RED TAPE RELAXED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 37, 6 October 1931, Page 2

RED TAPE RELAXED

i Following reference in these columns to the attitude of the Internal Affairs Department, in withholding items of legi- ^ timate Press information in connection with Rotorua fish and | game preservation activities, the Department has now mod- | erated its attitude and given its approval to the release of iii- | formation at the discretion of the Conservator of Fish and j Game for the district. This is a satisfactory termination to | obstruction which was as unnecessary as it was short-sighted, and the fact that the Department has at last decided to apply the ordinary rules of common-sense to the position, perhaps gives promise of a more accommodating attitude generally under the regime of the new ]\linister, the Hon. A.^ Hamilton. | In order to secure information to which it felt that its readers were entitled, the "Post" was compelled to ventilate the whole | matter, and we feel that an encouraging commencement has I • been made by the new Administration in adjusting red-tape i rules and regulations. At the same time it should not be necessary for a newspaper to emphasise to a Government Department the value of useful publicity. The country supports a publicity department, which is an.annual charge upon the estimates, and if individual departments are unable to perceive the advantages of publicity which will encourage tourists to visit New Zealand, a properly balanced system of departmental organisation would ensure that the Publicity Department should place the matter before them in a proper light. There is too great a tendency to leave publicity matters solely to the Publicity Department instead of eilcouraging other departments to use this very powerful medium to their own advantage. Apart from the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts^ which makes most use of the Publicity Department, the Scientific and ; Industrial Research Department, the Agricultural Department, and the Internal Affairs Department in particular, all have de- ' finite uses for publicity. An intelligent attitude towards publicity should not be the sole prerogative of the Publicity Department and of the Tourist Department, but should rather be a matter of co-operation and a definite and settled policy applied •S to all departments.