CIVIC PRIDE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 14 October 1926, Page 4

CIVIC PRIDE

OBSERVATIONS ON “SKITE” BY MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH (By Telegraph.—Bpeoial to The Mail.) CHRISTCHURCH, 13th Oct. During his travels here and there in New Zealand the Mayor of Christchurch (Rev. J. K. Archer) has not failed to observe that the spirit of civic pride is militant among its public men. He made reference to his observations at tbe annual conference of delegates of the Industrial Corporation of New Zealand, which opened to-day. The M?vor said lie was not a New Zealander; himself and he had been struck by the idea that the public- men of the dominion seemed to have an enormous capacity for “skite.” “I am going to Dunedin tin’s afternoon for a conference,” he continued, “and I expect that the Mayor of Dunedin will be telling us that Dunedin is the finest city in New Zealand. 1 ’ He had been told by tbe Mayor of Napier that that town was the finest in the dominion and by the Mayor of Timaru that the South Canterbury capital, in addition to being the finest in New Zealand, was one of the most loyal in the British Empire.” “Christchurch is a very fine city,” continued Mr Archer, “but those of us who are interested in social progress hope that it will be made a finer city still.”

Mt F. Campbell, president of the Wellington Industrial Association, had a remark to make on the subject of “skite” when his turn came to speak. “We, too, have our skite,” he said, “and that is that New Zealand-made goods are the best. That is a skite that we are going to keep up.”