Public Relations

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24986, 21 September 1946, Page 6

Public Relations

When the Christchurch City Council a few months ago appointed a public relations officer it was not breaking new ground in the field of local government, even for New Zealand. On the whole the Dominion has followed with some caution behind those countries where, public relations being rated among the new sciences, all public bodies and most private ones maintain a public relations officer or a public relations staff. It has been said that in the United States “ everyone has a public relations ** counsel except the public ”: and the slight bitterness of this quip suggests that the new “ science ”

has not wholly escaped ridicule or conquered prejudice. The truth is that it can be used to the disadvantage as well as to the advantage of the public. It is as open to abuse by an unscrupulous commercial

organisation as the related “ arts ” of salesmanship and advertising. It can be misused by a public body for political purposes. On both counts it has come under suspicion in America and elsewhere.

On neither count can the appointment of Mr T. H. Langford by the Christchurch City Council be attacked. The council has nothing to sell, except the idea of better citizenship, and if it had wanted a political propagandist it would not have appointed t. man whose political opinions and affiliations are not its own. It is to the credit of the council that it did not allow politics to stand in the way of the appointment of the man it considered best qualified for the position. Mr Langford has tackled his new task with the energy and competence that marked his work in the transport industry. It has been made clear that neither he nor the council takes a narrow view of his field of activities. If it were,- for instance, to be merely that of publicising the work of the council and its departments, probably a different man would have been appointed. Mr Langford takes as hig field anything that concerns the progress of the city and the welfare of its citizens.

It so happens that he has been compelled to devote much of his time since his appointment to industrial development. Commercial and industrial undertakings of all kinds, New Zealand and oversea, are seeking room to establish or expand in the Dominion. Christchurch has many advantages to offer them; but the information has to be brought to their notice. Mr Langford has been able to give reliable and impartial advice on available sites; he has made it his business to obtain the mass of detailed ' information which a company establishing a new industry must have; and he has been active in Inducing local bodies and Government departments to co-operate in making the establishment and conduct of such industries as easy as possible. This in itself is almost a full-time task. Previously it had to be done by the council’s executive officers. There is no reason to think that the work was not done well; but it was making everincreasing demands on the time of men who have other heavy responsibilities and big departments to administer.

Co-operation, Mr Langford told the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, is his objective. Rightly, that has not prevented him from being outspoken about things in the city, z and further afield, which appear to him to warrant criticism. He has spoken bluntly about the desecration, in various ways, of the beauty of Christchurch, about the need for some of our secondary industries to achieve a higher standard of quality, about the need for immigration—and his department is taking independent steps to encourage immigrants of the best type—and about some of the absurdities of the local government set-up in Christchurch. If Mr Langford can arouse the public conscience on the£e matters he will be doing good , service to the city. He may do more. Should the proposed permanent local government commission not appear to promise sufficiently positive and rapid reform of the irrational system, the City Council might well consider employing Mr Langford to jrganise reform within the framework of the present statutes. There is good reason to believe that many urban areas of Christchurch remain outside the fity only because it has so far been nobody’s business to arrange the tiresome formalities and to state clearly, to all concerned, the case for amalgamation.