DESECRATING THE LANDSCAPE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20092, 22 November 1930, Page 14

DESECRATING THE LANDSCAPE.

SEQUEL TO CROMWELL GORGE INCIDENT PROTEST AGAINST RURAL advertising.

ii'.e .uai CMiisns o: Dunedin wi 0 n# re firoa recently m the Maiziatrsto'., 1 i 6 > in the° U Crom! figuremem, of tho hLvc° s°i ß nod tine following statement for publication/^-

We, tho undersigned, defendants in a recent prosecution for damage to hoardings, would like to supplement the remarks made in the Magistrate's Court by our counsel, Mr Callan It may be _ remembered that the Magistrate said Mr Calian's remarks would be more suitably addressed to some other tribunal than the Court. We had a.sked Mr Callan to voice our opinions in the Court, hut we accent the Magistrate's view that our appeal should more appropriately be. made elsewhere, and we now make it to tho authorities concerned and to all our fellowcitizens through the Press:For some time we have viewed with alarm and indignation the increasing prevalent of rural advertisements. For miles the exits from all our towns and cities are disfigured by hoardings, painted in brilliant ;ind "glaring colours, shouting the merits of petrol, motor-cars, motor oils, whisky, and soap. They are absolutely out of keeping with the charm of the countrywide. They create a feeling of irritation and disgust. Why ' should the country we love so well be so disfigurej ? _These hoardings are displayed mainly in the iuterests of local and overseas petiol, tyre, electric battery, and motor companies. They make huge profits in New Zealand and spend a portion of those profits in despoiling the country. In other words, we are fools enough to pay for the spoliation oi our own country. Why should we tolerate itr 1 Our scenic routes are strewn with placards, sheds and roofs of buildings are daubed with advertisements, oven the trees, fences, and rocks are not immune. The craze for advertising has reached such a pitch that no place is sacred ; tho greater the natural charm, the more opportunity i'or vulgar display. Each advertisement yelps, ii possible, more loudly than the nest in tho hope of attracting attention and gaining some business advantage. With such a discordant chorus, how can a lover of Nature find peace? Unfortunately, un extremely bad example is set by the Kailwav Department. Wherever the railway .sliirts the road there are serried ranks of hoardings on railway property, however charming the scene, however grand and rugged tho hills. The position is somewhat Ciilbortian. We have a Tourist Department spending thousands on advertising Now Zealand as a scenic resort, and a Railway Depnrtment doing its be.->D to despoil it. Not only that, but tho Railway Department is strenuously advertising the goods of its most dangerous competitors. What, in business circles, would be thought, of a firm that tried to profit by advertising its opponents' wares? We fully recognise that tho IJailvvay Department is in financial difliculiie-i, but those difficulties inust not bo met by the disfigurement of New Zealand. At all cost 6 the incomparable beauty of New Zealand must be kept intact—it is a sacred trust that must be pasted on from generation to generation. Better to act now than to allow New Zealand to get into the condition oi thb HomelnmJ. The craze for advertisement is so bad there that a distinguished publicist made the following suggestion :—"The Chancellor of the Exchequer is in need of money, and there is a dazzling opportunity for him either to make it or to save the countryside. Let him tax every ugly thing in England. Let him put a tax on every advertisement hoarding in a country lano or in a field, on every word painted on a house-side or a roof, on every notice stuck on a tree, on every petrol pump soen upon tho road, on every oil container Let him double the tax for every separate colour thesa things are painted, and treble it for all letters a foot deep. It is an immense opportunity for any Chancellor to make himself a great reformer, and there is a splendid precedent. In tho davs when coal was considered offensive, a tax was put upon it to restore St. Paul's Cathedral. Let us tax all these offences to restore the beauty of the land.''

Since these suggestions were made we understand that an Advertisement Regulation Act has boon brought forward in England. The provisions are not yet available in New Zealand. What concerns us most is: What is to bo done in New Zealand? A British company (the Shell) has already withdrawn all its hoardings, and may obliterate its advertisements oil tbe sides and roofs of buildings in rural districts. If other companies and the Railway Department will follow the same lead it will greatly clarify the situation. In any case, an Advertisement Regulation Act is urgently required. Possibly the control of advertisements >n city and rural areas might be placed under the Director of Town Planning. In our opinion rural advertising should be banned absolutely; it is disfiguring to the country and not in the interests of New Zealand as a tourist resort.

We do not regret the action we took. We have called attention to a public nuisance. Advertising has its legitimate sphere in the newspapers and in the citv. under more stringent regulation. At present a few hundreds spent on advertising can transform a city into a circus. That, however, is a. matter for the Railway Department and the city councils. Our protest is directed against rural advertising. Surely the road users hare some rights. Why should thev be compelled to see what they don't want to see? Why should their love for the beautiful, which ,is one of our highest and most precious possessions, be outraged at every turn ? We appeal to all lovers of New Zealand to resist the desecration of our country before il becornes tno lat6.

F. R. UTLV.Y. W. R. BORRTK. .TAMILS THOMSON, C. M. FOCKEN, Inmedui, November 21st, 1930.