The Bay of plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JULY 31st, 1939. UNAUTHORISED CRITICISM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 43, 31 July 1939, Page 4

The Bay of plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, JULY 31st, 1939. UNAUTHORISED CRITICISM

WHY, when the citizens of Whakatane lend unanimous voice to their wishes in respect of the course to be taken by the proposed new East Coast Highway, they should be subjected to a tiiade cf criticism and ridicule from a news crgan situated forty miles away is a little hard to understand 1 . Yet such is definitely the case and in perfect sincerity we take this opportunity of asking the Opotiki Press by what authority it has presumed to impose upon itself the role of arbiter 'in the affairs of Whakatane. Were the article appearing in the Press of last week other than a two column leader (extracts of which appear on page 3) we would have treated it merely in the light of news giving vent to a parochial expression of opinion, but when a papei has the effrontery to deliberately set -itself out to quash the activities of a community in which it has no interest whatsoever, then we feel it is time to call a halt. We take strong exception to this longfingered meddling and are somewhat surprised at the utter lack of ordinary courtesy in the manner of its perpetration. If the paper has so much space to devote to the affairs of others we would suggest a wider and more charitable field, with the even better alternative of putting its own house in order first, and, bluntly, of minding its own business. Whakatane citizens have every right to seek the advancement of their own town. It is neither necessary or desirable to have this self-imposed Dictatorship hovering in the distance and fanning up a mass of imagined public grievances and sfnall town prejudices. Were we to imagine that the contentions of this sideline critic would be taken serious notice of by the authorities the position would become Intolerable, and we would be forced to put our arguments in plainer words. The forty mile gap, however separating the writer from the actual seat of operations at once makes all contentions utterly ludicrous and without claim to substance or spine. To assume that they represented the views of the people of Opotiki would be equally as empty in view of the hitherto good trading and social relations existing between the towns. We have no wish to stimulate the feeling of bitterness precipitated b,y the tone and insinuation of the Opotiki paper. It is our earnest hope that the friendly intertown relations will always obtain. But we do ask that we be left unmolested m endeavouring to improve our own town and bringing to its Citizens the best benefits of egress and transport. Whakatane is busily engaged in its own affairs and trusts that the O.potiki Press will confine itself in future to a reflection of its own pubkc concerns, rather than those of a neighbouring community which is endeavouring to progress and promote goodwill.