ADVERTISING NEW ZEALAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12402, 16 January 1905, Page 7

ADVERTISING NEW ZEALAND.

To the Editor. Sir,—The "Man on the Look-out," in Saturday's Supplement, quotes some remarks made by a London, correspondent - traversing Mr Hatrick's strictures on the Agent-General's office, and, df we are to .believe the correspondent in question, ourVepre^ntativs in London are paragons at advertising the colony. When I mention that, this London correspondent practically depends on the Agent-General's office for a living, as most of tea "copy" emanates from there, . it "Trill be Been -what an unbiassed critic he is. I am tfo lover of Mr Hatriek, and the Seddon crowd !he is connected with is certainly quite sufficient to make me give (him a wide berth in politics. All tie same, that is no reason why the '.', name of Hatriek should haye1 the same effect-on certain people as a red rag has . on a bull. I spent -nearly eight months in Britain, most of it in London, and I assert that Mr Hatriek, in the main, is quite correct in- his strictures. The office has .been a perfect f ance, .and, until the last twelve months, might as well have been abolished. The London correspondent states that the Agent-General's office actually receives 50 letters of inquiry every day. Prodigious! I think this as an exaggeration, but, if correct, it onty lielps to -prove what a tin-pot affair the London office is, as, instead of 50 letters a day (any amount of business men in New Zealand deal with that number), there should be nearer 500 inquiries a day. Fifty letters a_ day represent about one from each million of inhabitants of Great Britain, and certainly shows what a flame of enthusiasm our 'have created to cause one person in a million to writ© daily and inquire il there is such a. •place as New Zealand. The public will iperharps grasp the figures better if a New Zealand illustration is given. Supposing the Londjjn "Times" were to again open an> office in "Weldingtonv and •booan their. Enlcyolqpa^ia, they would, if they received tme same number of inquiries in proportion to New Zealand's populatdon as tine London correspondent says tihe Agent-^teneral is now receiving, actualyget im, their letter-box't/he-enorrcraua j%nd uujprecedented number of about Sv^fettfsrS, «• jw&Sfcl, The corre- ■ ep&ndent also pdifflfcs-;with plwde/to the ■'■'■ fae^%bal;l3^:p^ 1 of' 'iViast":Jr®!St-j iha^fr«feen sent,out s u»deir'the aniseraiWe :tot^dj even suppos|ng noae^osf them "wbaiiSfcfipliiaveJ come *<>ul> except througii i^^a^entrGeneral, proves once ignore thai the office, as at present coni *6&tirted, ds a failure. If a. proper sjys-t-em of advertising and booming the colony were undertaken, I have no doubt that we should ihave over thirteen thousand sent out each year instead of thirteen hundred. "What would it mean to the colony df ? say, 20,000 assisted immigrante could be brought into the colony every year? They would bring Into the colony, for one,-thing, a minimum capital of £100,000 per annum, leaving out altogether the potential value of such an iricrease in population. Of course Mr Hatriek s , reference to the Agent-Ge-neral's office being in a quiet part of the Embankment was, an exaggeration,; tihough really, as a.matter of comparieon, it was perfectly correct (the London coiTespondeiit's facetiousness over Mr Hatriek saying the offices were on the Thames Embankment instead of in Victoria Street isn't worth noticing, as the offices are only a Jew yards from the Thames). I am, witling to accept the correspondent's statement that 10,000 vehicles pass .tlhe offices every day; I haven't counted them, myself. I have no douib't tibat in a great many cities in i England as many vehicles pass a given epofc as in Victoria Street, but that would be no proof that therefor© the Agent-Generai's office should be situated away up aloft at each of those different spots, it may, of course, he impossible to get a better position for ia reasonable sum. However, if the London correspondent wants to know what part of London a colonial would consider a good advertising position, I am safe in replying that every colonial, without exception, "would instantly reply that "the site of our Bank of New Zealand office® in London would just fill the bill/ I consider the present site of the Bank of New Zealand » thousand times better tihan the present upstairs location of the Agent^General. What the Bank of New Zealand can do on© would imagine the present owners of the Bank—-the New Zealand Government—ncould also do. The whole time I was in England the only evidence I saw of the existence of such a country tas New Zealand was a small, advertisement in a. London weekly. I aim satisfied Mr Hatrick's criticism will ultimately do a great deal of good, especially if powerful papers, such as the "Wanganui Chronicle-" ds, will also do their best to make the public see what a. magnificent asset they are throwing away. Canadians, frozen up for seven, months in the year, and in Hades the rest of the time, are putting forth every effort to attract settlers to their country, and are eminently successful, as the people are simply flocking there.. With our present very cheap assisted fare of £10 from London to New Zealand, what is to prevent us getting a fair share of the plunis? I, however, do mot believe in laying the blame in toto on the Agent^General, as the Government are really the culprits , .j.n fact they are too slow for a funeral. .—I am, etc., PROGRESS.