POPULARISING NEW PLYMOUTH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 119, 11 May 1908, Page 4

POPULARISING NEW PLYMOUTH

OCR SKAFIIoNT ASSET. J ' n In hia tit'Tt Mayoral utterance, ll l )U his installation, jilr. ii. that he intended in take nome action in tbe matter ol priniding soiny public fiHH tion at I'hrii-lniastide to attract j vi.-iior- to the -ca-iilc. luum ucucil |. recently 11) a '.\e»Mr. Xisch -aid that lli- idea ttao to call a public meeting to cun.-ifU'f tin* iul\is- j ability ol taking united action to make t provi-i«n for attracting to New I'Uli duUi during the holiday.- of I IMS the i | ople ol our district, tourists, and the t i iveiling public generally, ile would . ' o take into consideration the matter o i'i providing additional attraction-. Ile- t ' re the calling of tlie meeting he wish- 1 • 1 to confer with representatives 'f s t!vj Tennis Club and kindred societies ] ■ enlist their support and co-operation, 1 A* yet he formulated no iletiuite plan, ' but would leave the arrangements wit/i ' those present at the public meeting. Our representative then set oat to ! obtain the opinions of the business' men 1 concerning the proposil. Butchers, bakers, grocer*, clothiers, draper*, hotelkeepers, and boa rdinghouse - keepers were interviewed, and were unanimous in the idea that gnoil would result from a movement to improve New Plymouth as a summer resort. Each and everyone of them looked back with some satisfaction to the manner in which business was affected by the recent Band Contest, many of them remarking that they had traced the benefits directly and indirectly. Not only had the influx of visitors brought "foreign" business, but the holiday aspect stimulated buying of the local people to no inconsiderable extent. For instance, Inany of the visitors stayed with relatives and friends, who had to "do the thing nicely," providing on a rather more lavish and liberal scale than was usually the case ''en famille." Housewives found, too, that "company" entailed the laying out of sundry shillings in extra furnishings, such as curtains, a chair or two, beds, bedding, blankets, and so on. Every hotel was crowded, and the "shakedowns'-" were in many cases made up at very short notice, after the usual provision had been .greatly overtaxed. Thus many of the . visitors during Band Contest week put t their hosts and hostesses to some considerable expense-and the business peor pie of the town reaped the benefit. Tt . is hardly necessary to mention that _ these hundreds— sometimes a thousand or more—visitors had to be fed, a nd the purveyors of foodstuffs were kept very, very btisv.

"That's what we want," said one prominent business man. "We want population. We want people to come and Bee New Plymouth, and we want to treat them nicely so that they will come frgain. We ought to have thousands Of people on that fine sa,ndy l*ad, ofl ours where there are only hundreds now. If 9 aliont the finest sandy head, I know, and ten thousand people would find any amount of room for another similar crowd. But the beach, or rather seafront, needs attention. We onght to have an esplanade extending from the town to the breakwater' There ought to be seats and shelter trees, and bathing machines, and refreshment tents, and-and-and a whole lot of things that, will come quit,, naturally when once we make a decent Start to show people what a splendid holiday resort this is."

Asked as to what form of attraction he would recommend, our informant reckoned that Seaside picnics, with excursion fares, could be arranged on Boxing Day and New Tear's Uav, without great expense, and without any idea of spoiling any of the present fixtures. There were many hundreds of people, he said, in New Plymouth and rijrht through the province who were interested in neither horSe-racing nor atactic sports, but would gladly avail themselves of the opportunity to spend a day on the sands. As evidence of this lie pointed out that on every fine holiday there were large numbers of seaside excursionists.

Most of thoso interviewed were of the opinion that New Plymouth bad a bad habit of showing to holiday-makers the sleepy side" of the town, hv closing Vie shutters almost immediately after the arrival of the excursion trains. One gentleman explained that at the seaside resorts in England the shopkeepers •jade extra efforts to brighten up the places of business whe„ there was any »p influx Of visitor,, whilst here the business people, urged by their assistants, immediately set about making arrangements to Close down for as much « a day ,f possible, giving the town a bare and deserted appearance. On the whole, it seems that Vr Pr c ° P .r' Ui " hil ™ th " hearty support of the business section Of the community whilst there is little doubt that it will be welcomed by those residents who so regularly complain of the jrant of amusement here during the CTmstmas holidays. The inauguration of some annual Christmas fete should wore than anything else, eventually bnng abont the extension and improvement of the present insufficient esplanade and neglected seafront 1