Correspondence

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 89, 17 January 1893, Page 2

Correspondence

A CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

TO THE KDlTOtt OF THE STAM. , Sir, — Having watched the progress of j , Feilding, as recorded in your paper since | 1882, I am much disappointed in not yet j i having seen in your columns the report j of any transactions by a local Chamber of I Commerce. Drainage (schemes, water supply, and gas works are all required, but none of these would assist the progress of this town more than nuch an institution. First, but perl Japs not the most important, is sociability. It is our natural disposition to congregate together, and converse with our fellowmeu. We are not all allowed to bo freemasons, for some wives are of the opinion of the late lamented Mrs Caudle, which was that a wife ought to be granted a divoroe the moment ber husband became a mason. It is surprising to me thnt every town in New Zealand has not a Chamber of Commerce. The first institution of the kind was that of Marseilles, in France, opened in 1700, quickly followed by that of Lyons, Rouen, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and very many other important towns. The first Chamber of Commerce opened in Great Britain was that of Glasgow in 1783. Two years later Edinburgh followed suit. In England a Chamber was established in Manchester in 1820. That of Liverpool dates so lately as 1850. The functions these bodies assign to themselves are to lay before the legislature the view? of their members on matters affecting commerce, to furnish statistics, and point out the requirements of the locality, to attain by combination advantages or concessions which could not be hoped for, or reached, by private enterprise. I am of opinion, Sir, that if our deservedly esteemed and popular Mayor were to take the initiative, and use his influence in that behalf, it will not ba long before Feilding will have a Chamber of Commerce strong enough to be a potent factor for the good of the town. I am, etc, Brevis.