The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Kaponga, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1912. LACK OF PUBLIC SPIRIT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVIII, Issue XVIII, 22 October 1912, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Kaponga, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1912. LACK OF PUBLIC SPIRIT.

it has been well said that "lack of public spirit is contemptible in the ojuzea and harmful to tne State or community.'.' Would it be odious to compare this statement with the benaviour ol: a section 01 the people of Jdawera? i< or instance, were there no such body as a Chamber if Commerce Jii the town, it is probably safe to say that there are in tn e place many persons who would indignantly prot&st againsc the lack of public spirit responsible for its non-existence. But axe tiaese, we wonder, the persons who fail to support the Chamber that does exist, aim never even attend its annual meeting, to show by their presence that they believe in the institution, or to let the Council and the executive officers know that the citizens are not indifferent to their efforts in the general public interest? Were there no- Chamber, the grumblers would certainly be numerous, and those who take no interest in the Chamber which we fortunately have must, we think, be not less so; for, indeed, practically the whole community stays away. Even some who no doubt would like1 to be considered "leading and influential citizens," and believe themselves to be so, must be amongst the absentees, for at the Chamber's last annual meeting on Monday, the 14th instant, there were not twelve persons present; in fact, practically only the executive. Was this creditable to the other three or four or ten dozen per sons who might have been, and should have been, present? Does it not show them in a peculiarly unenviable light as men who, in one way or other, do fairly well in the community, yet cannot give, once a year, an hour or two's countenance to a public body devoted to the collective interest of ail ? There can be but one answer to the question, and, to be quite plain, this lack of public spirit is somewhat contemptible. It is certainly ungenerous in its relation to the men who actually do the work of the Chamber, and the President (Mr E. Dixon) was more than warranted in saying what he did say on the subject at the annual meeting on the 14th instant. As reported "He said that there were very few towns in New Zealand wheru so few business people took an active interest in the welfare of the place as they did in Hawera. This uas to be deplored, and it was about time the business people began to realise their responsibilities. If they let themselves fall behind then they must be prepared to take a back place. The neighboring towns of Stratford, Eltham and Ingle wood were all aspir ing for pre-eminence as far as tins part of the coast was concerned, and they found these towns very much alive. They would find that if the Stratford or the Eltham Chamber of Commerce were to convene a meeting, there would be a representative attendance of between thirty awl forty citizens. Unfortunately this would not be so in Hawera. Gutters had been like this for years, and personally he was heartily sick of it. It was a serious matter for the town and the sooner the people realised this the better."

Really, in view of all the ["acts, tho majority of business men in ilaw^.a, have every: reason to bo thoroughly ashamed of themselves on account of their lack of public spirit; which is all the more deplorable, inasmuch as it must be a proof of civic degeneracy, because the Hawera Chamber was one of the first Chambers, if not the very first, formed in a New Zealand country town. Tims, in the matter of public spirit, the average citizen of the present day must compare poorly with his intelligent and enterprising predecessor. It is not as though there were now nothing for the Chamber to do, or as though the few earnest and self-denying men who carry it on, were neglectful of their duties' and opportunities. In both categories it is quite the other way. The Chamber has had »v the past, and still has in hand, or is taking in hand such important pubJo services or works as a metallic telephone system, the Te Rbti-Opunake railway, the creation of . a Greater Hawera, the reduction of coastal ireights from Patea to Wellington, the safety of level railway crossings, the dangerous—indeed criminal—practice of driving vehicles after dark without lights, and the construction of a tramWay from Hawera to the Waimate 1 lams. All these proposals, and others like them, have a practical and immediate bearing on the prosperity and progress of the town and district * The few men who do the work of the Chamber, to their credit, do their very best for each and all; while, to their discredit, the people of Hawera do not give one solitary annual smile, or a yearly two hours' personal attendance, by way of encouragement. Is this last condition to continue? If it is others besides Mr Dixon will become heartily sick of it, and the people generally will then also have occasion to become so sorry that they will probably remain so all their lives. And they' will deserve to, if they do not mend their ways, and recapture and continue to exercise the splendid public spirit of their predecessors.