The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1896. PUBLIC BUILDINGS WANTED.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 31, 5 August 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1896. PUBLIC BUILDINGS WANTED.

o - Although the efforts which have been made in the past to obtain proper an fit Post Office accommodation for Feilding have not been crowned with ' success, yet that cannot be accepted ' as a reason for our not making another attempt It is as unnecessary as ifc would be useless to recapitulate what has already been done or what has been left undone. Still it may as well be pointed out that if it is ad mitted by the residents in the town and district that the existing premises were insufficient four or five years , ago, the progress of settlement, the in- ■ crease of sub post offices, aud the in- , troduction of the telephone system, during the period vbieh has elapsed, " since then, has intensified tij*t insuffir ciency. One of the great requirements I in a post and telegraph office is afosot lut« secrecy, not on the part of the of- » ficials because that quality goes hand j in hand with the onerous duties they , have to perform and their responsibilities, but privacy is absolutely wanting ' as far as $he public fire concerned.

'or instance the lobby and counter re miserably small, so much so indeed ; hat conversation with an official canot be confidential for the excellent eason that every word must be overeard by any other persons who may ie present in the apartment. This is iot as it should be. If the Feilding * 'oat and Telegraph Offices were not j he producers of ample revenue, while he expenses of management are small , ehen the amount of work, undertaken ( ,nd completed, is taken into consider- j ttion, we would be diffident in asking >. he Department to go to the expense >f new and more commodious premis- i ;s. But it is well known that the revenue derived from Feilding and the ■ iub-officesattached thereto, contributes b very considerable amount more — >ther things being equal— than many nuch more favored localities. We are , iware the Department in itself has seen, and no doubt still is, against •emoving the post office from its pres3nt situation, not only because of the consequent expense, but because it is snore convenient for the officials. When the public benefit and convenience however are taken into considerition those are, after all, but secondiry matters hardly worth while taking into account. "What the Depart-' ment is disinclined to do by gentle suasion may be compelled to do by force of public opinion operating on those who are even greater than that mysterious body known and described a3 " The Department." It is difficult for us to make any recommendation as to what should be done, but the first thing to be attempted is to overcome the ris inertia of our City Fathers and the members of the Manchester Road Board and to induce them to be up and doing. It may be said that the latter body is not interested, but that is not the case, seeing that after all Feilding is the heart or centre of the Block and what benefits one part benefits the whole. In this connecit must not be lost sight of that the railway station premises are capable of being improved, and if the present post oflice building was attached and a verandah erected for the full length of the platform the station would taea bo made almost equal to the importance of the town. It is just possible that the Member for the District might as sist because all his energies, surely, cannot be required to look after those portions of it which lie on the other side of the Rangitikei river. The people can do much for themselves and a little judicious agitation goes a very long way with " those placed in authority over us" to whom we have given the right to tax us and to spend our money. _______________