The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1923. COMPARISONS WITH A MORAL

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 88, 10 January 1923, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1923. COMPARISONS WITH A MORAL

Comparisons are not always odious. For from a visit to Auckland, the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Whight, M .) instituted some comparisons between that city and g arc interesting and instructive, and should not offen rabid partisan of cither city. , • ~ In comparing street and other improvements le northern city, Mr. Wright appears to have held the ba ance very fairly, and incidentally to have picked up some hin s make for the progressive development of the local metropolitan a J ea - Like other observers before him, the Mayor was impressed wi the great number of gifts made to Auckland by its citizens. Obseiving that public spirit appears to go much further there than m Weilington, and instancing a children’s playground entire y cquippe a the expense of an individual citizen, he added: There are innumerable similar instances. most tzenerous to their city in every way. especially in the matter p e seating parks. Not onlv are these valuable bequests made from Jwease estates, but in many cases donations are being made by people who In the matter of posthumous and other gifts, the experience of tho two cities certainly presents some striking, con rasis. is no only in regard to gifts, however, that public spirit, as the Mayor has remarked, seems to go much further in Auckland than in Wellington. It is a familiar fact that the people of Auckland readily and unitedly support all kinds of movements for the improvement, betterment, and adornment oi their city. The people of Wellington, on the other hand, have rather a reputation for allowing even the most praiseworthy enterprises of this character to languis oi ac 6UP Examples and instances of these contrasting tendencies will at once occur to any citizen of Wellington who is prepared honestly to face the fact that the community to which he belongs must be wakened up if it is to do itself justice. ' The people of Auckland contemplate the erection of a war memorial which is to cost £200,000, and considerably more than half that amount is already in hand. In Wellington, the relatively humble sum of £lO,OOO for a war memorial has yet to be raised. Auckland has long had an excellent Technical College. After having technical classes scattered about the city for years, Wellington has only lately become possessed of the first section of a new Technica College building. Tho work of erecting this urgently needed building has been carried on under hand-to-mouth conditions. At times the lechmcal College Board has been faced by almost insuperable difficulties in raising the funds required to continue the work. . In Auckland, if we are not mistaken, the reclamation which is to bo the site of a new railway station was completed some considerable time ago. A reclamation for the same purpose in V elbngton has yet to be begun. u Other examples might be cited, but this is hard y necessary. 1 is clear enough that in comparison with Auckland Wellington fares badly in many other matters than that of gifts from individual citizens. In 'Wellington there is not only a comparative dearth of gifts to the city, but a somewhat obvious lack of the spirit that is needed throughout tho community to prompt such gifts and provide them with an appropriate setting. . . , There is need of generosity and public spirit not only in .making such gifts to the cify as comparatively few are able to offer, but in rendering the help that almost any man or woman may give to enterprises intended to benefit the community and make the city a better place to live in. Until these facts are much more widely recognised and acted upon in Wellington than they are at present, it will continue to fare badly, and compare badly in some respects, with Auckland and other cities where an alert community spirit finds spontaneous and active expression.