TOWN AND COUNTRY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 13 August 1921, Page 5

TOWN AND COUNTRY

Mr Wilson, ''Mayor of New Plymouth, I <came along :.to -the executive meeting <rif fthe Taranaki Farmers' Union, which was held "in: New Plymouth* yesterday, ltd cdfficially -welcome the visitors to th© ', town. He said he felt it was due to ithem, -o"n behalf of the people of New Plymouth, *to say how pleased he was to Ikttow that the members of the execiitive had seen their way to come *to their town. The movement would, in his opinion, tend to. strengthen any institution that drew its members from rover-a wide area. People in towns — parasites . perhaps they may be called —aexisted -solely on the country, and "he was pleased to know that the influence of the Farmers' Union was growing in the land, and he believed it 'would grow more and more if they held their meetings in various centres. He 'trusted this would not be the last -time -that they would meet in New Plymouth. The chairman, in reply, pointed out that two or three years ago they held their annual conference in New Plymouth, and a very successful gathering it was. It was a new movement "to hold executive meetings at different "places; they intended to give it *. atrial' in the hope that it would create more interest in the Union in the northern-end. They did not look upon {townspeople parasites; they must "have towns as well as the country if "the country was ever going "to carry a.' 'big population. No set of people -could keep-their-noses always to the grindstone; they must have 6ome re-i -creation, and -country people looked to the townspeople to provide amusement' , and recreation for them. But they | did not want -all the people to stay |in the towns, and they had started a movement -to try and check town population growing unduly fast. By means |of boys' and girls' agricultural clubs i they hoped t*> -give the minds of the j children a bias towards the land. They wanted to have a love of the country i instilled into their minds whilst their j minds were retentive, and to educate them to. realise that there were pleasures and interests in the country. They trusted the boys' and girls' agricultural clubs would help to accomplish this, because it was country population -and production that the Dominion- needed. ;It was often remarked that it was a good thing to see industries started in a town because they gave employment to so many men, but would not those same men be far better employed producing primary products. They did not want too many men in their big towns and cities. He was glad that the old cry of town v. country had gone for «aver; no man or community of me* could live entirely unto themselves. They were all interdependent upon each other.