The Exhibition in Australia.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18604, 1 February 1926, Page 8

The Exhibition in Australia.

A message which we print to-day from our Sydney correspondent makes it plain that the organisers of the Dune-di-i Exhibition have not made the best use of their opportunities in Australia. : '' the wonders, the exhibits, the " attractions, the facilities of the Exhibition have not yet been brought home to the Australian public, the Exhibition authorities have lost the patronage of thousands of visitors, and the Dominion the services of a big army of advertisers. Cable publicity in such a case is out of the question except on the smelliest scale, but it should have been well worth while to advertise freely and take advantage of the news space that this would have made available. To do this usefully, however, as our correspondent points out, would have involved the employment of an experienced journalist resident in Sydney or Melbourne, and it should still not be too late to correct the original failure at least in part. Regular news paragraphs in the great dailies, if of course they were the right kind of paragraphs, would repay themselves a hundred times over, and it is very unfortunate indeed that the chief holiday season should have been allowed to pass without any effective use of these. There are, of course, others besides the Exhibition authorities who might profitably bestir themselves. The Eaihvay Department, the shipping companies, the motor tour companies, not' only in and around Dunedin, but all over the Dominion, could do a good deal more than is being done at present to attract custom from Australia. We are quite certain, too, that they would do more if they had a. better understanding of the power and profitableness of newspaper publicity. But the trouble is that those who do know in a dim way what newspaper publicity can do, do not usually know that it is a highly specialised art and business combined, and that there is no more profitable expenditure than on the salaries of the men who are experts in the art and are not available except at experts' prices.