INDIFFERENCE.

Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 331, 17 July 1914, Page 4

INDIFFERENCE.

WE in Te Awamutu are a woefully indifferent people, and are too often content to drift peacefully along, allowing, by otir own neglect, golden opportunities for the betterment of our conditions of life to pass by unheeded. We have said this before, and regret that we should have to say it again; but the careless and indifferent treatment shown that important public proposal —the constitution of a fire brigade — brought forward by the Town Board last night fully justifies our return to the statement. Last night’s meeting was a scandalous exhibition of the spirit of general indifference that undoubtedly exists ; it proved more forcibly than ever that in public matters we have no sense of what we, as citizens, owe to ourselves or to our town. Apart from the officials and members of the local authority the number at the meeting

could have been counted on the fingers of one hand. What is even more deplorable was that not one of the business people, the owners of heavily-stocked wooden buildings in the congested area, was present to give moral support and encouragement to a proposal which so very vitally concerned the protection of business property. We do not want to say hard things about local business people, or to criticise unfairly the treatment they meted out to the old volunteer brigade. To that body the town subscribed £40 —hardly the amount of an annual insurance premium for some local houses, for the purpose of equipment for the prevention of fire. Men volunteered and underwent a course of training, so as to give their services in the event of occasion arising whereby town property was endangered by fire. But they got neither moral nor financial support. The business men,not all, we admit, but with few exceptions, found a ready excuse and'put forward a policy of taihoa. “Wait until the high-pressure wateris available,’’said they,“and we will then support a proper fire brigade ! ” Possibly they were serious when they said it and we may be doing them an injustice when we suggest that they were not. But they have had their opportunity of making good their promises’—they had an opportunity last night, by giving moral support at the cost only of a little enthusiasm—but they preferred to let the opportunity pass by unheeded. This gives rise to the question —lf a fire to - morrow levelled half the town to the ground, whose lot would it be to carry the blame ? We do not refer to the origin or cause of the fire, but in the fact„that it was allowed to carry half the town before it, whilst we stood by powerless to prevent its spread. The qaestion is one that every pro-perty-owner may rightly consider. We are to-day in the fortunate position of having a high pressure water supply available, and other equipment for fire fighting purposes at hand, yet we are powerless to prevent the spread of fire. We are exactly in the same position as we have been from the earliest days of Te Awamutu, save only that our fire risk has increased, and all for the want of what?—a little enthusiasm and public encouragement. The best ocean-going vessel is so much scrap iron until manned by an efficient crew, and' in a like manner the fire-fighting appliances we possess are of no avail until controlled by a trained body of men. Fortunately for Te Awamutu the few present at last night’s meeting undertook the constitution of the brigade, even though the disappointing action —or rather inaction —of the townspeople would have justified a very different attitude by those who are to volunteer their services. To the business people in particular, whose fire risk is the greater, the call for assistance must appeal. The men are to volunteer their services, and only ask for moral support and encouragement. They band themselves together to render a public service by the protection of property. By their action incipient fires can be checked —the trade of the town not disorganised by the effects of a “big” fire, and many business men probably kept from the verge of bankruptcy. To use the facilities offering, in an endeavour to safeguard the interests of property owners, the men offer their services and in return ask for moral support and encouragement. Surely it is not too much to ask !