PRESERVING SCENERY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 664, 17 October 1933, Page 3

PRESERVING SCENERY

GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S PLEA TO SPARE BUSH. HOARDINGS QUESTION. • Chrsitchurch, Monday. A strong plea for the preservation of the natural beauties of New Zealand from disfiguration and the doing away with ugly hoardings was made by the Governor-General (Lord Bledislo) on Thursday afternoon, when he opened the spring show of the Canterbury Horticultural Society and the National Daffodil Society. Considering the value of the tourist traffic and the large amount of money it would

bring into the country, he said, he hoped that those engaged in industrial concerns would follow the lead of -a motor spirit firm. which had agreed to remove its hoardings from urban areas. "To those of you whom I know are proud of the natural beauties of this very lovely country of yours, and whQ desire to preserve it from the ruthless hands of vandals, I would say a word. About 18 months ago at a show in Wellington, as a result of heavy criticism from trav{ llers from the Old Country, I ventured to ask publicly whether some of those people who advertise motor spirit and oil in some of .the most beautiful spoxs of the country could desist from advertising their goods in that way. "Within a week I had the pleasurable experience of the biggest advertisers of them all, the Shell Company and the Big Tree Company, eonsenting to remove their hoardings from any part of New Zealand of which I cared to make a list.

"I said to the gentlem-rn represent- ' ing this public-spirited company that ' even if I were qualified to do so it would take several weeks to put on paper the namcs of all the places in which I see uncongenial hoardings. H said that if only they could remain standing outside towns aiid townships for the convenience of fravellerst his company would remove them from th wh'ole countryside. I thought it was a very public-spirited undertaking by that company, and similar undertakings were given by others in a .similar line of business.

"I want on this occasion publicly to thank the Shell Company and others who are at the present time removing these unsightly iboards from beauty spots. It is an act of great public spirit from which, I trust, they will not be the losers. I am glad to understand that me.mbers of automobile associations have made up their minds that those who are removing their boards will not suffer from lack of business so far as they are concerned. "I am 'going to! venture the hope , that considering the enormous value of the tourist traffic in the South Is- ' land and the large amount of money it is calculated to bring into the coffers of the country, that others engaged in commercial and industrial undertakings will see what they can do to follow the lead of those who are removing their advertisingj boards. If they do, some successor of mine, some future Governor-Gene-ral — at no great distant date — will be able to congratulate you on having a larger variety of scenic attractions than any country in the world, and not in any v/ay desecrated by the hand of man."