"HELP YOURSELVES"

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 52, 2 March 1934, Page 8

"HELP YOURSELVES"

AN ARCHITECT'S ADVICE

MivJ. Park, chairman of the Auckland branch of the ±v"ew Zealand Institute of Architects, anjl a uieinbcr of the. Dominion' -Council,', gave 'some ; candid advice at the annual meeting of the institute this week. He declared that architects <had only, themselves •to blame-for mistakes of "Parliament and by local bodies in matters which ' concerned the profession. Architects should stand for election as representatives of the public, and they would then be in a, position to give helpful constructive advice when laws or bylaws were being framed. Other organisations took care to be represented in local bodies and in Parliament, he ,said. They were "on the spot" to look after their interests. In self-defence architects should be similarly active. If they did not stir .for themselves, how, could they expect other folk to stir for them? It. was said that New Zealand had' not the country's best brains in ■ Parliament, but whose fault was that? If the men of brains decided to remain always in private business, they would have. to. be content • witli government by men of less intelligence they they had themselves. "We arc viewed by some persons as a close corporation to benefit only ourselves," concluded Mr. Park. "We must educate the public to a recognition of the .truth' that our profession is an essential one to the community, and that we have- our necessary place in the country just as' the doctor .has and the lawyer has. It is our duty to prove our value to the public."