A MOST WORTHY MAYOR.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 192, 31 August 1937, Page 6

A MOST WORTHY MAYOR.

It, was a grnceful thought on the part of the members of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce to tender to the Mayor of the boroijgh a complimentary luncheon and invite him to '* give them some little dissertation on the past progress and future prospects of the town and on his own mayoral activities. It cannot be said too often that there is altogether too little in the way of public recognition by citizens of the virtually gratuitous service§ that are ren dered to them by those they elect to manage and conduct their municipal affairs, whether they be, mayors or eouncillors. It is therefore only just as it should be that -the Chamber of Commerce, as representative of the business section of the town, should make some special acknowledgement of its deep mdebtedness to the present Mayor. Without detracting in any way from the valuable services given by previous mayors to the town in the earlier and in many respects more troublesome stages of its growth — Hastings has, indeed, with only very rare exceptions, been singularly fortunate in its dhoice of mayors — it may He confidently said that there has been none who has devoted himself more single-heatredly or more- self-sacrificingly than Mr Maddison to the promotion of the iriterests of the town and its people. It may be said, in fact, that during his terms of office — he is now serving his third, though not conseeutively — he has practically laid aside all personal mterests in order th'at he might have more time to give to his mayoral duties, with which he has more recently coupled those of chairman of the Hawke's Bay Board of Education, by no means a sinecure. In Mr Maddison— perhaps as a happy inheritance from a fathe.r whose memory is still held in the highest and most affectionate regard by tbe elders among Hastings citizens — we have thus an oulstanding instancq of devotion to the fulfilment of the civic functions for which he has. shown himself as. being peculiarly fitted. In the course of his yesterday's address the Mayor was able to point with gratification to tbe sound and steady progress that has marked the history of the development of the borough, and which it has been his lot to carry on, As he him- , self said, he is no behever in miraculous transformations, but rather in working for .permanence and stability, with as much as possible of spirit of community self reliance upon which alone those qualities can be firmly based. Towards this end Mr Maddison has undoubtedly contributed a very full quota during the. years for which he has occupied the mayoral chair, Making full yse of such new advantage as modern facilities and methods have provided, he has missed few opportunities of leading the town along the paths of progress, thus very amply supplementing the good work of those who went before him, It is not necessary here to rspeat his recital bf the. many advantages which the townsfolk of Hastings enjoy as the result of sane, sound and, at the same time, enterprising municipal administration. These are manifest for anyone with open eyes to see, though it may well be doubted whether there are not a great many who take them very much as a matter of course and have but very scant appreciation of the constant care and vigila nce invQlved in bringing them abput. For those whose first thought is for their own pockets, and that means most of us, it is worth while noting that we enjoy the amenities thus provided at a ratipg cost that. is lower than that of any other comparable community in the Do*' mmion, So far as concerns the fmancial affairs of the borough they have been conducted in an entirely safe and conservative way and it is something to be able to say that within the uext score years any presently existing loanjndebt* edness will be wiped off. Nor, among all these more practical activities, has the aesthetic side of community life been neglected. In fact, there are. some of the more exclusively utilitarian souls who are prone to think that too much attention is being paid to the beautification of the town and its surroundings. But, if they could only realise it, this is more to their benefit than . to that of any others, for it may well be that in even the casual contemplation of improvements in this direction they may be uncoQSciously weaned from regarding the more sordid side of life as being the only thing worth while thinking about, and so get some more real. enjoyment out. of their existence. The citizens of Hastings are fortunate in having a very zealous, worthy, conscientious and energetic mayor, and it is for alj to lend him their cordial and much more active and appreciative support in carrying out the tasks which he outlines as still lying before him and to w hich he is still evidently heht on giving so much of his own life.