FOOTBALLERS ADVERTISING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8028, 15 January 1906, Page 3

FOOTBALLERS ADVERTISING.

8a vs tne last issue of the Sydney Mail":—When Mr Seddon arranged - for the transmission of intelligence iv- ' gariling the New Zealaud football team \ by the High Commissioner of the colony, and made ready response to a London paper which suuglit bis opinion on the team s victories, many couser- ' Vdtive'Folk expressed amazement that u Prime Minister should so act. The very journals w inch took Mr Seddon ' to task have since been giving column after column of their valuable space to discussions upon the physical powers of the >'cw ZeahniL-rs, and consideration whether it has been d:ie in some nieasi're- to the free and wholesome ,'ifo of their lislive land. That is where the Colonial Premier was wiser in his generation than his London critics. He knew ■—none better —tiie value of bold advertisement. Perhaps the finest advertisement the colony has ever-had has been this extraordinary

tour of tliL" Island footballers. The n'ttkcr decision to send them, at the v expense of the -Jew Zealand Govern- \ inent, through the United States and " Canada, is the slirend's man s percep. tioa of opportunity. Canada has asked for the team. Across the border, President Koosevclt has been calling for reform in College football. A suecessfal tour in both countries would mean immense advertisement to Zealand aud its tourist attractions,of a type otherwise unattainable. And it lias to be remembered that the New Zealand footballers gain no pecuniary 1 benefit whatever from the tour, and so, when they have proved worthy representatives, "are legitimate, if unusual, objects of State compliment.