The Press FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1956. New Progress League

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28019, 13 July 1956, Page 12

The Press FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1956. New Progress League

Plans to reorganise and revitalise the Canterbury Progress League are welcome. The league has a fine record of service to its district, but its achievements have very often been the individual achievements of its members with particular enthusiasms, who have found the league’s moral support helpful. Its wide representation has too often seemed too loosely co-ordinated, ■especially in recent years. It has ■not always seemed quite clear about : the direction it should take to achieve its broad object—the progress of Canterbury.. Perhaps it has been handicapped by a relative lack of positive support from the citizens of Christchurch, who, numerically and financially, should have been the source of its strength. Certain provincial organisations, particularly in the Ashburton county, deserve great credit for their determination to keep the league active and useful. Their confidence is now to be rewarded by greater interest in Christchurch through the league’s amalgamation with the Greater Christchurch Development Council. This will bring into the league’s membership new blood, including some of the younger business men, on whose efforts the commercial progress of the city must depend. The new Progress League should be more than the sum of its parts, because their fusion should give stimulus and drive.

The new organisation will undoubtedly succeed if its officers and members see plainly what its functions should be. If the league sets out to be no more than a pressure group, readier to run to the central government than to encourage self-reliance, it cannot expect much success. If, however, it tries to focus the latent energy, enthusiasm, and vision of the people of Canterbury on local needs, often quite modest ones, it can truly make the tecond century one of progress. Examples from the league’s history show the extent of available resources when directed and inspired. The rural fire protection scheme was an instance of what local co-operation could do. Organisations represented in the Greater Christchurch Development Council have had similar experiences. If tfie new league follows these good precedents it will fully justify the greater financial help it seeks from the Christchurch City Council, and, presumably, from other local authorities. To begin with, making these larger contributions will be an act of faith; but faith in the future is possibly the most important condition of progress. Only a voluntary organisation can fully enlist voluntary effort; and local authorities should be gratified that there is a voluntary organisation willing and able to accept this responsibility.