Rotorua’s Wrongs

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 567, 21 January 1929, Page 10

Rotorua’s Wrongs

SERIOUS, URGENT PROBLEM Dingy Buildings Home of Borer RESIDENTS SPEAK OF LONG NEGLECT THE SUN'S Apia Correspondent. ROTORUA, Sunday. |T is beyond all doubt that the Government has to face a 1 serious and urgent problem in the health-resort grounds of Rotorua. For many years the residents and local officials have viewed with increasing' anxiety the state into which the baths have been allowed to drift.

Despite agitations* and departmental requests, nothing has been done beyond tentative planning. Now the resentment felt is greater than ever. The indignation of the community has been fanned by visitors’ reports and criticisms, published throughout New Zealand. The past stagnation of the baths and the financial administration in Wellington is the talk of the town, and it is significant that even in the most conservative circles one is unable to find a solitary individual prepared to disagree with the recent broadcast strictures. On the contrary, the opinion is that half has not been told. Those familiar with the situation say' that the staff and medical treatments could not be bettered under the present condi-

tions; but they opine that £IOO,OOO should be spent. The sum of £40,000 is needed for a new sanatorium, as the old one is overflowing, and out of date; £30,000 is required to build a new pavilion and baths; and £IO,OOO for new blue baths in a more suitable position. It is considered that the . remaining £20,000 would be spent on furnishings and equipment. This is apart altogether from the main bath buildings, which are far from satisfactory from a modern standpoint. Public men are anxious that New Zealand should realise that as a spa, famous Rotorua has a number of obsolete buildings, which are becoming a tragic joke, as compared with overseas resorts. I Mr. C. H. Clinkard, M.P. for Eotorua, announces that he will telegraph the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, to-morrow, asking him lo visit the town in his capacity as Minister in Charge of Tourist Resorts, and investigate. It is understood, • however, that Sir Joseph intends to-spend ten days here early in February, to confer with Ur. Carr Duncan, officer in charge of the baths, prior to the latter’s departure on a tour of European spas. Rotorua is hoping fervently that Sir Joseph’s visit will mean the dawn of a better administration, following a full realisation of the position. A visit paid to the baths to-day disclosed that the conditions were disgraceful beyond words, and proved that the recent criticism by visitors was all too mild. The baths erected 30 years ago are the chief offenders. The front facing the gardens is disarmingly wellpreserved, but this is merely a painted shell, hiding what is nothing less than a dilapidated, worm-eaten and rambling structure, now falling to pieces. Portions of the place in anything like a reasonable condition are the women’s swimming bath, built comparatively recently, the women’s Rachel bath, with ten meagre cubicals, and the men’s Rachel bath. The compartment in which four radium baths are situated is like a deserated shanty. Beautiful water, sparkling like purest champagne, wells up in a place that would be condemned instantly if it existed in a city area. Two of the radium pools are out of use, because of the danger of broken planks, steps, and fittings. They lie partially choked with rotting timbers. The men’s portion of the building is even worse, and no one looking from the outside at the tumbledown walls and loose shingle roof would dream that they enclosed baths actually offered to and used by visitors. In the Priest bath-house, one is in immediate danger of smashing through the floor, which is * already holed in places. The interior walls are riddled with borer. The three Priest baths are nailed up. disused and filled with debris. The condition of those remaining is very unsatisfactory. The Duchess bath, built in 1900, is sound but dingy and out-of-date, and far too small. The appointments are crude and inadequate. Similar conditions apply in the Blue baths, which are ridiculously small. They should be doubled in size, and the buildings modernised to cater attractively for mixed bathing and onlookers. SERIOUS POSITION Interviewed last evening, Mr. Clinkard said: "The position is not exaggerated, and is serious, for Rotorua should be a bait for overseas visitors to New Zealand. I have no hesitation in saying that with the advent of the Reform Government, we were met with a lack of sympathy the development of tourist" traffic. There is no adequate accommodation in the swimming baths, and the pavilion is falling down; but all we have been able to get is promises. Nine years ago it was admitted that a large expenditure was required. Since that time, grants have been put on the estimates from time to time; but nothing more than for painting, etc., has been expended. “Within three clays of the elections. I interviewed Ministers, and was met sympathetically. I have no doubt that when the depleted Treasury has been attended to something worth while will be undertaken. When I inquired soon after the election. I found that the expenditure contemplated was £20.000 and £7,000. That is not sufficient adequately to deal with the requirements. Rotorua should be New Zealand’s major attraction, and anything paltry will fail.” DISGRACEFUL CONDITION Mr. J. N. McLean. Mayor of K< to-

moved in the matter, and had left the had been hammering: at the Government since pre-war times, and the council took it up about four years ago. “The last time the Hon. W. Nosworthy was here. I referred strongly to the disgraceful condition of the pavilion, and said that if it were in the charge of the borough, it would have been pulled down long ago. “The pavilion and the Blue baths are at least 20 years behind the times. The borough receives from the Government £3,000 a year from Crown rentals and baths fees. The council spends a certain amount in advertising the baths. What is the use if. when people get here, they find the pavilion and Blue baths are ramshackle buildings not fit for human beings?” He added that recommendations were to be made by a commission, set up to inquire into the question of remodelling the native village of Whakarewarewa. It would pay ihe Government to spend £50,000 on the Rotorua resort, seeing that the Pub-* licity Department spent so much advertising New Zealand generally. Mr. G. French, a member and expresident of the Chamber of Commerce, said: “New Zealanders should regard Rotorua as a national asset, and criticism of it is thoroughly justified. One of the troubles is that the position is looked at too much in a political way. It lias been said, if Rotorua were assisted, every place with a hot hole ivould want the same. The pavilion and the Duchess and Blue baths should be completely rebuilt. Rotorua should be encouraged as a place for holiday-makers, apart from an invalids’ home.” MANY COMPLAINTS Mr. W. Ashton, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, said: “Since 1016. the chamber has been fighting lor the expenditure of moneys on the estimates for Rotorua.” A complaint has been made about increased bath charges, and #they had hammered at intervals for new buildings. The talk about the difficulty of securing materials to withstand the sulphur was a mere bogy.” A prominent hotelkeeper said: “At one time, our baths in the house were scarcely required; but now many people do not go near the spring baths The increased charges are partly the

reason. The number of visitors *s not increasing as it should. This is suo-t r by the fact that the accommodatior iri the town has not increased appreciably in the past 15 years.” Another hotelkeeper said lie ne.ua: many complaints about the baths. Mr. W. Hill, tourist agent in Kotoru;i for many years, admitted receiving verbal complaints from lour sis The traffic was Increasing from 3 ’ to year, this summer having been particularly busy. There was a rreatet number of overseas visitots ’nan ' ' - Critics of the baths were apt to forget that the acids in the springs made the buildings dingy. He said the present maintenance was v '■ l * high.