BOOST WELLINGTON!

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12249, 22 September 1925, Page 7

BOOST WELLINGTON!

OTHER PROVINCES LEAD IN PUBLICITY WORK GOVERNMENT GRANT OF £50,000? CONTRIBUTION OF FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL Councillor B. C. Aston presided at a conference held at the Town Hall last evening: for the purpose of inaugurating a' campaign to boost Wellington, those present being Messrs A. J. Barnett, G. Troup, A. Leigh Hpnt, S. Edilson (Easftbourne), and H. Messenger, representing the Publicity Department. The general impression conveyed by the discussion was that Wellington has fallen behind other provinces in boosting its attractions, and has suffered in consequence. All distracts south between Napier and New Plymouth are to be invited to join in a scheme to boost Wellington province in other countries, particularly in America and Great Britain.

The chairman explained that some little time ago the City Council appointed a committee consisting of Councillors Troup, Manton, and himself to go into the question of advertising and publicity for Wellington. A report from that committee was submitted to the City Council, and the sum of £SOO voted as the nucleus of the advertising fund. That committee felt, however, that it was more the concern of the district as a whole, rather than for the city itself. It was decided that adjacent boroughs and publio bodies Ehould be invited to send representatives to a meeting. The task before them was of more than local importance. the Government rightly advertising the Dominion with attractions that would cover New Zealand as a whole, DOMINION ATTRACTIONS The work of the committee was to produce 6ome substantial reason why people should settle in the province; tourists, sportsmen, holiday-makers, and others find attractions not surpassed in any other part; while as a shipping, industrial, merchandising, and residential centre, Wellington stands absolutely unequalled. The boroughs adjacent to the city would benefit from a well-directed advertising scheme through the establishment of large manufacturing and industrial concerns ;n their midst, due to the fact that areas of land large enough for this purpose were not available in the city proper. It had been suggested that if a contribution or levy were made by each publio body on the basis of the capital value, supplemented by donations and grants from other sources, a working fund could be created. Taking the capital value of Wellington City as approximately 31 millions, their contribution this year of £SOO for advertising would work out at about 4d in the £IOOO. It was somewhat on this basis that the Canterbury Progress League operated, and apparently was meeting with success. Mr Troup said he thought they should consider the object, and what would be attained by publicity. They desired to bring people to the city and leave their cash behind. The chairman: The Government will bring them, and we will stick to them. Mr Troup said they should encourage new industries and settlers to come into the Wellington area, by which he meant the land south of Napier. It was a pity delegates were not present from Palmerston North and other centres. Most other provinces had done a good deal of worli| in the direction of publicity, but little had been done in Wellington outside the Chamber of Commerce. At the Wembley Exhibition the impression created -was that Auckland was the principal province of the Dominion. People in England usually sought Cook’s Tourist offices for information concerning the Dominion. In Canada the CanadianPacific Railway was doing reciprocal work for New Zealand at the instance of the Railway Department in New Zealand, and the only other place where publicity work was done in the States was at the Union offices at San Francisco. He did not greatly value the Dunedin Exhibition as a medium for booking Wellington. They should send their literature into other countries to induce their people to come to the Dominion. In self-defence Wellington would have to do more publicity work. When in the High Commissioner’s office he found it was al-

ways Auckland, and rarely Wellington. Mr A. G. Barnett said the Harbour Board would continue to carry on the publicity work which had been done in the past. ILLUSTRATED ARTICLES The chairman suggested that better work could be done by supplying English and American papers and magazines with photographs .and bright, but short, descriptive matter. The City Council would look to the committee to make the best use of the money they had voted. He suggested that if nil efforts were pooled, and all pulled together, much better results would be achieved He thought it would be better to have a committee representative of all bodies and departments to carry on this work. Mr A. H. Messenger said it was intended to supply Thomas Cook and Sons’ offices all over the world with illustrations and pamphlets. But millions were required instead of thousands, and if the whole of the districts could be organised they could make a combined effort overseas. Thirty thousand copies >of a booklet might look a lot in New .Zealand, but that number would hardly suffice to distribute in San Francisfco alone. The chairman said it was the Government’s duty to bring the people to New Zealand, and Wellington should see that they invested their money in industry in Wellington instead of letting it go north or south. Mr Edilson said if tliery were discussing the matter as concerning Wellington province they should have a more representative meeting. He thought it necessary to advertise in the Dominion as well as abroach, for there were plenty of people in Wellington who did not really know Wellington. £IOO,OOO WANTED Mr Leigh Hunt said the Government had only provided £SOOO, but they should ask the Government to provide £50,000, and say they would subsidise the amount by another £50,000. The Wellington Chamber would throw in its weight ‘with the local committee. As ’ regarded Dunedin, there would be many thousands at the Exhibition there, and .publicity work should be done there. They might make nse of the Post Office stamp-defacing machine to priint across correspondence, “Wellington, the best place for tourists.’' The chairman suggested tfhat another meeting should be convened at a later date, at which representatives of other districts should be invited to attend, and suggested the area south of Hew Plymouth and Napier. Mr Hunt suggested that the chair, man and Mr Troup should attend the conference on Wednesday, and! hold a further meeting later. The secretary, Mr McMahon,, said he was induced to come to New Zealand by a series of articles he saw in a New York magazine in reference do New Zealand. Americans had “misped the ’bus,” and were looking for smaller hubs in which to invest their money. A committee should be appointed to bring down definite advertising} proposals for the next meeting. Finally the meeting was adjourned to a later date, other representatives to be invited south of Napier and New Plymouth.