ABSTRACT
The conference was the rst concerted attempt since the 1914 Australasian Town Planning Tour to create a nationwide and broadly based constituency for town planning, something that was vital if legislation was to be achieved and then implemented. New Zealand already had some history of organising large scale exhibitions to demonstrate progress in the Dominion. These exhibitions started in 1865 and usually lasted several months. The most famous were the 1889 South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin and the 1906-07 New Zealand Exhibition in Christchurch. New Zealanders’ interest in such exhibitions was sustained for several decades, with the last being held in 1940 to celebrate 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the beginning of European settlement.
