SUPPORTING ONE'S OWN TOWN

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 29 April 1920, Page 3

SUPPORTING ONE'S OWN TOWN

TIMELY REMARKS

The following remarks, which appeared recently in a King Country paper, are applicable to most country towns : —

New Zealand is noted for its number of newspapers; there are about 230 registered newpapers in the Dominon —good, bad and indifferent. A noteworthy fact about these businesses —country papers in particulai —is that the towns and townships like their own papers, those printed locally, no matter what they may ba in the way of merit. In other words, business people prefer their own local sheet to any outside paper —always excepting the large and useful city dailies, to which a great majority of the country people subscribe for the sake of cable and dominion news. The principal reason why the residents oJ: New Zealand give general support to the " local " printing office is, of course, because they know that most of the money earned will be spent in the town; whereas anything given to an outside concern means the sending away of cash J to help bolster up another town in which they are in no way interested. The owners of such I "outside" businesses have no interest in " our " town except to secure what money they can to j bank, and build np their business in the town wherein they are established- During a long newspaper f .m&y we have noticed that the "'■ IJ»''>paper " is usually unmoles. '-Ting its few years of j infancy- oliinng the peroid when merely " V.". '^"-ling " it tries to push the tow^h'fp ahead and in doing so und&ftbes many v hardships " ahd '* •"•■"ivations " in a sense. Then -ter when the town has grown .-rM become m >r" important, greed}, "Envious eye (of " outside " perse■*'-) arc cast at | it,'and attempts madefas we mv? j already said, to transfer local S money to assist outside businesses. This is often done in defiance of a patriotic feeling that should, or is supposed to, exist. "There is no sentiment in business" is an old saying; but still if "our boys" had not fought for the country there might at the present time have been no use for the quotation except on the part of th^,.Germans. Only by sußporting ; 4ocal enterprises and the people* wh.o conduct such caii a town prosper and develop.