UGLY HOARDINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 5

UGLY HOARDINGS

IN PLACE OF TREES

"TIME TO CALL HALT"

Strong condemnation o*f the ugliness of roadside hoardings was voiced by Captain S. Holm, president of the Wellington Beautifying Society, at its annual meeting last night. He named the Railway Department as the chief offender.

The society should speak strongly on the question of advertising hoardings, said Captain Holm. Its trees on the Hutt Road were growing, and in a few years would look exceedingly well, but hoardings were growing faster, and in some cases trees had been dug up to make room for them. The biggest offender was the Railway Department, said Captain Holm, and he thought it was time a halt was called. If the society could increase its membership to a substantial figure the Government would take notice of its protests. He considered the railway hoardings a disgrace to the country, and he commented on the fact that the Railway Department was actively favourable to beautifying on one hand, while hiding the beauty of the countryside with hoardings on the other. The £50,000 per annum which he understood the Railway Department gained from hoardings was ill-earned money. The Government should declare certain roads and highways scenic routes, and prohibit advertising on them. That was a question the society would have to take up seriously.

Another thing, the Government should prohibit, Captain Holms considered, was the fixing of hoardings to Government buildings. "What was the use, he asked, of building a beautiful new railway station in Wellington, if they were going to plaster the walls with advertising, the same as was done with the old stations?