GREETINGS.

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume I, Issue 1, 12 August 1932, Page 7

GREETINGS.

(CONTINUED,) From THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP BRODIE: One important lesson which New Zealand must learn from the present depression is the serious error of neglecting l'ural ment. From geological and climatic considerations the progress and stability of our young; country must depend on bringing our land to its fullest productive capacity. This can be accomplished by selecting suitable country centres and promoting a plan of closer settlement and advocating best methods of intensive cultivation. Rangiora. has the claim to selection as such a centre, and the publicity to be g*ained by a local Press would be a big factor in the success of this important movement. I wish every success to the “ North Canterbury Gazette,” and trust its able advocacy of the possibilities of Rangiora and North Canterbury will be a lesson to other similar centres as to the best means to remedy unemployment, to' provide avenues of occupation for all our boys, and to build up an industrious and energetic people worthy of our young and favoured land.

From THE REV. JOHN A. ALLAN, M.A., MODERATOR OF THE CHRISTCHURCH PRESBYTERY: I count it a privilege to be able to send you a message of greeting for the first number _of your paper, and desire to wish you every success. The great power of the Press in the world of to-day lays an enormous responsibility on those who conduct our newspapers, a responsibility which I am sure will always be conscientiously discharged in the “ North Canterbury Gazette.” I am confident that under its present direction the paper will stand strongly for righteousness, justice, and the highest interests of the people of our land, and will play its part effectively in the great tasks of reconciliation between man and man, class and class, nation and nation, which it has fallen to the lot of our generation to carry through.

From the REV. A. C. PURCHAS, VICAR OF RANGIORA: There lias been such a trend to the towns from the country, especially during the last fifteen years, so much centralisation in the cities, that many have thought those streets were paved with gold; forgetful of the rock whence the gold was mined, in other words, that the cities are all-dependent on the country. Any step that can reverse this townward movement, emphasise the attraction and importance of tlie country districts, and at this time especially, help those ’who work there, is to be applauded. It is with great pleasure therefore that we welcome the ££ North Canterbury Gazette,” and we feel sure that it will do much for this splendid district of North Canterbury. In these days when so many circumstances and forces are making the lives of most communities difficult, a. lead given to form sound, clean, public opinion is most surely to be welcomed, and this lead and assistance we confidently look to the £ £ Gazette ’ ’ to give us.

From C. I. JENNINGS, ESQ., CHAIRMAN OF THE RANGIORA HIGH SCHOOL BOARD: On behalf of __ the Rangiora High School Board I have much pleasure in proffering you a very cordial welcome to Rangiora, and best wishes for the success of your new journalistic venture. Judging by the literary ability you displayed in the columns of another newspaper, the Board feels confident that your new publication will prove of a high standard of merit, and will secure the support of the people of North Canterbury. The Board’s unique scheme of rural education (devised by the present Principal of the School, Mr. J. EL Strachan) will, it is hoped, attract, favourable notice in your columns, seeing that you express your intention to devote your paper principally to the interests of farmers. For the School has a farm of 114 acres, on which training in all branches of husbandry is being given by highly qualified instructors, and agricultural experiments are being carried out in co-operation with officers of the Agricultural Department. The Board trusts that you will, from time to time, devote space >i n your to contributed articles on the _ results of the experimeifts carried out.

From PROFESSOR JAMES HIGHT, C.M.G., Litt. D., RECTOR OF CANTERBURY COLLEGE: It gives me much pleasure to hear of the new venture in journalism in North Canterbury, and to wish the Editor-owner of the “ North Canterbury Gazette ” complete success in his undertaking. I send this message of congratulation and good-will because of the great influence for good exercised by a journal conducted according to > the best traditions and principles governing the ethics of journalism. A newspaper both expresses public opinion and helps in its formation and development, and public opinion is the great governing factor in the making of our laws and the degree to which we observe them, as well as a powerful agent in shaping those social attitudes that are not directly affected by legislation. In guiding this opinion I feel sure the “ North Canterbury Gazette ” will regard only what it honestly judges to be the good of the community as a whole. News _is lamely the raw material of which public opinion is made, and I have confidence that this journal will aim to present news_ fully and accurately, without discrimination based on any party or sectional interests, and with fairness to all concerned. Circulating in a community so closely associated with farming as North Canterbury is, it will have ample scope for stimulating an intelligent interest in the newer developments of economic organisation that vitally affect the fortunes of a country like New Zealand exporting primary products to a distant market subject to keen competition from progressive peoples abroad. I cannot express any better wish than that your caper may have a truly liberalising and liberating influence in the best sense of those much abused terms.

From L. R. C. MACFARLANE, ESQ., MEMBER OF THE RADIO BROADCASTING BOARD: In the midst of our _ present shadows and disappointments may the launching of the ££ Gazette ” on the literary seas of endeavour ' and progress be a ray of hope to North Canterbury. Men’s minds and habits change beneath the rolling wheels of time. In periods of adversity we draw nearer to each other in our rural communities. We live closer to, the soil that supports us. We ask more of it. We grow to love it more. May your paper truly foster this growing community of interest among its subscribers. Good for the future ever rises from the evil ashes of the past. Slowly we are moving through the labyrinths of financial adjustment —the toils of labour and the fruits of science understood and applied to a new and better civilisation. The district through which vour paper will circulate has vast possibilities for the energies of man. A sweet, sun-kissed land, that only needs to awaken a little from the slumbers of itei past to flow with all the goods of plenty. We feel certain that the_“ North Canterbury Gazette ” will be in every way, social, commercial, and literary, . a herald of better times.

From D. R. HUTCHISON, ESQ., CHAIRMAN NORTH CANTERBURY POWER BOARD: The North Canterbury Electric Power Board is. pleased to welcome the advent of the ’‘ North Canterbury Gazette ” and extends to the new journal its best wishes for a long and successful lifeMay we, in this first issue, deliver to our country friends a message concerning* our own policy and* aspirations. We are engaged in the distribution of electric power through five counties in North Canterbury —power for the factory, the farm, and the home. Since the inception of the Power Board, our policy has been: (1) That the business shall be self-supporting, without any form of rate being collected from the ratepayers; (2). that our consumers shall receive good and constant service for their electrical requirements; (3) that the Board’s charges for electric power shall be on the lowest scale consistent with financial stability and the maintenance of an eh iciest system. The Board has in the past badly felt the need for a better means of keeping in close touch with its consumers, acquainting them with its. policy, its progress, its difficulties, and its hopes for the future. We trust that the pages of this journal will now provide us with such a link with our consumers, and will assist in the 1 moulding of a real spirit of community interest in North Canterbury. For ourselves, we look forward to the future with considerable optim-

ism—in spite of present conditions we are constantly using electricity for the performance of new tasks, thus steadily increasing the sale of power, and of course an increasing turnover must be followed by concessions to our consumers in the shape of reduced charges and an even better service. We would close this message with a t quotation from a French author, as expressing our unbounded faith in the future of electric power: ‘‘The day must come when electricity will be for everyone, as the waters of the rivers and the wind of heaven. It should not merely be supplied, but lavished, that men may use it at their will, as the air they breathe.” From Mr. J. E.* STRACHAN. ESQ., M.A., B.Sc., PRINCIPAL RANGIORA HIGH SCHOOL: I am sure that all who have at heart the welfare of this land and its people will welcome the advent of a journal seeking to interpret the life of a rural community. I have long felt that there was need in the Dominion for such a publication. The metropolitan . newspaper is apt to become the sounding board for tlie rumours that rumble through the halls where stocks go up and down and politicians angle for a little brief authority. Infinitely more significant, if less sensational, is the new spring growth over 1 all the countryside to-day. The sap runs free in the trees again. The fields are greening with the winter wheat, and the bleat of the lamb is heard in the meadows. Nature is about her business —and ours. All is not lost. If this journal, while telling us something of the country people, their lives, their occupations, their obsessions and their environment, will get us and them thinking afresh about these {stirrings at thej roots of our national life, it may help to usher in a new spring tide in all our affairs.

From DENIS CHAPMAN, ESQ., PRESIDENT of THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL & PASTORAL ASSOCIATION: The establishment of a completely new publication for North Canterbury may be regarded as another stepping stone in the progress of the district and one to which I trust the community will give its fullest support. To-day many sweeping changes are taking place, and such momentous .decisions arrived at through conferences of Imperial and International nature that we must be ready to carry out the part expected of us and which should be placed clearly before us through the columns of the newspapers. It is important, too, that full recognition he given to our own domestic matters and an endeavour made to brine* about greater co-operation between town and country to the mutual benefit of both. Farming costs are still very hiqh in comparison with the prices of our primary produce, and this must necessarily be reflected through all sections of the community, hut by better husbandry and the consequent increase in production, without detriment to quality, we may in some measure contribute toward lessening the gap which to-day is sapping the very existence of the Agricultural and Pastoral Industry. To the promoter of the new emprise, we extend our sincere good wishes, confident that the part plaved by the newspapers is of a value that cannot be over estimated.