeared in an issue j of the Wellington Evening Post 50 years ago. It shows Rotorua in an unflattering but interesting light. — "A recent visitor to the Hot Lakes district does not give us a very charming description of New Zealand's sanatorium. The p'ace he describes as having a very d'esolate appearance, not a blade of grass to he seen anywhere. The only house in the new townshipt is that of the medical man, who has a perfect sinecure at >a salary of £400 a year. This gentleman is believed to be a nephew of Judge Fenton, and ill-natured people are saying that this is sufflcient recommendation for his appointment. The GoYernment have put up a shed known as 'the baths,' which are a good mile from the hotel, and although th'e price for making use of the baths is reasonable enough (6d a single ticket or 4s a dozen), the place is anything but comfortable, while the man in charge looks like a very greasy , , mass of humanity. The hotel aceommodation can only he described as very middling, and the table is only second rate, although exorbitant prices are charged. This is a matter of course, seeing that it costs £10 a ton for the cartage of provisions. The . tourist is somewhat cdmpensated, however, for his disappointment by the. magnificence of the?pink and white terraces" — this was before their destruction hy th'e Tarawera eruption of 1886 — "which are excepptionally grand and well worth seeing. But one soon tires of the hot springs, mudholes, etc. The journey to the Hot Springs is a Yery uncomfortahle one, the journey oYer the rough road being espeeially disagreeable to the invalid." The place will never he much patronised until it can he reach'ed with less difficulty." ■