CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 October 1924, Page 4

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

ANNUAL MEETING TO-MORROW. The annual meeting of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce will be held at the Borough Chambers to-morrow evening. There are 35 members of this important body, which is about one half what the membership should be, and the experience of the past few years has been that the attendance at the annual meetings is distressingly small. Chambers of commerce have an official standing with the Government, local bodies and allied institutions. Our local chamber has played an important part in the progress of the town, but there is no getting away from the fact that it has been left for a 'few to carry on the work. It is no answer to say that this is the experience in most associations, for in connection with the work of the chamber of commerce so many are directly affected in the way that should make the strongest appeal—the pocket. If a commercial community is not sufficiently alive to the advantages secured by a real 1 live local chamber of commerce, then there is before that community more trouble than it has to face at the present. There are substantial interests to protect and further advantages to be gained bv collective and energetic action, and of our part we hope to see those who have been carrying on this particular work for the public benefit supported by a large attendance of members to-morrow, and also see some steps taken to increase the membership so that the association can speak with even more authority than at present for the commercial interests of the town and district.