"INCONSISTENT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 210, 5 September 1930, Page 9

"INCONSISTENT."

ADVERTISING COLOUR BAN

COUNCIL CRITICISED.

EXEMPTION OF POSTERS,

While admitting that some forms of street advertising had been bizarre, advertising and commercial interests of Auckland protest against the City Couneli's ban on colours on the score that it is another form of restricting private enterprise. They also draw attention to an inconsistency in the proposed new by-laws, which permit the free use ot all colours in poster advertising, and yet prohibit the use of certain tints when it comes to ordinary signwriting. "The petition presented to the City Council, signed by 280 business people, speaks for itself," commented the manager of an advertising firm . this morning. "Had there been a little more time for the obtaining of signatures, I believe that 95 per cent of the business community would have supported the petition protesting against any undue restrictions on advertising. Unquestionably there have been some very gaudy and almost objectionable colour schemes used, but anything that unduly restricts the activities of the business community. from pushing their wares should not be- encouraged. The City Council, which is comprised mostly of business people, should recognise the necessity of colour and life in advertising generally." "The City Council has been inconsistent when it comes to licensed hoardings," declared a-sign writer, who has been, associated prominently with the move against the restrictions. "Take Upper Queen Street, for instance. On one side of the street there are,, licensed hoardings, for which the council collects 1/0 a square foot per annum, while on the other side there are ordinary signs. The licensed hoardings will be allowed to embody all the colours imaginable, while the. ordinary forms of advertisement will be restricted to certain colours. The council will have its socalled amenities on one side of the street by imposing restrictions, and yet it will shut its eyes so far as the other side is concerned,, because- the space there is occupied by licensed hoardings, from which it reaps between £2000 and £3000 a year."

The president of .the Auckland Advertising Club, Mr. W. H. V. Taine, said his club had not fully considered the council's proposals as yet, but it felt there was a good deal to be said on both sides.

"In no other city in the world have such restrictions as those proposed by the council been imposed," said Mr. L. S. Kelly, in pointing out that the ban on certain colours would mean unemployment to some men engaged in the sigmvriting business. "The restrictions are so drastic that business must be vitally affected," he said.