Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1892. NATURE'S GREAT GIFT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4154, 2 July 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1892. NATURE'S GREAT GIFT.

Being tue extended iiiie of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is IDENTICAL ,

'Tis said that a woman's beauty is her dower. This aphorism may be applied with at least equal sagacity to our Colony, gifted as it is by Nature's moulding hand to a degree surpassing common fortune. It may be that as a new country we lack the antique, the glories ot ancient art, which can alone bebestowed by the penoil of' old time,' but we have much to compensate : a climate that is unequalled in wide-world choice, mountains which rival Switzerland's grandest peaks and ranges, fiords of magnificence to compete with Norway's wondrous inlets, and woods mirrored by lakes whioh makes surprised Nature blush at the reflection of her own loveliness, in our noble scenery we have onr finest assett; in our climate inexhaustible source of health and wealth. And yet all this, it may be said, remains comparatively unrealised and we have yet to profit by it. Switzerland's physioal grandeurs are known to the world—and all the world flocks to see tbem. Tourist traffic is worth millions of pounds to that favoured country. Italy, again, attracts from iar and near, and what but the lavishly spent money of wealthy visitors, has helped to pay the nation's bondholders—has indei'd been her very finanoial salvation. She draws hundreds of thousands of pounds from the nature-loving, art-admiring, and pleasure-seeking throng who crowd her cities and explore her resources in town, hamlet and recess.

When, we wonder, will Now Zealand attract to her shores in proportionate degree, nnd benefit by a share of the tribute sheis so nobly entitled to. Not, indeed, until her reputation is widespread, for as yet it may be said her claims are hardly recognised. Surely the Govci'iiment shouldsiiareno device nnd hesitate at no expenditure—for it will be repaid a hundredfold—which will advertise our charms of scene and clime to the world in geueral. Can the tourist—tho" globe-trotter " of the period- find any grinder outlet for his love of travel and his desire to see what is to be seen of physical beauties and wonders on sea and land, than would be conferred in a trip to Ne Zealand <?e question itl Is there, for the invalid—worn with the wearying rush of a busy world, chilled to the core with a climate whose best is bb good as our worstany better health resort to be found in all the wjde expanse at his disposal? We doubt itl And yet, with all our merits, we are hardly in the field. All this should be remedied, and we trust that this 'and future Governments of New Zealand will make the development of a tourist traffic wit}) all its direct and indirect profits one of its most politic studies. The coming Oljipago Exhibition affords one excellent opportunity ofi declaring ourselveß togatheredmilUons

that it will be availed of to the ut* most. A tourist agent there—suoh ft man as Tim Cook and Sons would ohoso to represent "tliem—with a staff and printing press behind him, would as an investment and dividend-paying institution prove a veritable mine of profit; and it is but due lo our Colony and to those who would benefit by knowing us more intimately that we should be ably represented on this ocoasion. We expect to see practical endorsement of of these views in the. arrangements tho Government will shortly find itself called upon to make, for we feel sure good and adequate results will follow.