HOARDINGS ON ROADSIDES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27642, 26 April 1955, Page 10

HOARDINGS ON ROADSIDES

MINISTER OPPOSED TO BAN

CASES OF “ASSISTANCE TO MOTORISTS”

“The Press” Special Service

AUCKLAND, April 25. Roadside hoardings, properly placed, did not distract motorists or hold their attention as much as scenic features, the Minister of Railways (Mr J. K. McAlpine) said, in a letter to the Matamata County Council. The council has been attemp+ing to ban roadside hoardings from it.? roads, including railway advertising. < »pies of its correspondence with the ; inister were received at a meeting of the Automobile Association (Auckland). The Minister suggested that there were sound reasons for retaining advertising. He refused to ban hoardings “properly placed.” “There are numerous cases.” he wrote, “where, far from creating a road hazard, advertising hoardings by their position assist motorists by indicating a curve at the end of a long straight.

“Hoardings are designed in the main for long-distance observations, and it is generally agreed that properlyplaced hoardings do not distract or hold attention as much as scenic or other physical features might do.” The council replied: “Throughout the country the Transport Department and the automobile associations have sought to bring in a system of standard road signs, and the suggestion that a hoarding is useful as a road sign is regarded by the council as ridiculous. “Regarding the suggestion that a hoarding does not detract from the natural beauty of the countryside, is it not correct that such a view would be held only by those who have a financial interest, including the State department which is prepared to sell the natural heritage of the people?” The council said the Railways Department’s policy would seriously hinder the campaign of many county councils against hoardings. The Automobile Association will write to the Minister supporting the county council.