FEILDING TRADE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLXI, Issue 3482, 16 December 1926, Page 10

FEILDING TRADE

Affected by Outside Competition

NEED FOR DRASTIC ACTION

Some' very straight talking was I done by-Mr. V.-Ei, Smith, retiring president of the Feilding Chamber of 1 Commerce',''at the annual meeting of [the Chamber on- Tuesday evening, I when discoursing on Feildlng’s trade. I In introducing his subject, Mr. I sinith said that one of the causes of depression in Feilding was due to the serious lack of thought of the community for the welfare of the town. The closing of the shops on ‘ Saturday afternoon had the effect of ■shutting out business, and owing to i the generosity of Feilding in this | connection, Palmerston North was 'prospering. When a community placed sport before business, there ! could be only one result. When ' people earn their money in a town j they should have more than a pas!sing consideration for the towns welfare, for they were dependent on the town’s activity for their livelihood. He was sorry to say that this remark was not confined to employees, but it embraced employers as well. Feilding was situated between two towns that remained open on Saturday afternoon — Palmerston North and Marton. Both of these towns were prospering at Feilding s expense, While Feilding was almost at a standstill. Feilding money was assisting Palmerston in more than one way —the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, the Manawatu Oroua Power Board, the Manawatu A and P Assn., and the motor buses which ran between Palmerston North and Feilding. He did not blame the Palmerston people for doing the business they were, and asserted that Feilding business people had themselves to blame for the way things were going. Mr. Smith personally believed that influences were at work with the object of placing Feilding in the background, and In support of this view referred to the failure of the “Bimited” to stop at Feilding, the elimination of Feilding from the itinerary of the Duke and Duchess of York’s visit, the loss of the Agriculture College and other matters. Much of the trouble was due to the dilatoriness of the townspeople. They required waking up. (Applause). Mr. E. Goodbeherc complimented the Chamber on its activities during the past year. He had come to the meeting to offer some criticism and made no apology ofr doing so. As one of the foundation members of the Chamber lie had taken an interest in its work, and had noticed two points which the Chamber had taken up unsuccessfully. One was the request that the night “limited” from Wellington should stop at Feilding. The Chamber should hammer away until they were successful. He thought it was a shameful thing that the Minister of Railways and the Railway Dept, should have acted as they had done. It was not the town actually that the service was sought for, but the vast district which the town served. There was no earthly reason why the "limited” should not stop as requested—-the fact that Feilding was closer to a larger town did not matter, nor was the. question of time a factor to cause the refusal of the Departmental heads. The other point was that dealing with the Chamber's endeavour to obtain better facilities for the conveyance of patients to the Palmerston North Hospital. There was the question of establishing a hospital in Feilding, but he felt that the idea of centralising hospitals had the advantage of offering better and more efficient treatment. On the ambulance question however he considered that as Feilding contributed so largely to the maintenance of the Palmerston hospital, it had a right to demand efficient facilities for the expeditious conveyance of patients from the town and the district whlcn was behind it. He trusted the Chamber would bring the matter forcioly before the Board. Regarding the President’s remarks on the state of trade in the town, Mr. Goodbeherc said the question was a vital one, for without trade Feilding must languish and perish. Many reasons had been given by different persons to justify the diversion of Legitimate trade, many of which were sound. The last census figures gave him a distinct shook, and he failed to understand the big shrinkage in population as shown by the figures No other town of the size of Feilding was so well situated and possessed the advantages and facilities thal Feilding offered. It was situated in the centre of one of the finest agricultural districts in the North Island. The town was clean, healthy and well laid out, and the Borough affairs were well administered. The ratepayers who enjoy these services and facilities forgot that they had a duty to perform; that they were morally bound to forward the town’s interests. Unfortunately this was the case, for it was a well-known fact that a very large number of townspeople did their shopping in other centres. They not only indulged in this practice, ; but boasted of it. He knew as a positive fact that shoppers in other centres offer special rebates to shoppers from Feilding. Ho did not believe that the half-holiday question | was altogether to blame. He know I that there wa s a tendency fo r trade I to centralise, but considered that the blame lay on the community that was ■acting disloyally to the town it chose to call Its home. He pointed to the fact that the Borough Council had accepted a tender for the supply of dog-collars from an Auckland firm, whilst there were ratepayers in business in the town able to fulfil the

order. It wag only a small matter, but it was these small matters that counted. He was not a pessimist, but he felt that things were not going as they should. "We are being squeezed of our life's blood and unless something drastic is done we, will be in a parlous'state” said Mr. GoodbeI here. The sooner these facts were j faced the better it would be for the jtown, for it would have the effect of I awakening interest in the trend or I events. It was said that the slump | was general, but he found that in jboth Palmerston North and Marton, .'substantial buildings were being ■'erected, and each town bore an air |of prosperity. Some people claimed jthat Feilding’s tradespeople were too greedy; that their prices were too (high. That was certainly the feeling throughout the country. Feilding’s shopkeepers were certainly situated to offer good service as any one else. In conclusion *Mr. Goodbeherc commented upon the loss of the resident magistrate, and remarked that apparently the heads of Departments ran the country without , reference to the Ministers. Unless Feilding business people realised the position and appreciated their responsibilities, the town would be drawn into the net ana ultimately become a suburb of the larger town, (applause). Mr. A. J. Kellow did not agree with the pessimistic tone that had been struck. He doubted whether more than 5 per cent, of the money normally expended in business went outside the town. (Voices —“more like 20 per cent”). Members of the Chamber should not get their tails down —Feilding was one of the most solid little towns in New Zealand. He had heard it whispered that the business people of Palmerston owned the buses which ran to Feilding, but Feilding should not “get the wind up over that.” tie thought that much of the trouble was due to the fact that Feilding was too well provided for with businesses—-there were seventeen grocery establishments and as many drapery establishments as Palmerston North. Too many people in Feilding were wishing to become bosses. They all could not make fortunes, and their effort to do so was responsible for the talk about trade being diverted.