MOUNT COOK HERMITAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1922, Page 7

MOUNT COOK HERMITAGE.

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE LEASE FOR FIVE YEARS. AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAMME. The Mount Cook Hermitage is to pass from Government control, a lease over a period of five years having been granted to the Mount Cook Motor Company, which is confident not only of making it a payable proposition by private enterprise, but of attracting a much larger number of tourists annually by up-to-date methods of catering for their amusement and comfort, says a Wellington paper. The decision arrived at by the Cabinet does not come as a great surprise, for the hermitage has been run at a heavy loss for years. The difficulties and peculiarities of the Mount Cook tourist trade are known by none better than by the lessees. Mr. R. L. Wigley, managing director of the Mount Cook Motor Co., Ltd., has been conveying tourists to the hermitage since J 906 firpt endeavouring to obtain a lease of it from the Government in 1908. The company’s passenger service. which began in a very small way, has grown to embrace a fleet of 35-pas-senger char-a-bancs and the Mount Cook route in no.v for the greater part one of the finest motor roads in the Dominion. In place of one fixed charge and. standard of accommodation, four of five tariffs will I e arranged, so that those who so desire may economise in one direction in oj der to include the form of diversion which most appeals to them. Climbing parties will be especially catered for, and. guides will be engaged for long and. short expeditions, including tha through trip to Westland in good weather. TO ENCOURAGE WINTER VISITORS. The hermitage will 'be kept open all the winter season, at a reduced tariff for lengthy instead of being closed at a, loss as hitherto. Winter sports, such as ski-ing and tobogganing, will be encouraged, and a golf course, tennis courts, etc., will be laid out. The indoor sports will include billiards. The winter air is remarkably bracing, and by improving the accomodation to modern tourist standards, and installing wide verandahs partly glassed in, it is hoped to make the winter season increasingly popular. The hermitage is little over 2000 ft. above sea level, and. is no colder than spots en route to the coast. As a commencement, a large building will be erected at the back of the hermitage, with a passage down the centre and rooms on either side. A sufficiency of bathrooms will be provided, and it is hoped eventually to reach the point at which all applicants for rooms can be accomodated, instead of, as in the past, hundreds of people being turned away annually. An electric plant will be installed for lighting, cooking, and heating the buildings, and will also be used for laundry work, drying rooms, etc. POSSIBILITIES OF TOURIST TRADE. The lessees rely on having transport and accommodation under one head to reduce many outlays unavoidable in the past management of the hermitage, but they have not entered upon such a financial risk on past tourist statistics. Mr. Wigley is chairman, and Mr. M. B. Macdonald, Kaikoura, secretary of an enterprising association, the object of which is to eater for the comfort and convenience of tourists throughout New Zealand. The South Island will be or-* ganised first, and Mr. Winsloe, of the Southland Erpansion League, will assist as regards the Southern itineraries. The association, which will be known as the White Star Tourist Association, will endeavour to greatly increase the number of tourists to the Dominion by original methods of advertisement. A free trip to the Dominion will be advertised in the United States, and to secure- a larger number of Australian holiday-makers than in the past tours from Australia and back will be quoted at fixed prices. The association will arrange trips over the New Zealand railways, Union Steam Ship Company’s steamers, and will provide taxis, plan and arrange all itineraries and accommoration ahead. USE GF AEROPLANES For spacial work, three amphibian Vickers aeroplanes are being purchased, and it is hoped to induce the New Zealand Government to take up a portion of the association’s shares, partly in view of the value of such machines in the ?Vent of war—they the fitted with torpedo and bombing outfits— also because the increase of the tourist business will develop a national asset. Mr. Wigley reports that he found Ministers most sympathetic to the activities of the association, and states that he is convinced it will only have to make good to secure a Government subsidy toward a sum of £lO,OOO a year for advertising outside New Zealand.