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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 2 (May 1, 1935)

Arthur Richmond Atkinson

Arthur Richmond Atkinson.

The Atkinsons were a family distinguished in public life and in the literary world. One of Sir Harry's nephews was Mr. Arthur Richmond Atkinson, who died in Wellington on March 26 of this year, at the age of seventy-two. He was Taranaki-born, the son of Mr. A. S. Atkinson, himself a man of note in Maori research. The family became residents of Nelson, which has always been a centre of culture in New Zealand, and it was there that A. R. Atkinson received the first impetus towards the scholarly life. Oxford gave him the literary tastes which became the great interest of his career, although he took up the profession of the law. He served on local governing bodies and in the New Zealand Parliament, and was a leader in social reform during his forty years and more in Wellington, but the work which called forth his highest qualities of brain and soul was his journalistic writings. He was a leader-writer for the “Evening Post” for, I think, quite thirty years, and daily newspaper work of this kind calls for knowledge wide and deep and varied, as well as for great industry. As book reviewer, under the pen-name “Ajax,” Mr. Atkinson did a very great deal to help forward New Zealand literature, and many a colonial writer has cause to remember him with lasting gratitude. “Ajax,” unlike many reviewers, really took the trouble to read the books he dealt with. He was a pleasant, loveable man, ever ready to help a cause for the public betterment, and out of the richness of his scholarship ever generous with his wise and kindly counsel.

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Where Nature Charms and Cures: Told by the Camera Ohinemutu, on the shore of Lake Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.

Where Nature Charms and Cures: Told by the Camera Ohinemutu, on the shore of Lake Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.

(Rly. Publicity photos.) The fine Sanatorium and grounds at Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand. When the Rotorua flats were mostly a manuka wilderness, bubbling with springs of varying temperatures and swathed with steam, to “take the waters” at Rotorua was an adventure. Each bather had to be his own thermometer. But fifty years have brought a revolution, and have made these wonderful waters safe and salutary for everyone, while the scenic assets are available to the tourist at moderate cost with all modern comforts. Do New Zealanders fully realise it? The manuka wilderness has given place to the sanatorium here pictured. The landscape beauty of Ohinemutu, disclosed in the other photograph, is perfect.

(Rly. Publicity photos.)
The fine Sanatorium and grounds at Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.
When the Rotorua flats were mostly a manuka wilderness, bubbling with springs of varying temperatures and swathed with steam, to “take the waters” at Rotorua was an adventure. Each bather had to be his own thermometer. But fifty years have brought a revolution, and have made these wonderful waters safe and salutary for everyone, while the scenic assets are available to the tourist at moderate cost with all modern comforts. Do New Zealanders fully realise it? The manuka wilderness has given place to the sanatorium here pictured. The landscape beauty of Ohinemutu, disclosed in the other photograph, is perfect.