BRITISH GOODS PUBLICITY

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1929, Page 9

BRITISH GOODS PUBLICITY

PRESENTATION OF A MAP. GIFT TO BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL., A large map 20 feet by 10 feet was presented to the New Plymouth Boys’ High School by Mr. L. 0. Hooker, organiser of the South Taranaki winter show, yesterday Addressing the boys in the school assembly hall, Mr Hooker descried how the map had been obtained. During the Hawera winter show Mr. Moyes had been attracted by the display of the Empire Marketing Board, which contained many striking posters. As it was not possible to obtain a similar poster in New Zealand a request for one was sent to the Empire Marketing Board in Great Britain and a copy had been sent out specially for the school. The map, which is a full-sized poster, is made up of 20 pieces of paper arranged so that the British Isles occupy the central position. The Empire tradi routes are set out in detail in such a way as to give a clear idea of the essential communications of the Empire. The poster is one of those issued by the Marketing Board for publicity purposes within the British Isles.

Over £2,000,000 has been spent since the board was set up in 1926 on advertising British products. The erection of large hoardings has played a prominent part in the advertising campaign. The magnitude of the scheme may be illustrated by the fact that 1500 full-sized posters are posted up every three weeks throughout the United Kingdom. So far very few have been used in the Dominions; in fact, the display at the Hawera show was the first in New Zealand.

Touching on the origin of the Marketing Board, Mr. Hooker said it had arisen through the report of an economic conference. It was realised that the only real solution to the unemployment problem lay in opening up new markets. The war had killed trade and it was the object of the Marketing Board to develop the resources of the Empire. This was being done by economic investigation into the geographical distribution of the products of the Empire, with a view to concentrating on the most im-. portant industries of each country. This was the productive side of the board’s work, but it was also very important to open up new markets by giving publicity to British goods. Mr. W. H. Moyes thanked Mr. Hooker on behalf of the school.