HIDEOUS HOARDINGS

Evening Star, Issue 20591, 17 September 1930, Page 8

HIDEOUS HOARDINGS

DUNEDIN PARTY'S “ PROTEST " SIGN THROWN INTO MOLYNEUX RIVER. As a protest against the despoiling of the countryside by large and unsightly advertising hoardings four prominent Dunedin citizens, armed with saws and axes, recently set out on a voyage of destruction. Their object was to clean up the Cromwell Gorge, and they commenced operations on a hoarding a short distance from Clyde. The hoarding was a large one and was firmly fixed, but tho combined efforts of these tour stalwarts eventually saw it dumped into the river. Just at that time a motor cyclist passed along, and he reported what was happening in the Gorge to the local constable. who went out, and the party’s beautifying efforts ceased. One of the leading participants explained to a ‘ Star ’ reporter this afternoon that the action was taken as a protest against the inactivity of the Government in allowing hoardings to be placed on the roadside, thus making the country hideous. When a busy man went for a holiday into the country, he said, he wanted to leave the town and all its associations well behind, but if such signs were to be broadcast all over the country the town was ever present in the traveller’s mind.

The destruction of the hoarding has been reported to the police, and court proceedings.may follow.