Directory Has S.L As “Unwanted Appendage”

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30274, 29 October 1963, Page 16

Directory Has S.L As “Unwanted Appendage”

Listings of New Zealand businesses in a world-wide business directory published in New York were yet another example of the slap-happy way in which some of New Zealand’s overseas publicity was handled, the president of the South Island Publicity Association (Mr H. P. Smith) has said, according to an article in “SIPA News,” the association’s bulletin. “According to International Yellow Pages, a world-wide business directory published in New York, no newspapers are published in the South Island and ail the country’s attorneys live in the North Is'and, together with all the auctioneers. Airline companies confine their activities to the North too (we

always knew that, of course) and although there are banks in Christehurch (as well as the North Island) there are none in Dunedin,” the article in the bulletin says. ‘ Booksellers evidently find that it is not worth while to establish branches in the iiJHterate South Island, and even brassiere manufacturers confine their activities to the North. In fact, all the clothing factories in New Zealand are situated in the North Island. Compiled In Auckland "And so it goes on, a long list of facilities in the North Island as opposed to a pathetically inadequate list for the South. But it is not the fault of the publishers, as S.I.P.A. found out when it wrote to the manager of “Yellow Pages” to point out these shortcomings. Yes, that’s right. The New Zealand section of the directory was compiled by an Auckland research firm.” The article, says the association's chief executive officer (Mr M. F. Foote) has offered has assistance to the directory publishers in compiling a full list of South Island facilities for the next edition. Another item in the bulletin refers so the annual report of tfce Bank of New Zealand, and says the association has written a letter of complaint about it to the bank.

The report, the items says, was a glossy beautitfuHyprinted publication with six photographs, three in colour, of the North Island. There were no photographs of the South. “To add insult to injury, two maps show where New Zealand's imports come from and where our exports go to. In both maps, tines lank many parts of the North Island to different overseas countries to show toe trade arteries. "But toe poor little South Island, neglected and forlorn, is an unwanted appendage below toe North. No arteries link it to the outer world. It is evidently just a large slab of barmen rock, incapable of supporting life," toe article says.