DUPLICATION NO LONGER A GAIN

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 54, 6 March 1922, Page 6

DUPLICATION NO LONGER A GAIN

As a protest against the alleged conservatism and laissez faire of ,the 'then only Chamber of Commerce in Wellington, the formation of another Chamber was an action the wisdom of which we have not presumed to question. At the time when the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce raised its banner, there may have been need of independent action by those who were discontented with the " dead slow ahead " of the original Chamber. But we think that that time has passed. Circumstances are such that there is little danger of somnolence again entering into •Chamber of Commerce circles, but there does exist some danger that well-recognised purposes .will lose force through lack of a united push, and through a tendency of the work of two Chambers to overlap. When the Central Chamber of Commerce was formed some years ago, its promoters said that their purpose was efficiency. But if, at that time, secessionist or independent action made for efficiency, it is equally certain that the same objective now needs reunion, so that' Chamber of Commerce activities, instead of being duplicated, should be amalgamated, systematised, and extended. If the Chamber of Commerce is to become the centre of the public welfare organisation of which Wellington stands in need, there can be only one centre and only one Chamber. From .it should radiate Progress League, Civic League, and other community activities, all co-ordinated under a central inspiration. Amalgamation of the two Chambers would lead to the voice of Wellington being more clearly heard both in Cabinet and Council Chamber. And while there is nothing to admire in a clamant parochialism, it has to be admitted that for many years Wellington has drifted too far in the opposite direction, and that the time has arrived when the needs of the middle district should be stated with greater emphasis.