TOWN HALL PROPOSAL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 121, 25 June 1941, Page 4

TOWN HALL PROPOSAL

RECENT suggestions through our correspondence columfr proposing that the town give: serious thought to the building of a town hall, are worthy of consideration. Naturally the cry will be raised that the time is far from opportune to give such a substantial subject thought. On the other hand we feel that it is a matter which should, not be lost sight of in spite of the fact that its building at the present time may not be practicable. A town hall need not be of pretentious proportions, neither need it be looked upon as a dead loss from the ratepayers' point of view. Housing the Municipal Chambers with modern library and office accommodation for the Borough staff, it could also includes shops and rentable business premise's which would produce revenue apart from the hire accumulating from the use of the town hall. The prospect of public gatherings taking place in a municipal ha.ll is far brighter than the alternative we have at present, whereby all farewells, public occasions, and notable visitors are delegated to the bare walls of the Winter Show Building, a structure in itself an asset, but one scarcely calculated to strike a visitor as an inspiring example of the town's progress. The project of a town hall should therefore be borne in mind, as something well worthy of public concentration when times are more opportune and prospects more promising.