NATIONAL PUBLICITY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 201, 25 August 1919, Page 10

NATIONAL PUBLICITY.

(To the Editor.l | Sir, —The far-reaching dislocation ot our national life involved by the railway restrictions due to the coal shortage! suggests, tht desirability of 'having a department of public information. If the public had been taken earlier into the confidence of the authorities, the shock would not have been so serious, and by helping co-operation the drastic effects might have been lessened, lias i every effort been made ,to procure men I for the coal mines? Have there been any systematic steps taken to make widely known the community necessity, of a plentiful supply of coal? Ordinary j Government red tape methods or conservative business practices are not sufficient in such a crisis. During the war the Government of Great Britain, I I'nited States, and Canada inaugurated! ! Departments of Public Information.! j There is as much value and opportunity I for their existence in time of peace as j in time of war. Time and again, when! i the nsul procedure failed and outside I help in publicity and advertising was i called in, remarkable successes weTe achieved. The results in the enrolment of men for Kitchener's Army were recognised by the authorities as chiefly due to the use of effective advertising-. I Mr. IJoyxl Giorge personally thanked! Mr. Horatio Bottomley for the splendid response brought about by Poster! Publicity. Likewise it is admitted that the success of the British War Loan campaigns was made possible by the employment of sound publicity methods. President Wilson publicly testified to the splendid work and assistance rendered by the advertL-in<r men in the! American "Win the War"' efforts. The I experience all over the world where j advertising , rai given a fair trial was! that iunds for all kinds of patriotic purposes coulj be raised -with a lower cost and !<_.. effort than by any other method. There are many occasions when valuable facts and information could be supplied by the Government. This would allay much dissatisfaction and avoid I misunderstandings. The publication of! such matter requires to be entrusted to I qualified people because advertising to j one of the comparatively young profes-' sions which has developed into one of the sciences. | We are livrfig in stirring times, and' national propaganda in a legitimate manner could be made of value as a part of the reconstruction campaign. The problems of unemployment would possibly be solved by the harnessing of publicity to the national service. Just note instances of what was done iv .1

j England. The British Admiralty asked I the Labour Department for men for | shipyards, and were informed that there j were no men available for the purpose. The matter was presented to those who understood the art of advertising, and in some few days so many men were secured for the shipyards that many of them had to be sent back home again until housing accommodation could be j fouiul for them. The same Department ; again was asked to obtain women as J manageresses in the Army and Navy . j Canteen Department. The- Ministry inj formed the Department that there were no such women to be got, but in twentyj four hours some . 700 women were ■ secured and 50 were taken on as i manageresses. Again, in obtaining : women for the \V.A.A.C."s and the j'W.R.E.N.'s the Land Army, etc., outside methods had to be called in. Just now, when civilisation and demoI cracy are on trial and constitutional l government is even getting so many I knocks, has the community no organised agency to stand up. in defence of some | of our undoubted advantages and the observance of lawful and orderly forms of progress? A few thousand pounds wisely spent now might save millions | |of pounds of loss and inconvenience to j the public, and avoid considerable j industrial unrest. —I am, etc., G. M. FOYVLDS.