THE WAIKATO INDEPENDENT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1944. IS IT COMPLACENCY?

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIII, Issue 3965, 8 March 1944, Page 2

THE WAIKATO INDEPENDENT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1944. IS IT COMPLACENCY?

Last week the Mayor (Mr Edgar James) extended an invitation to anyone interested to attend a meeting in the Council Chamber for the purpose of considering the prospects of recommencing waste reclamation in this district. There were nine people present and thef interest they displayed was only what should be expected of people these days—days in which there is the urgent need for a greater war effort on the part of everybody if the Empire 1 ' and this Dominion would finally be on the side that wins. The time when the opponent's hold begins to slacken is the time to fight the hardest. ' The nine people were certainly a cross-section of the local public but that is about all that could be said of the attendance. There is more that can be said about all those people who might have, but did not attend. Here in Cambridge it can be said that during the period of the war, the ladies, for the most part, have responded well, and their general war effort is one that they can be satisfied with, but we are not satisfied that the same can said f,or all the men of the district. It is not just enough that, “I give what I can.” All war efforts on the home front need to be organised and among the men in Cambridge we do ■say that more could help in the actual organising work. Too often it has been left to the Mayor, the town clerk, as patriotic secretary. and a band of a few faithfulworkers. The reverse of Mr Churchill’s famous expression comes to mind in that “never did so many do so little for so few.” And not only has this lack of interest applied to the waste reclamation, but it has to other patriotic efforts in the past. It even applies to local politics and the 'affairs of our Borough generally. „ What is the cause of this lack 01 interest? Is it just complacene> ? In any case it does exist and ways and means must be found to change such a condition or Cambridge will just remain, “a nice little town.’

We want more interest, more enthusiasm in the aff airs ot our town and district. We need a strong business-peoples’ committee, and better still a ratepayers’ association in addition. We need these bodies to co-operate with the Borough Council and the other district bodies and to criticise them if need be. Yes, Cambridge is ‘a nice little town’ but because so many people tell 11s so is no reason for 11s all to sit back and imagine that there is nothing more that can be done. There is plenty of room for progress in Cambridge and district, but in the meantime there is a war to be won and anything that helps in this direction should be actively supported not by just a few, but by the many. Let Cambridge make a start in shaking itself out of its state of 'complacency, by giving solid support to the waste salvage campaign which is now to be recommenced in this district.