Boosting the Town

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 148, 9 November 1912, Page 4

Boosting the Town

NEW PLYMOUTH'S FEATURES AND RESOURCES. AX ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING. OVER £3OO PROMISED IN THE ROOM. An enthusiastic meeting of "all those interested in the advancement of the town and district of New Plymouth"— to quote the text of the advertisementwas held in the Town Hall last night, "to consider the best means of making the attractions and advantages of this district known to tourists and others, and of promoting generally the welfare of the town." The Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne) presided over a large attendance of representative people of the town, and as an outcome of the meeting it was unanimously decided to form a New Plymouth Tourist Association. In opening the meeting the chairma.i explained that the object of the proposal was to make known outside ourselves the possibilities of our town and our sur--roundings. He touched upon the scenic resources of the district, and said thafthe fact of it being such a large produceexporting centre should be brought under the notice of outsiders with a view to encouraging them to acquire interests in the district. THE SCHEME OUTLINED. On behalf of the promoters of the movement, Mr. W. Ambury dealt at length with the objects and the necessity for the formation of the association. He pointed out how New Plymouth was lagging behind other towns in the Dominion solely on account of its neglect to bring its manifold resources before th« outside public. Other towns, many of which were smaller and possessed of fewer attractions and natural advantages than New Plymouth, were forging ahead, but our town remained comparatively unknown to the public generally. The promoters of the proposed association desired to make known to the outside public of New Zealand some of the many attractions and advantages of New Plymouth and the surrounding district. Continuing, Mr. Ambury said that if themeeting decided to advertise its town-, its effort would be of no use. spread over a period of three years. At least it should raise £2OO a year for three years. New Plymouth should wake up and take a hand in the game of advertising which was being indulged in by other towns. In terms of the recommendations of the provisional'committee, Mr. Ambury then moved the following resolutions:—

(a) That tliis meeting recommends the formation of a society, to be called the New Plymouth Tourist Association, the objects of which are to promot* the tourist traffic (having New Plymouth as its centre) to make known the attractions and advantages of the district, and to further its progress generally; (b) that it recommends the outlay of not less than £2OO per annum for a period of three years. A short summary of the expenditure which the committee consider absolutely necessary is: Advertising in the principal papers in the North Island, and Nelson in the South Island, £OS; illustrated descriptive pamphlets, £3O; advertising in places of public resort, £3O; secretary's office, including salaries, postages and stationery, ett., £75. Total, £2OO.

Tn seconding the. resolution. Dr. Lea- • tham said that he could not but sec how ; far Xew Plymouth lagged behind ether . towns which had not half its scenic and ' commercial advantages. Smaller towns I had adopted a policy Of "booming the ■ town," with considerable success. People whom he had met knew perhaps of the 1 Recreation Gronnd>and the oilfields, and one or two oilier local features, but beyond thtt-nothin,','. They knew practically nothing of tho scenic resources of tho Mokau. tho facilities for tourists at the now Mountain House, and the fac* that the district was an anglers' paradise. The Xew Plymouth district was OXE OF THE MOST GLORIOUS PLACES one would encounter on one's travels. Did they mean to say that New Plymouth had not enough spirit to raise £2OO annually for three years in order to advance and veritably make the place? He had not the least doubt that when they realised the immense potentialitiesof the scheme they would rise to the occasion and subscribe liberally. HOW WE ARE NEGLECTED. In supporting the scheme, Mr. S. W. Shaw said that he had recently been looking foh somewhere to go at Christmas time. He obtained a guide book at Cook's depot, and out of curiosity he turned up vvhat it said about New Plymouth.. It contained very little that would serve to enlighten the travelling public, and, worse still, in some respects was very misleading. In this connection he read a passage from the guidebook in question, which stated that the last four miles to the Mountain House had to be traversed on horseback, and that before long it was anticipated that visitors would be able to traverse this distan.ee in a lightly-laden express! This, he said, was a sample of how New Plymouth was being advertised! One of the first steps of the association should, he urged, be to revise this misleading compendium. TARANAKI UNKNOWN IX AUSTRALIA Mr. A. E. Sykes also strongly supported the proposal. He recalled how some months ago he and Mr. W. D. Webster had gone into the New Zealand office at Sydney to obtain information about Taranak'i, the price of land, its scenic resources, and the like. Judge their surprise when all they gleaned was that the price of land "was between £25 and £3O an acre." The official in the office knew practically nothing about its scenic beauties, and of all the views in the office about New Zealand there was only one from Taranaki. That was a photograph of the Kaupokonui Dairy Factory! Mr. Sykes cited this instance in support of his contention that advertising was the soul of business, be it of a merchant or a town. If they wished to come into their own, however, they would have to fight. New Plymouth possessed splendid geographical advantages which, sad to relate, had not as yet been utilised. IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING. Mr. R. Cock also spoke in support of the resolution, and said that there wa» a lot in what Mr, Sykes had said about the importance of advertising. At theSydney and Melbourne tourist bureaux he had found that there was not one paragraph relating to New Plymouth. Papers from all other towns in New Zealand were available there, but New Plymouth was not represented. Nobody knew anything about our town. He hoped tho newspapers would try more than in the past to push New Plymouth ahead outside of the town. In contrast to New Plymouth, he cited the rapid progress that was being made by Timarii

and other towns. He urged the people to work themselves up and do something for the betterment of tho town. More push was needed! THE YOUNG MEN SHOULD MOVE. As president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. F. S. Johns said it was very pleasing to find that the citizens were! going to take the movement up with a certain amount of gusto. While realising the fact that many of the old settlers had done strenuous work in furthering the interests of the town in the past, he urged that it was now up to the young men of the town to do their little bit—their umos—in pushing on the present movement. ABSOLUTE IGNORANCE. Mr. Baker confirmed what Mr. Cock had said about the remarkable fact that New Plymouth was practically unknown outside its own limits. While in Wellington and Auckland recently, he was absolutely surprised to find tlie absolute Ignorance that prevailed about the activities of New Plymouth. "We seem," he said, "to be in the backwater." People of Auckland and Wellington seemed to think that we were a lot of cow- j spankers, and nothing else! Incidentally, we suffered from some disadvantage on account of the fact that the names of I some of our favorite resorts had been changed. He cited the case of tho Recreation Grounds and the North Egiiionf i Mountain House. Why shouid the hostel be disfigured with a Maori name thai conveyed no meaning, and was abso lutely unintelligible to the majority? We suffered on account of the fact that we had allowed a number of amiable gentlemen to inflict a number of infernal hard-sounding names on the beauty spots and places of interest in the district.

AN ALLEGATION REFUTED. 'Sir. T. €. List sought to disabuse the minds of certain speakers that the local press were to blame for not booming New Plymouth in outside towns. In support of his contention he stated that not long ago the New Zealand Press Association offered a prize to the agent who rendered the most efficient service during the year. The competition was open to the Press Association agents in the whole of New Zealand, and was won by the New Plymouth agent. This fact spoke for itself, and showed that so far as New Zealand was concerned, the New Plymouth press service was doing its duty. What was "doing" was telegraphed away. If there was nothing doing, .how could news be telegraphed? !n fact, no town was better served by its press agejuts than New Plymouth. It was therefore unjust to blame the local papers Apr not advertising New Plymouth. Mr. List then went on to say that he would like to see a larger scheme inaugurated than was proposed by the promoters. It war. no use undertaking the expenditure of any sum for advertising the town unless it was extended over at least three years. Business men must not think the money subscribed would be wasted if no return was re-, ceived the first year. The benefit would begin to accrue the second year, and by the end of the third year it should be strikingly manifested. Proceeding, Mr.' List made an appeal to the younger men of the town to come forward, for the future of New Plymouth lay to a very large extent in their hands. Continuing, he said that the older and wealthier men of the town ought to provide the sinews of war in a degree commensurate with the advantages they received from the "boosting" of the place, though this did not absolve the younger psople from doing their full share. Mr. E. Griffiths urged that £2OO was too small an amount to expend each year. Personally he would like to see £ 1000 spent amnually in connection with the movement, in order to "disabuse the minds' of the outside public as to the boggy state they seem to think the place is in."

WHAT HAD BEEN DONE IN THE PAST. Mr. C. W. Govett urged the necessity of embarking upon a campaign of expenditure for at least three years, and went on to recall how for twenty years he had unsuccessfully sought to get New Plymouth to advertise with a view to enticing the tourist traffic. "Like a good many other fossils," lis remarked, "I was before my time." According to Mr. Johns, if the Government saw that New Plymouth was going to push itself and had something, to ' offer tourists, it would lend a helping hand. REAL BACKBONE OF THE DISTRICT. In the opinion of Mr. A. H. Johnstone, tie name suggested for the association was not quite suitable. Personally, he thought the district should rely more on its commercial and industrial progress than upon its tourist traffic. It would therefore be better to call the proposed body the "New Plymouth Expansion League." He also decried the fact that some members of the community, in speaking of the town to strangers, cried "stinking fish." Mr. W. C. Weston said he thought the Tourist Department might do more in regard to advertising Taranaki. If Mr. Cock did not find the local newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne it was not |. his paper's fault, seeing that each city | mentioned was, through the Tourist Department, supplied with copies of the paper. Touching upon the complaint of a previous speaker regarding the "Maoriising" of names of local places, Mr. W. A. Collis said that the Telegraph Department, and not the Mountain House Committee, was to blame in the case of the North Egmont Hostelry. In spite of the committee's protest, the Government had loaded the hostel with a Maori name. Mr. J. C. Morey urged the promoters to canvass not only the business people but residents in the whole of the borough. WAKE UP, NEW PLYMOUTH! j The motion was strongly supported by Mr. Newton King, who spoke in no uncertain terms in its favor. He was sure that once New Plymouth woke up it would realise its responsibilities and opportunities, and contribute liberally. The trouble was, however, that it required such a power of waking up. People had only to go to America to realise the value and benefit of advertising, be it a business or town. And they had nothing to advertise there compared with this district. The Mokau river, Mount Egmont, the Recreation Grounds, and

the splendid fishing facilities the district possessed, were four attractions which were unrivalled for a place of it.; size throughout tho. whole of the muchboomed America. Mr. A. MeDianuid also supported the proposal and advised the younger men of the town to indulge in a systematic canvass of tho town. ! COMMITTEE ELECTED. | The motion embodying the formation of the society was carried unanimously and the following committee was elected [with power to add to its numbers: Dr. Leatham, Rev. J. W. Burton. Messrs W. A. Collis, A. E. Sykes, J. McLeod, T. [C. List, E. Griffiths, W. Bowley, W. Ambury, Ken Webster, W. C. Weston, F. C. J. Bellringer, S. W. Shaw, G. Tabor, A. MeDianuid and J. C. Morey. A MAGNIFICENT RESPONSE.

Subscriptions wpre solicited from those present, and the response was most gratifying, £11!) 14s being subscribed in the room. With the exception of £lO, the whole of this amount was promised annually for three years, or £320 altogether. In two or three cases the subscribers made their donations contin- ! gent on £2OO being raised. The subscribers were: Dr. Leatham, Dr. Home, Messrs. C. W. Govett, Newton King, A. E. Sykes, Ambury Bros., R. Cock, McLcod and Slade, the Taranaki Herald, the Taranaki Daily News, all £5 5s "ich annually for three years, and M; 1 . G. .Tabor £5 5s for one year; Messrs. Webster Bros., E. P. Blundell, W. Bewley, ,T. C. Nicholson, Teed & Co., E. Griffiths, W. D. Webster, Melbourne Clothing Company, Morey & Son, G. Ramson, at £3 3s each for'three years; and Messrs. G. W. Browne and E. Blundidl, £3 3s for one year; Messrs. J. Abbott, A. McDiarmid,K. Bain, F.S. Johns, J. Paton, F. C. J. Bellringer, all £3 3s annually for three years; Miss Sole, Messrs. L. E. Hoffmann, Southam Bros., A. McHardy, W. D. Davios. Baker & Co., S. D. Pope : Lister Bros., Lennon, all £1 Is annually for three years; and Mr. W. A. Collis, £] Is for one year. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to Dr. Leatham for the active interest he had taken in organising tho movement, and to the New Plymouth press for the assistance they had rendered in bringing the scheme before the local public. Mr. Morey, on behalf of Messrs. J. C. Morey & Son, offered to .assist the movement'by providing 4000 envelopes, printed on which would be the tariff to the North Egmont Mountain House. At a subsequent meeting of the committee Dr. Leatham was elected chairman, Mr. W. A. Collis treasurer, and Mr. A. Snowball provisional secretary. It was decided to hold a meeting on Mon-' day evening, when canvassing and advertising campaigns will be arranged.