THERMAL BATHS

Taupo Times, Volume III, Issue 120, 14 May 1954, Page 4

THERMAL BATHS

IN a reference in this column recently to Taupo as a national tourist resort, mention was maae of the fact that some years ago two different national Governments had supported the idea of establishing thermal baths in the town itself. And of the further fact that the Borough Council had, in a recent letter to the Minister in charge of the Tourist Department, drawn, attention to the possible establishment of a thermal bath on the lake front Taharepa Reserve. The original scheme for a bath in the town envisaged bringing hot water down to a point in the Domain Reserve, between Tongariro Street and the present *Municipal Motor Camp. The water was to be piped or flumed from the hot spring east of the A.C. Spring, near the Golf Links, often called the Kathleen Spring, and the surveyed pipe iine followed the Spa Road, the greatest depth required for a gravity line* being somewhere near the present Hospital.

The possibility of this scheme being gone on with, at some future time, has not been lost sight of by the Council, as was indicated recently when it notified the Commissioner of Crown Lands that retention of the easement over certain properties for a pipe line or flume line was still desired. The popularity of the A.C. Baths, over a long period, has been such that it can, s&fely be assumed that there will always be a sufficient number of patrons desirous of using them. Their distance from the "Main Street" of earlier days did not deter users from visiting them when transport was much less easy than it is today, while their potential value has been still further increased by the great increase and spread of population in the Borough, in areas within. reasonable proximity to the Baths.

For these reasons, the contention of a recent correspondent, in a letter to the editor, that the Baths were too far from the town, does not seem to be well founded. At the same time, the view of the same correspondent, as to the value of a thermal bath in the town itself, .as contemplated in the former scheme mentioned above, seems sound. There is no doubt that such a bath at a suitable spot on the Domain Reserve, would be a great attraction to campers and other holiday visitors. And it can reasonably be assumed that that attraction would be particularly strong to younger people, while the attraction of the smaller type of bath at the A.C. Baths would appeal to older people.

This probability, considered in conjunction with the increased number of visitors to Taupo in recent years, reinforces the view that the A.C. Baths, and a future bath in the town, will both fill a popular demand. Incidentally, a suggestion made at a recent Council meeting by the Mayor, that geo-thermal steam might perhaps be found suitable for heating water for such a bath in the town, is of possible future interest. The possibility of the future establishment of a thermal bath at the Taharepa Reserve on the Lake front, mentioned above, is also one that should not be lost sight of. The growth of Taupo in recent years leaves no doubt whatever that increased amenities will be needed, on a scale not anticipated a few years ago. At the moment, there are no doubt other amenities with a higher priority claim than thermal baths, in so far as expenditure of Borough funds is concerned. But it is also certain that thermal bath development in Taupo now, by the national Government, as was done years ago in Rotorua, would be fully justified. — ^