ENTERTAINMENT IN ROTORUA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5330, 17 February 1947, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENT IN ROTORUA

i ! i ROTORUA of late has been ! , offered several times the | priceless gift of seeing -itself as : others see it. The mirror which ! has been held up to us reflects a : | picture that may be trne or dis- j j torted, according to the amount j of egotism — or call it civic pride j — in our make-up. It is plain, | however, that visitors see, not 1 j the queen of carnival they exj pected, but an old figure in j rednced circumstanees, " with no ; ! aspect of gaiety in her faded | face and dust-laden skirts. How | to rehabilitate her and place her | securely on the top line that j touristliterature claims for her, | while as consistently, the | department has supplied her ; ) with the barest wardrobe ? j The ehief complaint of visitors ! concerning the lack of entertain- i ment in the town, which is voiced in an article elsewhere in \ this issue, is-one that requires • the organised co-operation of i the Government • and citizens to I rectify. There are several signs j that the people in Wellington are really taking this matter to heart. Last week, we were favoured by a. visit of the executive heads of seven departments, all more or less intimately conI cerned with- the future of the j district. Its economic progress ■ is inovitable. but that, too, can I be assisted by social amenities ; j which do not require any vast I expenditure. On Saturday, we reeeived a ! •nomorandum from the Minister in charge of Broadcasting. Mr. | Jones. saying: "Plans are in hand for establishing a Bay of Plenty station, including the purchase of equipment and a site, but as the deliverv date of the equipment is too indefinite, I do not propose to issue a statement untii the likely date of completion of the station is , more definite." The suggestion is offered that ; instead of this station, which wil! entail the • building of a studio in Rotorua, being set up as ju.st another minor broadcasting unit, it be built to accommodate an audience to be enter- ; tained by the National Orchestra as well as by other artists engaged on the national network. These people can perform two functions — public and broadcast performances — here to greater advantage than any-

where else and thus first-class j music with the aid of Maori con- ; cert parties, will be available to visitors who demand the best to ! divert them in the evenings, which are now singularly empty ! and aimless. The natural and j sporting attractions of the town, j some of which, such as the spout j baths, have been allowed to fall | into desuetude, will also have to j be made more generally access- i ible. Then, when the lake front | is transformdd into the kind of f place all agree it should be, j Rotorua, on the enfertainment j side at least, will become truly a J national asset. • - |