A Lost Opportunity

Northern Advocate, 4 June 1947, Page 4

A Lost Opportunity

An American poet wrote that “of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.”

Another American poet, playfully disputing this contention, declared that much sadder words are: “It is, but it hadn’t ought to be.”

A combination of these sentiments will doubtless find a place in the thoughts oj future generations of Whangarei residents when they reflect that but for shortsightedness and lack of energy on the part of a generation which had more than one opportunity to secure an open space in a desirable location, the opportunities were neglected and lost.

These comments have been inspired by the fact that the State Housing Department informed the Borough Council last evening that it could not now consider relinquish-

ing the Weaver property in Rust Lane which it has obtained as a State housing area. Despite the fact that Whangarei people or their representatives had only themselves to blame for failure to secure the land when it was available, there was entertained a hope that the Housing Department, in the interests of town planning and in order that provision should be made for the playing fields which a Greater Whangarei will require, would accede to the Borough Council’s belated request to have the land reserved for playing field purposes. The Housing Department might have been expected to take a long view of the question, even if the borough itself had not done so, and there will persist a hope, perhaps forlorn, that a crime against posterity will yet be avoided, as might occur if the matter is pursued with realisation of the issue involved.