The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1903. A VALUABLE ASSET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 3, 5 January 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1903. A VALUABLE ASSET.

!Time is rapidly passing sad next to nothing is being doue to develops and 1 {outer tbe most valuable asset which, j next to the harbour, New Plymouth ' posses l es.l We refer to the sea frontage to the town. It is m nths now since the ratepayers on two separate , occasions sanctioned the ra-'sng if money for tbe erection of public bath?, ye ! ; here we are nearly through the summer and practically nothing done. At Haw. ra, on the other hand, with- - ou fc . any fuss and talk, publ'c baths have been erected and opened. In fact New Plymouth instead of leading in matter* of municipal enterprise and siting an example for the youoger towns to follow is lsgging behind and Hawera, Eltham, Stratf rd, Inglewo -d and Waitara, will toon be in tbe position of up te-date municipalities with everything which goes to make life I pleasant. Every year as these towns 3 grow in importance the desire to reach the seaside growd in intensify. With the railway bringing people even as far as Haw ra within two hours of New Plymouth, New Plymouth should ba I I the seaside reso>t foe all the to*ns along the line. In.tbe August number ol tbe Metropolitan there is a capital article showing what is done is America to develops seaside resorts and the value set upon them by the people and it states that " back from the sea coast a great and rapidly increasing population every summer presses shoreward in ever-waxing numbers, the tendency is bound to continue. The peiiodical pressure of humanity towards the salt water—the delight at the sight of it—is as natural as are hunger and thirst. TJader Bimilar conditions human nature manifests itself in similar ways pretty much every- ! where. Still we fuel life at all seaside wgjrts rety much the same. Pe>ple 'coane to the shore to bathe, to sport on .'the sands, to fish, to sail, to bre>the ! the fresh air of tbe silt sea, to mingle wi'h the multitude drawn together by these things, and also to en jay the more artificial amusements that cater tc the I crowd. There is something unepoakj ably exhilarating in the summer sp ct- > -acla of the human masses drawn to the |'sea, all joyous by the water—the ex|lp»nse of the free horizon, the spirkle IJ of blue waves, the gleam 6f white sails .! the snowy foam of the breaking surf, '|the majestic rhythm of the surges, ifea 1 free sweep of the wind, the wholesome scent of the salty shore, and the holiday mood of it all. The diapason of the surf, ever recurrent, overwhelms these petty babblings ; the giant voice soothes the soul-with its mighty mumc, and looking seaward one soon regard] indifferently all that lies on the landward side." Could we have written anything more appropiiate to the position here, and tha writer goes on : " In sammer time, and particularly by the Bia whence all life came, man tends t) get c'osi to nature. The burdea of clo' hing is reduced to the lowest psrmissible terms; convention's bars are dropped ; the ki«s of the sunlight, and the caress of the free air are welcomed j the skin takes on tha hue thait nature intended it to, lesing its pallor, and the body breathes all over as it was meant to breathe, not wi'h tbe lungs alone, fo it is all good, and as it was designed. This sporting with the waves, this lying on the sands, this contact with nature, bringing the soul of man c'os'tr to its source in tha world ai God made i'." The writer then goes on to describe the enormous sums which have been spjnt by Ameiican cities to con- , Btrucfe seaside resorts for tbe health of their inhabitants. The article is ' splendidly illustrated, and should be ; read by every one, and particularly by 1 the members of our Borough Oouncil, j

livery large city in Ame ioa has its s aside resort. One cm it mentioned [ where a city took a piece of sea beaob « and a million dollars were appropriated to its improvement, a railway line was | corstructed to it, and drives and pro-' I menades formed, a stretch of three, mile* of bsach being taken as a public domain. Every possible attraction w a \ provided, even to, in one cnse, a large < sized vessel being stranded to add to the attractions. Is it net p ssibls fo<s luething to be dose to render the , ' 'ao'n bat ween the town and the breakwater more attractive to visitors, and to provide them with the necessityj conveniences for the full enjoyment of ( the natural ad vantages of the situation ? J