Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell: Tuesday September 2 1902 THE BATTLE OF THE SAND.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1798, 2 September 1902, Page 4

Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell: Tuesday September 2 1902 THE BATTLE OF THE SAND.

Thire are not many centros of population that have not a cross to bear. Large debts, incurred in the carrying out of water and sewage schemes, breakwaters and defences from sea inundation, hang heavily upon the shoulders of municipalities. I here is hardly a moderately sized town in New Zealand that is not face to face with ills that involve continual and heavy outlay—an outlay, which in the majority of instances, might have been averted, but for a policy of faltering and tinkering adopted in the outset. "We, in Cromwell, ought not to be unthankful for the many directions in which a bountiful nature has favored us. Like most o her places, however, the Borough has its bugbear—stubborn and costly it has been. We refer ao the sand drifts which, since the great flood of 1878, have ever and again assailed the Town so seriously. Omr councillors, happily, are alive to the imminent danger of the nuisance assuming threatening proportions, and a visit to the area will show that the present alarm is fully warranted. Councillors differ as to the best means of combating the difficulty permanently and full quarter of a century of ‘ toiling and moiling ’ has not sufficed to ‘ unravel the skein.’ Every public man, in his degree has given the problem energetic and sustained effort in the endeavor to stay the nuisance and while not ungrateful for the best intentions, what has been accomplished in the past has, after all, been in effect perfunctory and a makeshift. At their last meeting the Council resolved to erect a barricade, and while wishing the plan all success, we confess to a fear for the result. The scheme on hand, doubtless has the advantages of cheapness and simplicity, but should, perchance, it only yield temporary relief as all other schemes have done before it, it will be as costly as it is unsatisfactory. Cr GUir, from what fell from him at last meeting, has had experience in similar situations abroad, and it struck us forcibly that to attack and stop the sand further back, as he advocated, may have much to commend it. What the Council have now agreed to and are acting upon, is so very simple and rudimentary as to create a suspicion of distrust as to the securing of an abiding victory. The feeling too may be that such an easy solution of the difficulty was not carried to successful action long yeara. ago. With a human malady when local aid has been baffled and the heart grows “ weary with hope deferred,” weball in the specialist. Perhaps it might be well, at this late juncture, to seek experienced advice, even should it be from afar, and at same cost. Our counsels would then have a chance of becoming united in an enlightened method of keeping back the sand with enduring effect.

OUR LOCAL INSTITUTIONS.

The good people of Cromwell often express their surprise at the fact that the neighboring towns outdo us in the way in which they carry on the various public matters appertaining to their several districts. They complain that other towns have better sports, better races, better shows, than we have. And in consequence of this feeling, the gentlemen who devote their time, their energies, and their money, to carrying on the various Cromwell concerns, are the objects of much severe and scathing criticism because they do not arrange affairs so as always to bring Cromwell out on top, or near it. If any of our readers meet such an one and is impressed by the force of his criticisms, let him ask the critic if he is a member of the society whose shortcomings are under discussion, and, if he is, if he attended its meetings and took a helpful and intelligent interest in its affairs. In nine cases out of ten, it will be found tha the critic is no worker, and, as often as not, not even a supporter. We do not know what the cause may be, but lately a sort of dry rot has laid hold of civic life of Cromwell and seems to be spreading, causing an almo-it total extinction of interest in public affairs. Our Caledonian Society, our A and P. Society, our Horticultural Society, all suffer fr m the same cause. The public are quite ready to enjoy a show or a day’s sport, but when any work requires to be done to secure these, the public is attending strictly to its own business or pleasure, leaving the work of carrying on public affairs to a disheartened few who see their efforts for the furtherance of public ends, regarded with indifference by those who benefit- by them and neglected by the people at large. If these energetic gentlemen, for it is the same small knot of persons who seem to carry everything through, were to go out on strike, and leave Cromwell without a single show or sports’ meeting, it would oiily be natural, although no doubt it would leg. I to* great howl. We are led to make these few remarks by seeing that the existence of the A. and P. Association hangs in the balance/pwing to the want of interest taken in its affaire, except by the plucky few who have by dint of hard struggling carried it on from year to year. The shows already held have been well patronised by the townspeople and by our country friends. Everyone admits that it is beneficial to the town to bold a show and gives the place a better standing, yet only half a dozen persons turn up to attend the annual meeting. This is not complimentary to the gentlemen who in the past have fought so hard to make th©

society the success it has hitherto been nor does it speak well for the public, spirit of the town, Oromweil was once a go-ahead sort of place ; now it seems as if it were doing its level best to rob Nelson of the soubriquet of ‘ Sleepy Hollow,' The season is now coming on when oar various societies begin active operations. We do hope that the townspeople will shake off this lethargy, creeping paralysis one might call it, and show that Cromwell, when it puts its shoulder to the wheel, gan easily surpass the. neighboring towns in the way it carries out the various public functions of the year,