Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1913. WAKE UP, PALMERSTON!

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9614, 4 October 1913, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1913. WAKE UP, PALMERSTON!

Palmer,stox's central position is on* of its best assets, as business and professional men have found to their satisfaction in the past. But there is just a suspicion that the town's advantages 'u this important respect are allowed sometimes to take the plac* of the energy and enterprise which are apparent in other loss favoured localities. Our citizens are in danger of considering that the position given them by nature is impregnable, and the mere derice of man is not going to tak* from them what must come as a matter of course. That there is danger in audi an attitude is being impressed upon the community very forcibly in one important respect, just now. Since the opening of the Supreme Court sittings in Palmerston, legal business has grown rapidly, and the town has benefited both directly and indirectly. Sometimes our people are apt to overlook the commercial advantages accruing from such a source, but a glance down the list of business transacted will convince anyone of the importance of these sittings to ths town. Cases come from all parts of the Island, and some of them entail the presence of large numbers of witnesses for several days at a time, while the small army of lawyers who take up tlieir temporary abode her© adds considerably to the direct benefits accruing. There are, too, many indirect advantages which are not to be despised, and all these considerations point to the necessity of vigilance being exercised in seeing that the business of the Court is assisted, encouraged and

increased by every legitimate method, It will have been noted recently that quite a number of cases from the Main Trunk line have come ujyfor hearing at the Palmerston sittings. At the last session there was the Ore Ore Maori case, which necessitated the attendance of a large number of witnesses for some days, while at the previous sitting a slander action brought another small army of Main Trunk residents to Palmerston, and kept them here for three or four dqys. These people not only spent a good deal of money in the town, but they probably formed business connections which may develop considerably in the future. Palmerston does not want to lose such excellent patronage either in the legal or commercial spheres, but Palmerston, through want of vigilance, is in danger of being displaced by a more wideawake community. We are informed on the best authority that during the past few weeks an f rom Wanganui has been making a diligent canvass of legal firms on the Main Trunk line with the object of getting signatures to a petition, the object of which is to procure a pronouncement from the judges sitting in the Court of Appeal in favour of Wanganui as against Palmerston North as the centre where all Main Trunk cases must be heard. The petitioners desire to have clearly defined districts created, the boundary of which is to be the Rangitikei river. This, of course, would cut Palmerston right out of all legal business north of Marton, and would give Wanganui a profitable and ever-growing source of revenue. At present the rule in force is that the business goes to the nearest and most convenient centre, which is Palmerston North, because the Main Trunk expresses run direct to this town, whereas the connection with Wanganui is inconvenient. But there are some energetic souls in the river city, and they are making a big bid for the business.

We understand that the judges are to be petitioned early next week, go that if Palmerston is to protect its interests action must be taken immediately. Here is another excellent opportunity for the Chamber of Commerce to show its enterprise. Representations could be made to the Bench through the local Registrar of the Supreme Court (Mr W,. J. Poynton), who would no doubt forward any communications made to the proper quarter. The matter is one of urgency, for if this business is once lost to the town it may never be regained.