N.Z. Display In London Held “Incredibly Bad”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29474, 28 March 1961, Page 14

N.Z. Display In London Held “Incredibly Bad”

(New Zealand Press Association!

AUCKLAND, March 27. The current New Zealand display at the Commonwealth Institute in London was described as incredibly bad by Professor A. G. Davis, professor of law at Auckland University, in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club today.

New Zealand was illpublicised in Britain, said Professor Davis, who has recently returned after a year’s sabbatical leave overseas He had been amazed at the average Englishman’s ignorance of New Zealand. The display at the Commonwealth Institute was an example of the lack of real publicity, he said. “I was impressed by its very badness,” he said. Professor Davis said the display consisted of 28 photographs on a revolving stand (“most of them out of date”), old pictures of Mr Nash, the late Sir William Jordan, and Sir Carl Berendson, models of a dairy factory and a shearing shed with no explanations of the processes, some panoramic views, a case of Maori carvings, some greenstone and paua shell, a statue of John Robert Godley, and a relief map of New Zealand showing the NapierGisborne railway as a “definite project.” “It was a very poor display Compared with other countries.” he said. “That for Hong Kong was far superior."

Professor Davis said that the Australian display, which was far better than New Zealand's, had a note of apology on it saying that when the new institute was built, it would have a display worthy of the country. “The director of the Institute (Mr K. Bradley) is now in New Zealand trying to stimulate interest in furnishing the new New Zealand court for the new building,” said Professor Davis. “I can only hope that Mr Bradley’s efforts will meet with success. and that the people responsible for arranging the display will take the hint.”