PLEA FOR PUBLIC SPIRIT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10228, 10 December 1904, Page 4

PLEA FOR PUBLIC SPIRIT.

1 » MAYOR OF WELLINGTON'S SPEECH During his speech on tli© occasion of the opening of the new Town Hall at Wellington, Mr J. G. W. Aitken, Mayor, made some remarks wliich deserve to be pondered! over by citizens m all parts of the colony. He said: — The figures I have enumerated to you go to show the material prosperity of this our city. There is another side, of the whole question, and to my mind a higher side, than' that upon which I have dwelt. In a community, if the people devote themselves merely to the obtaining of wealth and do not give tho time and the attention to public duty, that community must of necessity fail to accomplish the higher standards of life. As we look back on the i history of this community, or any other i British community, and we ask ourselves how it i&> that they have risen to the power and position which they now hold, the answer must inevitably be that it was because of their public spirit, and because they did not devote the whole ( of their time to their own private ends ; , but they sought m many ways to serve ; the community m which they ftwelt. It will be found upon close examination i that this lias been the case m eveiy : place wliere people have obtained and maintained! power. A community tliat is given up entirely to self-seeking and self- ; aggrandisement must m the nature of , things lose power. Her institutions will cease to be free and 1 popular, and the ; decay of the race must necessarily set , m. In this city m tlie past personal : freedom has been enjoyed, and we may - still continue to enjoy that freedom and 1 yet be under proper subjection and rule. Let us see to it that wo continue to , maintain this freedom, which can only ; be maintained! by the devotion of the citizens to tlie best interests of the city . as a whole. We can live for ourselves ■ and at the same time live for the comma- , nity. Let us not forget that we have a record to maintain. Let us try to make this city of Wellington m which we live to be not only commercially and materially the best city m the colony, but let us try by ail other means m our power to ; make her institutions, her people, as free and vigorous as it is possible to make a people. This we can do by our devotion to our fellow-men, and l to that Divine being under whose rule we live. Let us remember that m the service of mankind we are serving God, and that m that service we are living the highest ideal of life. .