“NOT UNDERSTOOD”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19597, 31 March 1938, Page 7

“NOT UNDERSTOOD”

TOURIST VALUE — CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION PROVINCIAL COURTS "Although leading citizens in the principal provincial towns are proving that they have an admirable appreciation of the national character of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, there is some misunderstanding in a number of country districts,” says Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, chairman of directors of the Exhibition Company. "This company, of course, is wholly and solely an organisation for public benefit. It has to be repeated that any profits—after a refund of shareholders’ subscriptions—will be devoted to charity. “It is mainly in the matter of provincial courts that members of some local bodies are inclined to discount the value of spectacular publicity for their exhibits. I do not wish to lecture members of any local body, but I believe it is advisable to remind them that the exhibition will offer a good opportunity to put their districts ‘on the map’ in the eyes of many thousands of visitors from oversees as well as New Zealanders whose knowledge of their own country is not as extensive as It should be. Miniature of New Zealand “As far as possible, the promoters of the exhibition will try to make it a miniature of New Zealand. Such an ideal requires the enthusiastic cooperation of people of all provinces. It can be assumed that visitors from other countries will regard the exhibition as representative of the Dominion from various viewpoints—industrial, commercial and tourist — and they will feel naturally that the non-representation of a district would be due to a belief of people in the locality that they had nothing worthy of special display. “More and more the trend of tourist traffic is towards lands of the Southern Hemisphere. The publicity branch of the Tourist Department will be using a large sum in advertising the Centennial Exhibition overseas, as one of the means cf attracting much of the traffic to this Dominion, which is becoming widely known as the ‘Wonderland of the Pacfic.’ That fact should stimulate all provinces to make their courts appeal to visitors. "There is an occasional complaint from South Islanders that their wonderful scenery is not brought sufficiently under the notice of tourists who land at Auckland or Wellington. The Centennial Exhibition will rive the South Islanders all the scone thev need for ‘selling’ their marvellous scenery to tourists. Nothing could be better ithan a friendly competitive SDirit between provinces of the North and South Islands in staging their spectacular natural assets.” Small Shareholders Welcomed Mr. Hislop again appeals for the public-spirited support of folk who may be able to take a small number of shares —even a single £1 share —in the Exhibition. At a very conservative estimate, the directors expect to return at least 16s of every £1 to the subscribers, and there is indeed a good prospect of refunding the full amount of share money.