THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9th, 1918. BOROUGH INTERESTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 9 February 1918, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9th, 1918. BOROUGH INTERESTS.

There was a time in the history ol Masterton when enthusiasm us displayed in the management ol civic affairH Men of businoss looked beyond their own lit Me garden patch, and, although they did not see eye to eye. on all public matters, they were animated h> a, keen desire tor the progress and development of a centre possessed of greater possibilities l'or expansion than any other inland township in the Dominion. But the scene, lias changed. Ihe borough to-day is in a. condition oi chronic paralysis. Public matters arc as dead as dishwater. The Borough Council is chiefly engaged in performing feats of somnambulism. The Chamber of Commerce, like poor old Jell', lias gone to rest. The average citizen is devoting himself iudustn- ' ousl.V to doing nothing, awl will continue to so devote himself until somebody comes along with a sharppointed piece of mechanism and stirs him up. We shall be tola that the war is responsible for the lack of enthusiasm in public matters, and that mem and women with leisure moments devote those moments entirely to patriotic work. This is simply fudge. With the exception, possibly, of His Worship the Mayor and one or two others, there is not a business main in the community who devotes half an hour a week to patriotic enterprises. The war is being used merely as a pretext to cloak indifference. Go to the racecourses, the amusement houses, the bowling greens, and the picnic grounds, and see how enthusiastic people are in regard to patriotic work! Why, their patriotism is so intense that they cannot afford the time to give a dopemt wolcoiuohome to the gallant fellows who have returned broken -in health, shattered and maimed, as the result of the terrible harsdhips they have suffered in France and Palestine! What can be done to improve the status of the town and to ensure its continued progress? A hundred and one different •things can he done. First of all, we should improve the accommodation for visitors. When we carried Nolicense, we were going to make the town clean and attractive. But how many of those who fought for the closing of the open bar have shown the slightest disposition to provide adequate accommodation for the travelling public? Not one of them. They know that people will mot stay a day longer iu Masterton than is absolutely necessary, on account of the wretched accommodation, and yet they will not make the slightest effort to improve the condition of affairs. Then wo come to the question of residential accommodation. For years past it has been impossible to procure a house in the town for rental purposes, either for love or money. And yet no man of capital has the enterprise to build, and neither Parliamentary representative, Borough Council, nor Chamber of Commerce are sufficiently enthusiastic to move the Government to erect further workers' homes. When a proposal is made to cut off trade by the erection of toll-gates on district roads, a feeble protest is entered by the Chamber of Commerce, and nothing further is done. The installation of an electric lighting system, for the development of local industries, is of vital importance to the town, but the small committee which is making preliminary investigations experiences the utmost difficulty in maintaining public interest in the project. Nobody ever dreams of formulating schemes for the employment of wounded soldiers in suitablo local industries at the termination of the war. Nor does the average citizen trouble himself one jot about the closer settlement of largo estates iu the district. The extension of our educational facilities, the popularising of our fishing grounds, the advertising of our alpine and seaside resorts, the beautifying of the vacant spaces in the town" these are matters which have lost all concern for the average citizen. And why? Simply because people are too busily employed in looking after their own affairs, and are lacking in public spiritedness and enthusiasm. If a newspaper, or an individual, makes n, progressive suggestion, it is received with » shrug of the shoulders, and nothing more. There is a" tendency on the part of the "go-slows" to impute motives and to throw a wet blanket on to the most excellent proposals. This is not as it should he. The township of Masterton will never be worthy of the magnificent district oi which it is a centre until an energetic organisation is formed, such as a Citizens' Association representative of the best intelligence iu the community, and inspired with zeal and enthusiasm for the advancement ol the interests of the borough and surrounding districts. Any person, ; young or old, who will conic forward and promote such an organization, "ill earn the gratitude of present and J future generations.