OUR NEW COUNTY OFFICE

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXI, Issue 2727, 5 December 1910, Page 2

OUR NEW COUNTY OFFICE

[To the Editor.]

Sir—l see by the report of the last meeting of the Council that it has been decided to replace that ornament to a rising town known as the County offices —not before it was needed, as they

were rotten inside and out and tar from being a thing of beauty, especially after the artistic concrete strong room was planted on the side.

Now, I would like to suggest to those whom it may concern that we make a job of ii this time and put up something that we shall be proud to show our visitors from other towns. My idea is to kill several birds with one stone and save money by doing it. This is the way I think it could be done : We need a Council chamber and offices ; we also need a swimming bath ; in the near future we shall need a new fire brigade shed, as the rats have nearly gnawed the inside out ot the existing one. Anyway, it will be too small to accommodate the new reel that is coming along shortly. Another need that will arise in a lew years is a new library ; the worms are very busy with the existing one and reckon to get "the ground clear in about three years' time. It we put the whole bunch—Council offices, swimming bath, library, and brigade shed —under one roof the whole thing would go on the ground that the Council now occupies for its offices, etc., and the ground occupied by the library and brigade shed could be disposed of for a substantial sum, or utilised for the new cooking centre that the ladies are talking about establishing as soon as they have got the liquor question properly settled.

The bath and brigade shed could occupy the whole of the site, and the chamber, offices, and library would be

built over them ; but these are mere details, and will be arranged to suit the amount that the Council decide to spend. Of course I expect to be told that I am talking out of my hat or that I should mind my own business and it might become more prosperous, but I will chance that, and more in the interests of the rising generation and the generation that is here ; and if " Audi molests me I hope " Live and let live " will trounce him as he did before. But frivolity apart, it is in the interests of Paeroa generally to make the town more attractive. • The silting works, I am informed, contemplate putting on a large number of men—if they can get them ; the sash and door factories are working short-handed, and there is a scarcity of labour generally. Why ? Is it because Paeroa is so deadly dull to the average single man that he will not come near it if he knows it, and if he strikes it unawares he clears out again as soon as he does know it. Another urgent need that the Council might look into is a rifle range, say, in the domain. Two-thirds of the population of New Zealand hardly know one

end of a gun from the other, and it is up to us to teach the young idea how to shoot, or what will become of us when the Chinks and Japs start in to annex God's own country.

A few thousands laid out in improving the town —not in footpaths—would be a good investment, not only to us, but to the generation that is to come. We could borrow the needful and repay it in instalments out of the rates spread over a term of years. That would allow the coming generation, that will benefit, the privilege of paying for some of it, and they should only be too pleased to do so.—l am, etc., T.M.