One visitor after another, year after year, tells New Zealanders that their country has marvellous scenery, beyond the power of pen to describe or brush to paint worthily. When will this “natural capital” pay big dividends?

Well, fellow-New Zealanders, you have a country known as “The Brighter Britain of the South,” The Wonderland of the Pacific,” “The Playground of the Pacific,” “The Sportsman's Paradise,” and “God's Own Country.” What are you doing to gain big dividends from that marvellous natural capital of scenic charm, health-giving waters, troutteeming rivers and lakes, and haunts of swordfish? When will the wide world send its tens of thousands every year to these isles of enchantment and refreshment? When will New Zealand have its proper place in the itineraries of people of the six continents? This will happen when New Zealand's people—especially those who are directly interested in the tourist industry-decide on action which the natural wealth deserves.

New Zealanders, how many of you know your own country thoroughly? As a reminder of your Islands’ claim to the notice of the world's tourists here is a brief survey of the principal spectacular features, from North to South:—

Romantic Northland.

Interest begins at the very tip of the North Island—at Parenga, where the godwits and other migratory birds take wing for far Siberia.

The neck of this long peninsula, known as “The Winterless North,” has the broad, smooth Ninety-mile Beach on the west side, surely one of the world's best marine parades.

Southward, near Dargaville, is the Trounson Kauri Forest, dedicated to the State. Here are mighty kauri kings whose huge smooth columns, like the pillars of a temple, have held up their great evergreen canopies for many centuries.

The east coast includes the entrancing inlet of Whangaroa, remarkable for the cathedral-forms of its hills and wooded ferny coves; historic Bay of Islands, with its relics of old Maori wars, the early missions and the beginnings of British colonisation.

Thermal Wonderland.

Even tourists from the United States admit that the Thermal Wonderland of the Rotorua-Wairakei-Taupo zone is more spectacular than their own Yellowstone Park, because the “sights” are more concentrated on the New Zealand stage. In strange contrast with the wild play of hissing water and bubbling mud are fern-fringed fairy pools, cool glades of forest, and lakes of blue and green. This region is as colourful in parts as the palette of a jazz artist.

Nature has cleverly medicated some of these hot waters, which are turned to good use for suffering humanity in the well-equipped Government Spa at Rotorua.

Magic Glow of Waitomo.

Whatever thrills any visitor may expect from the Glow-worm Grotto of Waitomo, the reality will always exceed anticipation. It is a subterranean fairy palace of marble, lit by myriads of glow-worms, whose lights suggest countless stars in a strange heaven, wonderfully reflected on the still surface of an underground river.

Other caves of this region have fascinating sculptures of glistening stalactites and stalagmites in various combinations and colours.

“Throne of the North Island.”

The huge spread of Tongariro National Park, at the centre of the North Island, takes in the volcanic trio of Mts. Tongariro, Ruapehu (9175ft.), and Ngauruhoe. Tongariro is a “sleeping partner” now; Ruapehu shows some heat at intervals in the lake on its ice-rimmed crater, and Ngauruhoe has an occasional harmless smoke. It is claimed for this park—with its majesty of mountain scenery, beautiful forests, little lakes, and the varied play of water in colourful streams and cascades—that it has nearly every type of New Zealand's inland scenery.

At the fringe of the park is the heart-shaped lake of Taupo, seventeen miles in width and twenty-five in length, the largest lake of New Zealand, in a splendid setting. Taupo and its tributaries offer the world's best rainbow trout to the angler.

A Reminder of Killarney.

This middle zone of the North Island includes star-pointed Lake Waikaremoana, to which whole booklets have been devoted. Its ferny dells and the murmuring play of its tributary streams make Irishmen think of Killarney. Here is an ideal place for a restful holiday, with the refreshing tonic of beauty.

Wanganui River's Call.

In its course of 140 miles from the centre of the North Island to the sea, the Wanganui River gives some world-famed scenes. Here is a versifier's tribute:

Famous New Zealand Scenes-North Island
(Rly. Publicity photos.)
Above: Glimpse of Whangaroa Harbour. Below: Mt. Egmont from Pukekura, New Plymouth.

Famous New Zealand Scenes-South Island
(Rly. Publicity photos.)
Above: Lake Ada, Milford Track. Below: Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman, from Lake Matheson.

The Wanganui River winds through miles of verdant banks
Where tree-ferns stand like sentinels in splendid serried ranks;
And through the leafy aisles you see the crests of noble hills,
And hear the roar of waterfalls and songs of birds and rills.

The “Tower of Taranaki.”

Japanese visitors have gone specially to Taranaki to gaze in wonderment at the noble cone of Egmont, a rival of their own venerated Fujiyama. This peak, standing in princely solitude far away from other mountains, wears an evergreen mantle of native forest below its crystal crown, which is raised 8260ft. above the sea. This extinct volcano is a monument of peace on the place where the fire-demons had their battles long ages ago.

The “Garden Provinces.”

Marlborough and Nelson, in the South Island, are distinctly “Garden Provinces.” With its wide-spread apple orchards, Nelson sent nearly a million cases of fruit overseas in one season. Nelson has two jewel lakes, Rotoroa and Rotoiti, the health-giving hot springs of Maruia, and the Buller River, which winds through many miles of wild woodlands among high mountains.

Highways of Delight.

The road from Nelson to the West Coast has charmed many tourists. “Every turn of the road opens up a vista of beauty as fresh now as it was long centuries ago,” runs one tribute.

Between Westport and Greymouth the way lies for miles through natural avenues of treeferns, nikau palms, and tall native trees. The mountains on one side and the sea on the other flank are in a beauty competition to hold the traveller's gaze.

Below Hokitika—the route to Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers—is the renowned scenic highway which has won the most glowing praise from many distinguished travellers. “This is the most beautiful drive that can be found anywhere,” remarked Lord Craigavon.

Surprise of Franz Josef.

Franz Josef Glacier is always a splendid surprise to all tourists. They hope for much, and receive more than they expect. Just think of this huge course of ice, that carries its crystal freight within 700 feet of sea-level, and has its sparkling face framed in emerald of forest which has sub-tropical luxuriance.

Sister Fox, a few miles to the south, has similar charm.

Through the Alps.

Altogether, New Zealand's railways, which give easy access to the principal scenic, sporting and health resorts, can claim to be scenic, but of course some sections are more scenic than others. A particularly picturesque line from the West Coast traverses the Southern Alps, pierced by an electrified tunnel 5 1/4 miles in length (the longest of the British Empire), goes through colossal gorges, and crosses the forty-mile wide plain of Canterbury, notable for its very pleasant farming landscapes.

Majesty of Mt. Cook.

Has the world a better alpine playground than the Mt. Cook region offers in all seasons? Apparently not—according to the testimony of many famous travellers. The well-known alpinist, Marcel Kurz, gave this tribute: “I search my memory in vain for a mountain in the Swiss Alps that could replace Mt. Cook with advantage … We blase Europeans can find in these New Zealand mountains satisfaction that Europe's Alps deny us henceforth. Here the unknown, the novel, meet still at each step.”

Mt. Cook (12,350ft.) has a retinue of noble peaks and stupendous glaciers. Here, too, are vast snowfields for ski sport.

Lakes of Enchantment.

Who would not cross the world to see the southern lakes? Think of the blue serpentine of Wakatipu, thrown in a stretch of fifty-two miles, along the base of those beautiful sierras, which have been well named “The Remarkables,” and other mountain grandeur! Think of many-isled Manapouri, which reflects the proud beauty of the Cathedral Peaks! Think of three-armed Te Anau which reaches into forested Fiordland!

“The World's Wonder Walk.”

A road is being made from Te Anau to Milford Sound, but in the meanwhile this route continues to be known as “The World's Wonder Walk,” three days of bewitchment by Nature, who has set a rapturous wealth of properties on this stage. Here she uses the best of her arts and crafts to charm mankind. Here is the tremendous Clinton Canyon, where titanic glaciers did their gigantic carving in the Ice Age; here is the McKinnon Pass, which commands far-spread panoramas of alpine splendour; here is the flashing Sutherland Fall, an irridiscent drop of 1900ft.; here is the magic mirror of Lake Ada.

Marvellous Milford—and Others.

Milford Sound and other islets of the West Coast surpass Norway's fiords in scenic lute because their overpowering grandeur is allied with the vivid greenery of varied vegetation—ferns and mosses, shrubs and trees. Here is Nature's enormous sculpture of the Lion, a monstrous figure whose shaggy head is 3000 feet above the water—a colossus which makes a pigmy of Egypt's famous Sphinx. Here, too, is that noble spire, more than a mile high, well named the Mitre. Ramparts of granite have a sheer rise of 3000 to 5000 feet from the deep Sound. Waterfalls flash from the battlements.

This scrappy narrative of selected scenes does meagre justice to New Zealand. The parts chosen are as single jewels unstrung. In Nature's artistry they are linked by light and colour in unbroken sequence.