PROGRESS ASSOCIATION FOR LEVIN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 January 1917, Page 2

PROGRESS ASSOCIATION FOR LEVIN.

A suggestion lias been made to The Chronicle that the present time is an opportune one for the revival of the Progress Association that did such excellent work for the advancement of Levin and district during 1910-11. A great deal might bo said in favor of the suggestion; there is much lielpful work that could be done now for the benefit of the whole community; but the truth must be faced that the unsrttbd times in which we now live have made the great majority of folk disinclined for special efforts outside of iluwc specially commendable ones directed to the help of our men in the field of active service. None the less, it is essential that business progress ■should be kept in the forefront of our activities; in these times there requires to bp a erv.itinuance of sound progress in the true interests of those "of our iellow townsmen and settlers who are away >at the war and whose civilian prospects are morally held in trust by the citizens who remain behind. No town or city can stand still; there will be retrogression as soon as progress ceases. Our own town has arrived at the stage where a fillip to industry is a necessity. Closer settlement would provide this; but it will not be secured by this district, failing a special effort, while other localities are publicly' making known all the advantages they have to offer. . At present the Government is in search of suitable lands an which to place returned soldiers who are fit to follow the arduous life of a primary producer. Specially suitable lands for subdivision into blocks of ten, twenty and thirty acres are to be obtained in Levin district ; but they are to l>e obtained in

several other districts also; and there ifS no i'liroty that the special claims of Levin for pre-eminence will be realised by iilia authorities 'unless the grounds for them are put forward convincingly. .Matters such as these could be seen to bv a Progress Association; and in undertaking them an opportunity for rendering real assistance to the State and our absent soldiers—as well as to the business folk and the whole com-munity-would be afforded to people who during the last two years have ixvn publicly and privately lamenting their inability to go to the war—thro-u"-]i bar of age, domestic obligations, business ties, and so forth. ,