NEED FOR PUBLICITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 11

NEED FOR PUBLICITY.

£ V ft '4 DOMINION'S ATTRACTIONS. ' - - - i - LITTSLE KNOWN ABROAD. '.-' . ' ; . ; -' AMERICAN INDIFFERENCE. " New Zealand is not ? known to the , world," declared Mr. C.'Rhodes, on landing from the Makura yesterday after a"• six months' visit to tie United States.... Few outsiders, he said, could even place it on the map. Many well-informed persons frankly admitted that they knew little about New Zealand, ; while ordinary folks were in a condition of benighted ignorance about us. Some had a hazy : idea that New Zealand was the home of socialistic and curious legislation, but could not mention the volume or type of our staple products. -'J The New Zealander abroad, said Mr. Rhodes, was struck by the complete absence of any reference to New Zealand ' among the mass of pamphlets and advertisements available regarding otivr countries. Another noticeable point was the blark, though somewhat polite, stare of doubt and amazement when a New Zea- , lander attempted to compare favourably the scenic advantages, climate, and life in , his country with that of other Dominions. " The newspapers have no interest in us," said Mr. Rhodes, " and the publication of New Zealand news is confined almost to a reference to a passing Prime Minister, or maybe a severe earthquake, if there had been an earth tremor in Wellington, Christchurch, or Taupo." ' '" What we need," Mr. Rhodes declared, " is a real campaign of advertising to attract population and tourists, the latter to spend some , money on our scenic routes and become our principal 'boosters' in the outside world "and add to its general pro-. ductivity. The campaign means considerable expenditure to make information easily available and to fire the imagination of possible settlers." '

SOME AMUSING} ERRORS.

"NEW ZEALAND IN AUSTRALIA."

Some specific instances showing th» need for a wide advertising campaign in the interests of New Zealand were quoted yesterday by Mr. H. O. Wiles, of Auckland, who returned by the R.M.B. Makura, (liter a four months' visit to the United States. Mr. Wiles said that as near ;as Suva the principal. hotels had views of the • mountains of America, but there was nothing to show- that v. the ' Southern Alps - were so near at hand. In the United ; States, ' even ' the offices of some of the shipping companies "were unable to give reliable information. One passenger by the Makura went to., the shipping office in Cleveland and asked to bo booked to Auckland, lie was told he would have to go to Sydney as the nearest port, and was given a "return , ticket by a direct American steamer to Sydney, at a : charge. of y 100 dollars more than the trip to New Zealand would cost. This, however, was- rectified on - -.the. , Pacific Coast. Of two exporters with whom Mr. Wiles conversed one thought New Zealand was off the coast of Scotland, while the other, imagined that it. was somewhere near Java. . Mr. Wiles, also had.,.th<i experience of endeavouring to have a cable- v '.» gram sent to Auckland. . The bperator insisted that New Zealand .was in Australia, and Mr. Wiles was at some pains to explain that Australia ■ was an island off the coast of New .aland before he could convince the operator ; that.: the message should be sent direct.":'..;'.. ■

•• As a small contribution toward tfcs desired propaganda, Mr, Wiles has arranged to have views bf the Southern : Alps and other attractions hung at the University of California •: and Michigan'J University, Chicago, as well as at a number iof prominent hotels ; in, the, United' States. ".