RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31681, 17 May 1968, Page 16

RANDOM REMINDER

STINKING FISH

We have all been told, fairly frequently, that the tourist industry is of considerable importance to New Zealand’s economy. Anything designed to promote interest in New Zealand would, one thought, be welcomed. Particularly if it does not involve the home guard in any costs. A large oil company was making a film on New Zealand, for overseas distribution, recently. One of the characters in it was a successful South Island fisherman. Perhaps he was

a fictional character. At all events, the producers required some shots of typical South Island fish being caught in a typical South Island setting by their South Island hero. So application was made to a local authority for permission to extract three salmon briefly from a spawning pond to star in the film. An official of a Government department authorised the use of the fish. Next day a trip was made to the spawning pond to take the fish. An official of a local body

there said that the Government department had, from Wellington, countermanded the order, and permission to take the fish was refused. So this piece of publicity will be shown on overseas screens with a satisfactorily large but unsatisfactorily dead salmon, provided by a local fisherman, on the end of a line and in waters ruffled by artificial methods in an attempt to recapture the thrill of conflict. It mightn’t win an Oscar. Nor will the Government department.