Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1919. "GETTING TOGETHER."
T.he suggestion lias often been thrown out in ;these columns that it would he greatly to the interest of the town and! district if the representative men of the community were to get together and talk ov£r local reqinrenlents and other matiersiof public interest. The Harbor .Conference has given an object lesson of the usefulness of such gatherings, and probably the meeting on Saturday to consider th,e subject of hyd'rb-eleotrioaJ works will afford another. We have a good liye body in our Gisborne Chamber of JOommerqe, but the work of that organisation could! be stimulated 1 and strengthened ': by conferences such fas h&ye been suggested. We .- liave been much interested in, the movement in-: itiated 'in Maeterton, where ;* for some tinVc- p^st a number of , the progressive' businesi men have thought; that a great, dieai " ofi goodv could be achieved!, if tiiey, ooi^.d: devise some means whereby the commer l cial, i .-men,. i of the town could '< be broughij , ifife ;, closer touch -with each\otlier; ,so tliat matters conducive to the. welfare, Qf the town, and; district might be;, disqvfesed -and a united -effort made. for the benefit of the general community.. The ;■ matter -took • shape ■ in' the f prm of a , business meny "Getting. Together" luncheon • which was held last Tuesday and. was attended by .. some seventy , men representing everyi class of vbtisineas and all • shiides pf thought. Tbe objects 'of the ga^lierihg, were outlined 'by. Air. iR; .S.' ; Ytoinig ,tlifi ; chawman • and .chief 'organiser! of the movement. <' HeVremarked that ; the .promoters had no ■intehtioniVto form an organisation which would usurp the • work of t local ■: such as ■ the Borough or County Councils, Chamber b£ Ootamerce, Trust I^nds Trust, • etc. They '>y#re out to' stimulate interest in. various '' public movements —^to assist, not to Jiiiider, .During his remarks, Mr. Young went " on to say that the ; idea ' of . th^e : gathering was brought under his notice when recently visiting Honolulu. There jthey had- a Pacifist Ad. Club, whichlodked after the interests-, of the towns, , and "welcomed distinguishedi Visitors, .etc. ■Mvj _ Young, continuing, ■ said : "You will admit; tthat business men generally in '.Maste,rton,ar§ not in close touch with ■qne another,, iior. do' we put our shoulders together for the.;gbod of this* fine i town of -ours. In i%is- r respe.ct ; our, farmer friends lick, us out of sight. They hayei to. their oredit mivnyi, tangible results as .the, result; of., their cohesion, viz., \the Sol way showgi'ounds and' their Society / .the Wellington VFariiiers'iTineat works,' 'etc. ~ Are,«we doing- so well-in busineas' that • anything .outside of i the ' range pi mohey^malcuig^oai^-vbe • lookqds affer, by someone^ else?r We : are., too. busy, .The business men-of .vMasterton 'do-not know each ; other; They /.do not .. understand : each other. • We ■• want a] linking up 'to .enable us 'to .exchange idea's ', '. 'j thereb'y'; jgivlng: us a^ : . broadi?)R view', pfc things. ;, Do' I jwe^encouxage pur best , cifcizdna . to ■ take, aliand'' in ,the management fit. ouH pubjic or-civil affairs?/ D.p.i we {give them v any> ehoouragement .when they do?-\?No. *. I say.-, the pdgition has beaonie so ba^d-that; a vbusiness' ■.irian ' who ; calls. a spade -a spa'icle dartnol afford" to ; take, the-. risk. !i He i ' is ahhost ' persecuted. '*• This should liot We'ye gpt'toiwake^up.\. ( feub' the sleep out of . bur eyes and appreciate, strorig^men, in the-v pdajtibn of^leaders andjstick'to them. I'm. quite aware; that this: 'WelifyrQ Associatiorif-or' 'Socfety is tiot a>reinedy fop.iall ills,, but if v -it proves a ' rrieAns I>p grouse interest and helps us tp^see our^reslab^sibi.li^ie9 as, qitizens, well/ the prqnVote^S; will have justified their ; ..effort." ■' T^ie abqye Je r , marks will apply- equally,: well:? to Gisborne as to : the hub of the Wairarapa, and the objects . the welfare association that were' adopted at 1 the gathering might also^be taken as a pragramme'fpr local activity by some similar institution. Amotlgßt these objeota^ were the following :— To' endeavor,. to get business . men to realise the possibilities of thip place as a go-ahead town and their duties of citizenship- towards it. To give TT-ho]p-h(?arted supjtort «nd push to evpry
' local ullort which has for LLs aim tho betterment of our town and district, viz., education (primary and secondary), high schools, colleges for boys and girls. Town planning and 1 beautifying, holiday resorts, hydro-electric scheme, advertising tho town and district, musical societies, bands, etc., athletics and sJsorts, more accommodation for visitors, closer settlement, our returned soldiers. Our attitude as business meoj ,in v regar.d,.Ao handling German and Austrian goods. To arrange for short addresses of interest to. business men, such as finance, trading, credit system, salesmanship, etc.. We have may men amongst us capable of giving interesting talks. To entertain visitors from overseas, in fact any visitor who can give us a -ny der fuller view of the world generally. Various speakers gave the movement their benediction and hearty approvaL; in. fact such enthusiasm was shown as augurs well for the success of "the Masterton Progressive League," as the new movement is to be named. We notice that a similar movement has been ; initiated in Canterbury, where the Canterbury Progress League holds its first meeting on March 19th, with representatives from all parts of the province— some ; hundreds of them — attending, to 'discuss a programme of the League's activities. An organiser has been working energetically to get repre-. sentative men throughout Canterbury interested) in the project. The League proposes to divide its work into several departments. One section will take up hydrorelectricity and will move for a considerable extension of the present s'ystem of cheap electricity which has gjvsn • .Christclmrch such an advantage over other cities of the Dominion. It is realised there as the result of experience with the Lake Coleridge sesieme that electricity, as a determining factor, will e,;nter very largely into every phase of industrial progress. Another direction in which the League- is at,£>resent active is the matter of collecting -data bearing upon the agricultural and pastoral development of Canterbury^ • including the development of the*; pr-knary industries,* and a complete»and comprehensive soil-survey of the district. The aim. of tlfe League is to make Canterbury the 'last word' in farming efficiency.. Included in this scheme is the proposal to establish what may be ternied "farmers' bureaux" — places where farmers will be. able to meet regularly to discuss matters of interest to themselves, and where lectures by experts can be delivered from time, to time. Much attention is also being paid to the Secondary Industries Department, and quite a lot of useful and interesting information, is being" gathered., respecting possible, newfi' 1 industries that could be established in the district. These examples of what is being done elsewhere should be sufficient to show the settlers and 1 business men of this .district the desirability of "getting together" and devising plans to "boost" Gisborne forward. By enthusiastic cooperation much could be accomplished!, and 1 we are quite satisfied that if the people ■of Poverty Bay are content to. sit still and await -patjently > such improvements as the gpds, or the Govern•menfcj may send l them, the business men of, to-day will grow hoary with age before they -find Gisborne otherwise than a backblocks centre, off the beaten 'track of the Dominion's cominunications.
Still another troopship is within comparatively easy reach of New Zealand. This is the Ze'alandic. She is bringing 1021 returning soldiers, ad is expected to arrive at Wellington ulrcot the 28th inst. There are lio c6t or "phthisical cases in her party. The "medical boarding" ■will be completed prior to her arrival. One of the 1000 £1 National Bank of New Zealand notes, which were stolen from a locker on the Ruahine^while that, vessel was at Wellington, has been traoed to Auckland. It was presented at a fancy goods dealer's shop in- ijffarangahape road, and the shopkeeper^ included the note with other moneys he paid into the Newton branch of the Bank, of New Zealand. The stolen note was identified' by the teller. According to the police 25 of the stolen notes have been traced to date. The note, which was successfully passed on to the fancy goods dealer in Newton, is ap- t , parently the first to reach Auckland. A great many are reported to be in circulation in Wellington. .Another was discovered among the day's takings at a hotel in Lyttelton last Saturday. ' A proposal to add, an art gallery and museum to the proposed Hamilton Soldiers' Club as a war memorial was brought forward by Mr. G. Parr, president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, at a meeting of the chamber. Mr. Parr said that the museum would prove a source of interest to the whole Waikatb, as numerous war curios could be housed there. The art gallery would be attractive >sfrom, many. standpoints, and, probably ; many people would support a combined museum, art giallery, and soldiers' club who would not, perhaps, support a soldiers' club -alone. He considered such a building would form a lasting memorial of the splendid 1 work done by Waikato soldiers. Members agreed that such a building would add to the dignity of the town, and a. committee was appointed to discuss the matter with the Soldiers' dub Committee. 1 • - mmmmmm^^mmm^mmmi
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Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14837, 14 February 1919, Page 4
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1,531Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1919. "GETTING TOGETHER." Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14837, 14 February 1919, Page 4
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