D.—2.

The publicity campaigning of the Branch has included a wide range of advertising in newspapers, on hoardings, posters, and theatre-screens; special illustrated folder-booklets featuring Rotorua, Hanmer, and Mount Cook, numerous leaflets and a new series of the booklet " Picnics by Rail" ; radio chats on railway topics, and special window-displays in various centres. During the year the Branch has been in close touch with the principal organizations in the Dominion interested in the promotion of passenger transport. From this association various campaigns have been carried through, with notable success in achieving the objectives for which such campaigns were initiated. Amongst those with whom the Department has been associated in this way may be mentioned the Rotorua Borough Council, the Government Department of Industries and Commerce, Tourist, and Publicity (which includes advertising for the Chateau Tongariro and for the Waitomo Caves and Hostel and the Government Spa at Rotorua) ; and the Mount Cook Tourist Co. of New Zealand, Ltd., for travel to the Hermitage and the Mount Cook area, including the Tasman Glacier and the winter sports of that region. The lines along which this co-operation has developed have included the recognition of the special facilities developed within the Railways Publicity Branch for handling completely all details of this special publicity; hence in every case, after the general lines of the campaign have been discussed, the detail work, such as the preparation and placing of advertisements, the designs for posters, &c., and, in fact, the whole organization and carrying out of such campaigns, has been handled entirely by the Railways Publicity Branch on behalf of all concerned, to their complete satisfaction. The results in all cases have shown that this method has achieved good results in stimulating travel to the localities mentioned, with important beneficial results not only to those localities, but to the people who have been inspired by these campaigns to take advantage of the facilities offered in this way. One of the results of this effective arrangement for associated effort in travel promotion is an exceptionally fine series of posters, in full colours, for Waitomo Caves, Franz Josef Glacier, the Chateau Tongariro, Mount Cook, and Rotorua. This series of posters has been received with much approbation by the public, and, as over twelve thousand copies have been sent overseas, these should assist appreciably in drawing visitors to New Zealand. Under an arrangement with overseas railways in the principal countries, an extended distribution of New Zealand posters has been made on the principal stations of the countries where the arrangement exists. In return for this facility the Department here exhibits the posters from the railways of the countries concerned. During recent years much development has taken place in the Railways Publicity Branch along the lines of modern advertising-methods, with the result that it is now widely recognized that this branch of the service is a fully-equipped publicity organization for the promotion of travel within the Dominion. Railways Magazine.—The Department's official monthly Magazine has now entered upon its eighth year of publication, and continues to serve a useful purpose. The establishment of the journal was a logical business development, bringing the railways into line with the most progressive business concerns of the post-war period, all of which have found, in the principle of the " house organ," a very convenient and helpful medium of communication. The Magazine is an attractive and effective means of imparting reliable information to the staff regarding railway operations both in New Zealand and overseas, and it seeks to encourage the right esjprit de corps throughout the service by providing a platform from which matters of immediate interest to railwaymen may be discussed. It also provides the management with a means of extending its influence amongst the staff for the benefit of the whole service. Moreover, in building up an encyclopedia of information covering the whole range of New Zealand's railway facilities, developments, inventions, and the rail-served tourist resorts of the Dominion, so that the staff may be at all times fully informed regarding matters upon which the public may consult them, the Magazine is doing a valuable educational work. In addition to these services, the Magazine maintains a friendly contact with the Department's customers, by a wide circulation amongst them, thereby ensuring that the railway viewpoint on the problems of transport generally may be fully known to those who most use the Department's services. The authoritative articles published in the Magazine by the Administration, and quoted in the press throughout New Zealand, promote a more favourable attitude towards the railways amongst the public, and help materially in forming public opinion along right lines in regard to railway transport for the national welfare. With the purpose of giving the Magazine a more national character, while fully maintaining its service to the management and to the staff, it was recently decided to reorganize the journal to provide for the publication of matter covering the history and development of New Zealand. This innovation, which has important national value, in making New Zealand better known to New-Zealanders, has met with marked success. The Magazine has thus gained popularity throughout the Dominion, a fact shown in a most gratifying increase in the volume of sales and in advertising revenue. The evidence of recent months justifies a belief that the Magazine will attain a very strong position in public esteem as a national publication. The cost of the Magazine has been progressively reduced and the publication serves as a convenient and relatively inexpensive means of publicity for the Department.

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