NO DONATION MADE

Southland Times, Issue 23793, 15 April 1939, Page 12

NO DONATION MADE

Travel Association Request COUNTY COUNCIL DECLINES A motion to contribute £lO to the funds of the South Islands Travel Association was defeated at yesterday s meeting of the Southland County Council. A letter was received from the association suggesting that the council should contribute £25 towards the funds of the association. The letter stated that according to departmental figures overseas visitors left in the Dominion £1,300,000 annually, of which the South Island received only one fourth. It was felt that the scenic attractions of the south warranted a much greater proportion of this overseas capital and there was ample scope for an organization such as theirs to supplement the work of the Tourist Department in bringing more fully to the notice of tourists the beauties of the South and Stewart Islands. Cr L. A. Niederer said that Southland was not very well treated as far as the tourist traffic was concerned. “Unless we look after ourselves,” he said, “and are prepared to spend a little money we will lose a lot of valuable publicity. It is to the interest of Southland that the South Islands Travel Association should be supported. If we spent a little money on this it would be to the advantage of the people generally and we should not allow ourselves to be dropped out.” Cr Niederer added that they had a beautiful province, not very thickly populated, and unless they made it known to the outside world what they had to offer in Southland people would not trouble to come. He moved that the council contribute £lO to the association.

Cr W. M. Norman: We have our Tourist Department. There is too much overlapping in this kind of business. Cr A. S McNaught said he was prepared to support a small donation, but he did not think there was much to be gained or lost in the matter. He did not agree with people who said that Southland was not well known. “We have established ourselves as the finest lamb-producing district in the world,” he said, “and people know that.”

“This is going to be a recurring expense; I can see that,” said Cr T. Golden. “I am strongly opposed to making a contribution.” He added that they were paying rates for improving their roads merely “to encourage people to come and smash them up.” He thought that rather than spend money on such an object they should put aside all they could spare for defence purposes. The motion was seconded by Cr McNaught and was lost on the casting vote of the chairman (Cr G. W. Whittingham).