NO OFFICIAL OPENING
The Raglan County Council lias a new bridge at Tuakau, and it has something equally valuable in a new precedent. When the county chairman was asked if there were to be an official opening, with a Minister of the Crown invited and a dinner, he replied that it was a fine bridge of which the ratepayers could be proud, but the expenses to ratepayers for an-official opening would be considerable. "I think it is just as well to leave it at that," and the council left it at that. It is not to be expected that the precedent will be everywhere followed; The old custom of opening bridges, halls, schools, and post offices with ceremony is deep-rooted; possibly prisons are the only public buildings that are not first occupied in a formal way with the presentation of a gold key and a few short sentences in congratulation. But Raglan has given the lead, and it is for other ratepayers to consider how far they will follow. Official openings which serve no useful purpose are certainly luxuries which could be dispensed with now. An exception can be made when the publicity of an official opening is needed to secure support for a service; but a bridge does not need that. '
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19330529.2.40
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 6
Word Count
212NO OFFICIAL OPENING Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.