‘MEET NEW ZEALAND”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26614, 10 November 1947, Page 7

‘MEET NEW ZEALAND”

EXHIBITION IN LONDON N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent LONDON, Nov. 6.

Occupying 3500 square feet of space in a large hall in Oxford street, the “ Meet New Zealand ” exhibition, organised by the Central Office of Information, with the assistance of New Zealand Government and New Zealand House authorities in London, will be officially opened on December 11 by the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, Mr Philip Noel-Baker.

Two similar exhibitions were held during the war, one by Australia and one by Canada, but both of these dealt primarily with the war effort of the two dominions. The New Zealandexhibition, for which preliminary preparations commenced two years ago, will illustrate all aspects of life and social development under postwar conditions. The cost of the exhibition is being almost entirely borne by the British Government, although New Zealand has provided a considerable quantity of material, including 7000 super feet of rimu timber, which was despatched when it was learned that a timber shortage in Britain was delaying preparations. The three members of the exhibition staff will also be New Zealanders. Mr G. A. Colville, of the Wellington District Employment Office, and Miss B. H Brown, of the information section of the Prime Minister’s Department, have been sent from New Zealand, and they will be assisted by an officer from New Zealand House in London. The exhibition will remain in London until January 3, and will then go to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Southampton. It will be open to the public for 10 davs to a fortnight in each centre. When it opens in London next month the Oxford street entrance will be decorated with New Zealand tree ferns, cabbage tree foliage, and New Zealand native flax, which will be obtained from a Arm in Cornwall specialising in the cultivation of sub-tropical trees and plants Although the exhibition will be largely pictorial and illustrative, a number of New Zealand firms. have sent goods for display. A similar exhibition on behalf of South Africa is now being organised by the Central Office of Information and South Africa House.