IS NEW ZEALAND WELL KNOWN?

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 13948, 3 January 1906, Page 8

IS NEW ZEALAND WELL KNOWN?

> . THE “ALL BLACKS” AS AN 3 ADVERTISING MEDIUM. 1 [FROM UuR CORRESPONDENT.] l LONDON, November 24. “ A New Zealand visitor complained tx , me the other day that people in the 01< . Country know very little about thei: 5 colonial possessions, and he quoted ! personal experience of ludicrous ignor • auco on the part of an Englisnmun ii 1 support of his statement. When,- ii : ■ reply, I told him bow many agencies ii - London alone ’were at work distribut 7 ing information about the colonies al - through the United Kingdom, h< t seemed considerably surprised, and cer 5 tainly moderated his tone. It shoulc . always be remembered that in making . colonies known to the home-dwelt s ing Britons, you have to reckon with s i population of nearly fifty millions. It it surprising that amongst this ©nor- . mous number there are many in a state ' of dense ignorance about New Zealand ' or Australia.? Even amongst the edu- ’ cated classes one finds them, and Mi > Seddon has probably not forgotten the i invitation he once received from a Dub- • lin lady to attend her reception in his i “ native costume.” But the great bulk • of the educated people in this country ! have at least a general idea of the , various characteristics of the colonies, and when once their interest is ! aroused, are intelligent inquirers and appreciative listeners on colonial topics. [ And there are many channels -through which this information filters in a ■ steadily-growing stream. To take the case of New Zealand, the High Commissioner’s Department ’ each year issues thousands of leaflets, ■ advertises the advantages of the colony from a settler’s point of view in a . couple of hundred provincial papers, • and supplies lantern slides for at least a hundred lectures on New Zealand in every part of the Kingdom. Then there is a great army of shipping agents, thousands of them, whose interests lie in inducing people to book ■ passages to the colonies. The direct shipping companies, too, do much to advertise New Zealand in speciallywritten pamphlets, articles and lectures, designed to induce emigration to the colony. Visitors from New Zealand who are spending their holidays in the Old Land, and they come over each summer in constantly increasing numbers, form a valuable advertising medium, for the great bulk of them are loud in praise of “the Britain of the South.” There is a permanent Court of New Zealand products at the Crystal Palace, where two or three million of people go in the course of a year ; there is another at the Imperial Institute, though I fear this is not very much in the public eye. There is an" exhibition of colonial products at Liverpool every year, where New Zealand cuts a leading figure, and similar exhibitions are coming into vogue in other parts of the country. The New Zealand products now sold in such quantities in the Home markets help to draw attention to the colony, and make its resources known. Every le°; of “prime Canterbury,” every pound of choice Taranaki butter, when retailed as such to the consumer, is a first-rate advertisement. There is a Colonial Office to look .after the “ high politics ” of the colony, and a branch of the Colonial Office, viz., the Emigration Office, supplies pamphlets and; leaflets on New Zealand to every provincial post office, and to every inquirier. The Royal Colonial Institute, withits splendid library and its monthly winter lectures forms another advertising medium for the colony. The Board of Trade’s intelligence department is constantly employed in collecting statistics and commercial information from every colony, and answering questions addressed to them by business men the resources of the 'oversea dominions. The High Commissioner for New Zealand has a seat on the Advisory Board of the Board of Trade. The London newspapers do not give as much space as some of us think they should to colonial affairs, but even so New Zealand is constantly cropping up in - the papers of the metropolis, while the provincial journals devote a considerable amount of attention to the colony. Mr Seddon is as well-known to English readers as are Mr Chamberlain and Mr Balfour. The League of the Empire Is also doing admirable work in awakening amongst' the school children of this country an interest in the colonies. Much more might be done in this direction, however, with profit to the Imperial connection, and it is a great pity that English schools do not devote mere time to the teaching of colonial history and geography. Then there is the penny pest, one of the most valuable of all the links of Empire. Upon the many advantages accruing from its adoption between New Zealand and the Old Country there is no need to enlarge. Suffice it to say that they all make for closer knowledge and a better mutual understanding, from which spring sympathy, a:.d tolerance, and affection. And this year we are fortunate in having over here what is proving perhaps the best advertisement of al!— the New Zealand football team. The “ All Blacks’ ” triumphal progress through the Old Country has excited a degree of attention and interest regarding New Zealand for which 1 know no parallel in previous years. They have brought the colony nearer home to the people here than even the war in Sputn Africa did. Their pace, their skill, their grand physique arrest attention wherever they go, and set people asking for information about the colony which produces this type of vigorous young manhood. Throng] their triumphs on the football field thename of New Zealand has become r household word throughout the United Kingdom, and the fact that a man i> a New Zealander is a better pa&sp';>‘ just now than a dozen letters of int r e duction. People look at a kinsman of the famous “ All Blacks ” with a nev interest, and almost invariably follow up their first introduction with the question, “ "Why is it that your follows win?” So I think it will be acknowledged from all this that just now, at airrate, there is no lack of interest in this country regarding Now Zealand, and no lack of channels through which information may flow. The great thim is to awaken people’s interest. Unless they have business or social relati'nwith the colonies, they will not troubito acquire detailed information about them-—which, after all, is very natnrJ. ! The visits of the Antipodean crick c and football teams arouse the horn' dwellers’ interest in things colonial and so serve a useful purpose; but r less transient and therefore more patent influence is that exerted by intro Imperial trade and the personal inter course of the Empire’s citizens. T< devote cur energies to improving and extending trade relations betwee’ mother-land and daughter-state, am to increasing the facilities for bridgin; the distance between their peoplesthat is the best way to advertise tin colony, and to ensure the maintenanc of a sane and vigorous Imperial spirit