MORE PUBLICITY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 63, 11 September 1924, Page 5

MORE PUBLICITY

ADVERTISING NEW] ZEALAND.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCEJDEAS

PLACED BEFORE PRIME MINISTER,

Suggestions for the better advertising of New Zealand overseas were placed before the Prime Minister and the Minister of .Commerce to-day by a Targe de-' putation representing the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and other associated chambers. The views of tha chamber, which have already_been pub-

lished for the most part, were presented by Mr. H. D. Bennett, who urged the necessity for adequate publicity for the Dominion's undoubted attractions, scenic, and otherwise. The speaker remindedthe Ministers of the immense volume of. tourist traffic in the world, and the-, amount of money it represented in expenditure. New Zealand was entitled to' a greater share of the patronage -of these travellers, but could not'expect it till the country was better advertised. He referred particularly to America. ''We cannot expect a "bargain sale' rush in the first year or two,:' said .Mr. Bennett; "in fact, this would not suit us at all—for our accommodation would have to bear too great a strain, but once a steady stream of tourists has been -in* duced to flow here, the accommodation, and service offered would soon accord with the wants of these travellers, for the proprietors o£ the various hostels are not going to be blind to the business waiting them at their doors: ■ In;; the meantime we must look to the present accommodation being expanded, and where necessary brought up-to-date. Licensees_ now complain of ...their;.inability to raise money at anything like reasonable rates for extending ■ the accom-. modation of their premises,.. but :we would venture to observe, that, a;tourist traffic of sufficient dimensions will-in

the long run give such a.certain-and remunerative return that accommodation will be given first place, and not be a, secondary consideration, as is only too often the case now,, and any difficulties as to finance in t)iis direction will disappear, but it will be several years before the full effect of publicity'.will;.be. felt to this extent. '."';' '■'■'■■

"The steps taken in the past to -develop our country-will be as nothing i'o the development that we can expect from tho tourist traffic, and publicity will pay us handsomely. New, money will be bj-ought into the country in sums that should overshadow.,our..prinuiry production pi. to-day, and' [ our railways, and other ' services •by their greater use should show a correspondingly better return,' and with a 'greater... proportion of our farm produce being disposed of within the country, so out farmers' are going to save ', " the '' ocesiu; freights that they pay at present .when' marketing foodstuffs abroad. ■■'■- ''At' present our tourist-traffic is verysmall, and exists over only a very few. months of the. year. We have a climate which would permit of a twelvemonths' steady tourist traffic, and this should be our aim. We have the scenery—we have but to make it known."

ATA COST OF £100,000 ' He read the following resolutions of the Chamber:— (1.) That if be a recommendation to,.the Government that. the..preseht. Publicity Office be strengthened " and adequately financed ■ and that the development of Tourist Traffic and Dominion Publicity be made matters for its immediate concern. (2.) That it be a recommendation to the Government that a sum of £100,000 per year should.be allotted for this purpose. ■ .' . ' ■ .•■■ (3.) That for the purpose of providing; the necessary funds, this Chamberpledges itself nob to oppose the retention for ■ a reasonable period ,of the primage duty of 1 per xent. now' being imposed. .. ■ ... .r _.....: A substantial sum, he proceeded, i would W required; to achieve the desired result. They were not unmindful of the service rendered by the Depart-ment'to-day, but they realised titat it was handicapped by lack of finance. .The benefits derived from the* Wembley' Exhibition would largely disappear without a sustained effort to- 'follow. Let New Zealand do a little"win<low-dresß-ing. No one could saythat he was.disV appointed unless it was with the accommodation and transport in New Zealand. Greater numbers of visitors would be followed, by greater activities. The lack of publicity was appalling. At this stage Mr. Massey reminded the deputation that he had'other, deputations to follow. ,

Mr. Bennett remarked. that a. visitor, coming from America on one of the re-gular-ships had stated that he was able to pick up aboard ship hundreds of pamphlets about every, other : country but New Zealand. He suggested New Zealand should follow the methods pursued in regard to Hawaii. Even Australia beat New Zealand in the advertising of her resources. ■'••-■ ■ •--- - . In conclusion, Mr. ■ -Bennett! read, "'a.: series . of telegrams and letters from chambers of commerce and local bodies strongly supporting the proposals of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.. .. ... ■■ PRIME MINISTER'S" REPLY.; ' In his reply, the Prime Minister .'said that a great deal more was being ; donp in regard to publicity than i-he -public in New Zealand was apparently aware of. The great Empire Exhibition, at Wembley, with its millions of visitors, was a standing advertisement for ■tho .Dominion, and the Publicity' Department was doing very good work journalistically, in the shape of articles in the newspapers and magazines in regard to .the Dominion. The interests of the country were being pushed on every possible occasion. .'.What he might call journalistic advertising was a most effective form ot publicity—the article in. the newspaper or magazine or the letter eating attention to some development in -New Zealand;'. Personally, when he was in England, he had been overwhelmed with requests" to write something about the Dominion, and to the best of his ability, with the little' time at his disposal, he had complied. Ho thought it had had a good effect: Quite recently he had completed an article on New Zealand -for "Whitaker's Almanac" at the request of the publishers, and that was a publication which - circulated in every ■ English-speaking-country in the world. "Our men in Loridon," said Mr. Massey;. "are very good at thai sort of thing. Scores.of articles appear in the English newspapers, either written or inspired, about this country,aud I am speaking of tho principal papers too. I am sure they are..having, their effect." ............. ....... ...,......-■ In regard to the steamer service from America; Mr. Massey said that the-ships-w.ere"J. comfortable enough, but they.aU' way!;'seemed to "be full--when he was travelling.- Perhaps the new ship, tho Aoraixgi, would.make the difference. The company.would, no doubt, meet require-hient-s as they arose. For those who had plenty of time to spare- Mi\ Massey advocated the Panama route .as the.._indst> comfortable. . - -1 .: ' . With regard to advertising, there were ,tnang gagjjderaiiaaa *a be taksa ffita as*

count. He believed.> it was worth while spending a. certain amount of money, but it was just- as well, he was in charge of the'eashbox at present, or he was afraid that;;itT,wou,ld/not last very long. Any money -required for advertising the country would/come, out of the Consolidated Sund,- while for public works and other loans were required. It was hard to keep public expenditure within > decent limits with' so many demands. -Money was heeded for housing; for instance, .and. .Wellington certainly had its problem—in.-thatr - respect. But they should not think that nothing was being done by way of publicity. Ask anybody put'of New Zealand. -..< Mr. Bennett: "That is just the point.' Some, say they'were-told that New Zea- | land.1 was' attached to the tail of Aus- . tralia. Have-not you said that New Zealand shquld.be better5 known?" . ', Mr. Massey.:/'"Well, 'I have' done my. 'tiest'.'to'linake,';the .country „knowii.; I; spoke/ over a hundred times on my last visit to tho Old Country." . '■■■'. . '■ •/■■ A: delegate :• "Practically nothing is being done'with regard;' to America. There you have 122 millions' of a population with nine millions in Canada. Those sire the. people ;we want to do business with. ■'.•■■'.■ --...■ . -..-■■ Mr. Massey: "If America will reduce her tariff, then something can be done." Mr ; Jno. Myers: "Tourist traffic from the United States into Canada has trebled in the last few/years." / Mr. Massey: "Do you know the reason?" _ / : ilr. /Myers.:., !'JS To,". .-,;. ',' ; ' My., Massev:,/."Well, America/ is dry,: and: Canada -is--not?' (Laughter.)., In conclusjSi,;. Mr,.. Massey: said that they.'.had, so.nie ;niost enthusiastic men in the Publicity-Department who were only.: too anxious to do something to advertise .New. Zealand in every way pos-. sible.-" ■• ■•—..-/, ' ■ ■..■■'■'■.-■■ MINISTER OF COMMERCE i ;'-■ - - '■- / . „ .:..;. // The Minister of" Commerce (the Hon. G.J. .Anderson), in a brief additional ■statement, strongly defended the ' Publicity Department and its methods. He thought .they were on right lines, arid in that had the support of many cham/bera of commerce. Last yeat 46 papers •3iad articles on New Zealand—papers in. •'all part's of the world,, Over 60 inquiries on ..aii. Average.. were „ received ■monthly,,by, tjie..pffice, from all over the •world,- including America and" Canada : and South .America. ■ ,< : "■'■■ -.-.:.:■■•.■-. ; •■: r Th'ey*,had', spent; a. large, amount of money .last, ,ye,ar „pn _ publicityj and - the Wembley exhibit spoke for itself. The Department was taking the line that moving: pictures for., the cinema,, and still, slide's for the magic, lantern, were the most effective form of .'publicity for the--.mpn.e-y.. - t .They were -not -..-going-; to linance'f'tou'rist_companies in New:* Zealand -in ■advertising" in:the country. 'Private! enterprise,' if it was to be success-; , ful, .•must 'do ;its: share -of advertising. The idea;'was to .provide : ." them with iihns'.arid "lantern slides at *he lowest ' . pogE,ib].e,,..pr.ices,,. ..The. Pepartment had >two...??meras.;:g9ing taking moving pictures, -One .was in---. Central' Otago taking., pictures, of. the.:-orchards. in bloom. They, were going to take pictures.: of Stewart Island and the Southern tourist resorts"in the,'coming, season. 'It was also the'intention to take moving pictures, of the- Wanganui River. A delegate:-."Why not have done it "before?""'..'■..■.:":~";-.,'/■.-.,„.,;' ,'./. . ■ Mr. Anderson •explained that the work, of the-.past twelve- months ./had been largely devoted : to-the, exhibit; at AVem.Lley;:-- ■■';•/, ;:/,'- . ..■■-: ; ' ■:: . ,-",. ' /:: : ASSISTANCE WOULD BE ■'■■"'■"■ - ■■''" Further, . Mr. Anderson spoke of the policy of. the ; Department to, encourage ihe delivery; of lectures1 in different countries onNew Zealand by the lending of "pictures/"'nlms,-"and slides.' He had Jmd /a recent application from Nova Scotia; .They;intended to go on with that sort of -work, and were not-going to put a, half : column in the- paper through any advertising -agency. " We' ■» ant," he said, " 20slworth of publicity for every £1' we spend. I know something about it. It has been "my business all my life.". ... .

The Minister added, that he would any assistance : from : chambers .of commerce'-,or -other bodies... But he did not want to see another huge department built up 'at .a, : great cost, 'and have the chambers charge the Govern-went-with extravagance, All .the money spent'on publicity at present was well spent, and they intended togo along on. those lines. It was no, use bringing American-millionaires to /New Zeafand v;ith their . present-accommodation in tourist" resorts'. It wohld .only give the country, a. bad,,name./ The thing to do -ivas-to improve the accommodation, and; private-enterprise-;cbuld""-do that best ■' You. : will.assist better.on those, lines." Kaitl.the jVliriiste.r:in conclusion, ,'.'than by coming: along ;and suggesting that; we are doing .nothing." ..■-... In returning;.tlianks"-. Mr.-■■Bennett-ex-pressed a regret that the "Minister had 3lOt:b.eeii more sympathetic. The depu-' tation had no intention of suggesting that the Publicity Department had not been doing, yeoman service: They 'were pieased-witlr-what it had done and was aoing, but they- thought the' ■Department should have larger finance to work en. v - ■ ■•; ■ „.-..■: