NEW ZEALAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8171, 29 June 1906, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND.

THE TOURISTS' ELFSIUM AND WORLD'S SANATORIUM. s .• By Sir John Leng. The comparative nearness, vast magnitude, and splendid resources of the opinion of Canada have eclipsed our Australasian colonies in the view of the old country in recent f years. To intending emigrants and settlers this will orobably continue until the Greit North-West is more extensively populated. But to the more adventurous tourist and the invalid seeking warmth and sunshine darina our semi-Arctic winters, the Australasian Continent and the islands of Now Britain, inappropriately designated New Zealand, become every year more attractive. Distanoe, whioh has so long lent enchantment to the View, was continually diminishing. In the days of sailing vessels the passage by the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn either way, occupied from seventy to more than a hundred days. Now it is reduced by steam to from thirty-five to forty five days. There are almos*. innumerable routes and combinations of routes by land and sea—by Mediter ranean, Red, aud Indian Seas, or Transatlantic, Transcontinental and Transpacific lines. Floating palaces and traios-de-luxe offer alluring inducements to those who have exhausted the pleasures of ordinary European travel. All routes East or West lead South to the Antipodes. One result of this comparative DearneßS and easy travelling is that many are looking to the Islands of the South and contemplating visits who, even a few years ago, would not have thought of them. Have they made up their minds where they will go? If not, let ua note what is to be said ih favour of New Zealand, where a special inducement will be the opening of the international Exhibition/under the auspices of the New Zealand Government, at Obristoburoh, Canterbury, commencing Ist November, 1806, and continuing till April, 1907. Thflse, be it remembered,, are the BpriDg an summer months at the Antipodes, delightfully sunny and warm, when in the North we are often shivering with cold. Some people have seen so many Exhibitions that they never wish to see another. But the more this is a specially New Zealand Exhibition the more interesting it will be. Britishers, Europeans and Americans are surfeited with what may be called Shopkeepers' and Manufacturers' Exhibitions, but they will be delighted to see a complete end wellarranged collection of the finest products, natural and cultivated, of the Northern, Middle, aud Southern Islands, supplemented as these doubtless will be by rival exhibits from Australia and the Archipelagos of the Paoiflo. Hut the Islands themselves are, according to all testimonies, oral, written, and printed, Nature's grandest and most diversified Exhibition. We have quoted the words of the Govenrnment Guide-"The Tourists' Elysium fand the World's Sanatorium." These are great claims. Are they justified? We cannot pronounce before we have seen; in the meantime there is much to support the olaims. An official handbook says of New Zealand scenery:-- "Travelled who visit New Zealand describe it as the Wonderland of the world. Neither the the renowned fiords of Norway nor the mountains of Switzerland excel in beauty and grandeur the unspeakable oharm of the Southern Sounds, and the wondrous majesty ofjfche Southern Alps of New Zealand, Indeed, in its infiinte variety and overpowering majesty the soenio resources of New Zealand are quite unparalleled* and offer unique at tractions to the lover of the beautiful and grand in nature. Besides the charm of rugged mountains, immense glaoiers, rushing waterfalls, magnificent canons, and marvellous lakes, New Zealand possesses the most remarkable manifestations of thermal activity to be found anywhere on the globe." Islands that have their Mont Blanc in Mount Co*fc, their vast Tasman glacier, their nearly 2,000 feet | waterfalls, their prodigious geysers, boiling springs and lakes do not take a seoond !place in picturesqueness. Then the sportsman is drawn to deer forests abounding with deer and the angler to streams where larger trout are to be caught than in Scottish waters. All living things imported from the home land thrive and flourish on a larger scale,and are more prolific, as may be expected in a summer olime. Starting all things new, without the trammels of ancient obligations and complications, vested interests and prbcedents, the New Zealand Government does many things, and does well what the Government of the old country would not contemplate. / s all the roads hnd railways are under the Government control, it is not surprising that there 3s a Government Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, which has at. its head the Premier's able "righthand man," the Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, K.C.M.G., and he Again has uonder him a very capable Superin tendentihMr T. E. Donne. The Department has offices injthe larger cities, where callers can obtain detailed information with regard to the best routes of travel, the accommodation for tourists, hotel tariffs, and the charges at the Government Sanatoria. These offices supply information to correspondents who write to, them, whioh, also can be obtained from the obliging officials of the New Zealand Office, Victoria Street, Westminster. It may be mentioned by way of illustration, that at Rotorua the Government Sanatorium for treatment of invalids, there are numerous wellequipped hot mineral water baths, under control of Dr Wohlmann, a 4 highly qualified' specialist! engaged by the Government, from the oityi of Bath in England. The charge for accommodation at the Sanatorium,, including baths, medical attendance, nursing, and medicine, is only 30s a week. It is claimed that these hot mineral waters cure rheumatism, solatiaa, gout, obesity,* and all manner, of liver trpubles, 'nervous disorders, skin diseases, and kindred ailments. What a place for abolishing "all the ills that flesh. is heir to" I When not bathing, in-1 vallda ana their attendants have the {

I advantage of large public recreation r grounds, comprising 250 acres of beautiful, well kept gardens, and including tennis courts, eroquet lawns, and bowling greens. Playing materials are supplied to players at a small obarge; besides wbiob there is excellent fishing and pleasant steamboat excursions on the lakes. At Haumer Hot Springs, 1,200 feet above sea level, with a healthy bracing climate, there is a Government Spa, while in the neighbourhood the sportsman can have good hare, rabbit and duuk shooting in the season. To strong, healthy people, the Southern Alps will be still more attractive. Mount Cook is 21,349|feet high, and its aaoent is attended with all the risks that give piquancy to Alpine climbing, while it is surrounded by other peaks and glaoiers. Here there is a Government hotel, and the tariffs, guides' fees, and charges for horses and huts are all under Government regulation. There are numerous grand coaching drives, but attractve as these may be, tbey are surpassed by the steamboat excursions to the Western Sounds, which, it is declared, in their magnificent scenery transcend the Norwegian Fjiords; while the inland Soutnern Lakes eclipse those of Windermere, Killarney, Loob Lomond, aud Loch Katrine.—Dunedin Advertiser.