ROTORUA PROGRESS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 612, 17 August 1933, Page 3

ROTORUA PROGRESS

sound development WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN TWENTY -FIYE YEARS. AUGURY FOR FUTURE. In the eourse of his address to the Transport Appeal Board on Tuesday ■ last, Mr. M. H. Hampson made some1 interesting remarks upon the pro- , gress of Rotorua in the last 25 years. In illustrating the claim for transport facilities, he said: — "Now the essential part of the Ro-torua-Hamilton transport link is to carry passengers to the main junction at Hamilton. There is7 of course, the minor junction at Morrinsville — this is purely a minor junction, the main junction being at Hamilton. Now it is clear that there is -a marked dif- . f erence between serving so closely' ' settled an area as the Rotorua-Ha- , milton railway line gives, and that accorded by the service of carrying people by the direct route, by the ■ quickest possible means, to the junction of Hamilton. I refer t0 the junction at Hamilton deliberately as against Auckland, as, of course, Auckland is the centre of the Auckland Provlnce, but the fact remains that immediately one reaches Hamilton there is a handy railway service to 0Ygyy part of New Zealand, Auckland included. Now these two facts appear to be to be the yital issue in this . case. _ | "There are one of two points regarding the two railheads I would like to refer to in detail and at the outset I would say it would be most ungenerous on the part of any Rotorua people, whether or not representing the motor service, not to admit the valuable service that ha.s been given to Rotorua in the past by the rail- | ways, and is now bcing g:ven to Roto- : rua by the railways. The natural ■advantages we have here from every \ point of view have brought Rotorua , so far :n front that it is considered ' and recognised as the natural playground in New Zeaiand. But apart altogether from New Zeoland I think one can safely say that Rotorua | more than any other piace in the Do- , m'nion, has brought more overseas 'tourist traffic to New Zeaiand than any other part of the country, and from that point of view, its necessity | is such that it must he served wxth the convenience the railway gives it. j There are times when the large num- j ber of people coming to Rotorua ; could only be served by the railway, [ and therefore it would he most un- • gererous on the part of Rotorua i , they did not admit the valuaVe ser- ■ vice given by the railway and the necessity for the maintenance of that service. j Street Changes. ' "Now, dealing with' the growth f j Rotorua: 25 years ago we had a popu- i lation here of 800 people. The street along side — Tutanekai Street-^hardly existed. The shops you see on the other side of the street were then residences; the only shops we really had then were the shops in Arawa Street, and while they were our pride then they certainly had not their present'appearance. Now, 25 years ago Hamilton was a suhstantial town, and Whangarei was a suhstantial town also. Twenty-five years ago, and even earlier, we had the railway to Rotorua. Now the population is 6000 people. Whangarei's population is only over 7000. In point of fact, •there is no town in New Zeaiand which has shown the proportionate growth that Rotorua has. The Pumice Land. "Now, as I say, we had the facilities here for tourists 25 years ago ias we have now. These facilities foi the tourists have not brought about that marked increase in the development of the town. It will be clear to the board what has brought about the increase. Twenty-five years ago a the land here was Native land clogged with the Thermal Spfings Act, which made alienation impossible. Dunng the last 25 years, particularly durmg the last five or six years, the result of the developmient of the pumice country has been proved and demonstrated, to the whole of New Zeaiand. It is now admitted hy all authorities •that our pumice country not °nly grows -good root crops exceedingly well, but it grows grass and holds the grass, with the result that in no part of New Znaland will you find agncultural development proceeding at the present time as it is proceeding in this district, of which Rotorua is the centre, within a radius of 50 miles. New Settlement. "We have the Guthrie Settlement on the Atiamuri Road, in which the country has shown 'good results from pasture; Ngakuru Settlement, Horo Horo Settlement. We have the Galatea Settlement recently started hy the Crown and we have the fact that lOOu iacres at Broadlands is recognised and admitted to be land worthy of bemg cut up into close settlement farms. Undoubtedly the result of that will he that other lands between Broadlands 'and Rotorua will be similarly taken up and developed. But the actual pre- ; sent development of Rotorua is due, > not to this settlement, but to the set- ' tlement of land round and about Rotorua. Now if our growth has been so prenomenal through ordinary farming settlement, what is going- to be ' the growth when these settlements come into fruition and effect. It is obvious and beyond all dispute that Rotorua is, and will he, more and more the centre of a very large agricultuijal district. Moreover, what certainly 10 years ago was looked up-

on as an absurdity — afforestation as >a sound commercial proposition — ^is to-day a recognised and admitted fact. Here lagain in no part of New Zeaiand is afforestation proceeding with the' rapidity that it is in this pumice country, for the reason that the trees grow faster here than anywhere else in the world. I make that statement advisedly. It is admitted hy the a-uthorities that it is beyond dispute that nowhere else in the world do trees grow with such rapidity. Consequently, not only most of the private afforestation companies, but also the Crown, are expending the major part of theii* operations in the district, and afforestation is proceeding apace. The result of this afforestation then must be inereased development of the district of which Rotorua is the centre. Road Improvements. "Moreover, we have seen amazing advances in the arterial roads from Rotorua to Whakatane.; and Rotorua to Te Puke. Ten or 15 years', ago, these roads were practically impassable for cars in winter. To-day they are perfect roads, and for a distance of 56 miles to Tauranga, 56 miles to Whakatane, and for a distance t0 Te Puke, some 40 miles, we have perfect roads, so that' for the whole of that very wide area the natural outlet is via Rotorua. It is of prime importance that the residents of the whole of that area should be given reason■able facilities for getting as speedily as possible to the junction at Hamilton. Traffic Voluine. "The environments of Rotorua also may be referred to beeause round and about Rotorua one would he amazed at the amount of settlement that is going on at the present time. Within "ia radius of ten miles of Rotorua, the amount of settlement, of which evidence will be given later, is very mdeed, and that similarly requires transport services. I think sufficient has been said to show the board that i there is a very large amount of traf- ' fic which seeks its outlet to the junction at Hamilton, which must come ■' through Rotorua, and which naturally j' desires to get to this junction at the ' ' earliest and speediest possible moment.