COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 99, 8 December 1928, Page 5

COMMUNITY EFFORTS

TO ADVANCE THE TOWN. SOMETHING REQUIRED. The Mayor has invited citizens to meet on Tuesday evening next to arrange for the reception of the visiters to Stratford who will come with the railway excursion to Mount Egmont next month. Th e opportunity is one calling for a community effort on ithe part of citizens —not so much for the expenditure of money as for extending to visitors little courtesies which cost nothing, but which go a long way to popularise a town.

The Railway Department has arrange'! an excursion to Mount Egmont from Wellington, and, exery:thing being equal, there is good reason to believe that in future Stratford will he made the centre for such excursions in future. The Stratford railway station is the nearest on e to the Mountain, and by the excursion being run to Stratford the visitors will be able to have two to four hours more on the Mountain than would he the case if any other railway station were used.

ACCOMMODATION. The manner in which the visitors are dealt with will have a great effect on the decision as to whether Stratford or some other town should be chosen as the centre. A large number of people will come on. the excursion, and to se e them through will require some extra effort on the part of citizens. The hotels and boardinghouses will be able to accommodate only a portion of those who come, and it will be necessary for private people to put up a certain number on the Saturday night. The regular taxi men will not be able to ‘take all the visitors to the Mountain, and private drivers will b e required to transport some, number of people. If it appears to the Railway Department that these two matters are not adequately dealt with they will, no doubt, think twice before bring,ng excursionists to Stratford again. The visit extends over only one day and the inconvenience to private citizens will be very slight; but if the necessary arrangements caiiuot be made it will have a bad effect on the town’s reputation.

ORGANISATION' NEEDED. In almost every community nowadays the people generally are fully alive to the necessity of making .their towns attractive tp and in som e places citizens go to no end of trouble to ensure that visitors will leave with, a d«sir e to return. Visitors invariably have a certain amount of money to spend, and in those towns in which special efforts are made Ho make .visitors fepl iit home, there must be an increase of business, so that business people might very well join in the movement to see that our visitors next month are adequately welcomed. An important point is that the expenditure of a great deal of money is not required—the chief requisite is a little effort on the part of all citizens to make the visitors feel, at home. It is a notorious fact that two large parties of tourists from,, overseas are visiting New Zealand shortly and that neither will come to Stratford. If the town had had an organisation whose duty it was to encourage visitors it would have taken steps to see that the claims of Stratford wer e recognised. Such an organisation is required to make arrangements for Christmas ..decorations, etc., and it would he a big step forward if at Tuesday’s ‘.meeting ,a committee could he formed to attend to that matter, to loolc after next month’s excursionists avnd to carry on permanently in the direction of putting Stratford on th. 5 map for visitors.