THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1929. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5476, 18 September 1929, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1929. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

After a long, greatly to be regretted lapse, the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce, so urgently vital to the interests of the town, has been re-formed and relaunched—let it be hoped into an era of unceasing achievement. The absence of an active chamber in Paeroa has been seriously felt, more especially during the recent succession of ministerial visits. The two local bodies, the Ohinemuri County Council and the Paeroa Borough Council, rose nobly to the occasion times out of number, but there were many matters which they undertook that were not really in their province at all, and inflicted unnecessary extra duties on the members. For the sake of Paeroa these men unhesitatingly came forward and did what was the bounden duty of a chamber which consistently and flagrantly refused to act, this unaccountable spirit of sullen defiance to the wishes of the business community causing humiliation on more than one occasion, and causing one group of public men and a few private individuals to function as best they could in it place. Constant reference in this paper, both editorially and otherwise, to the question of spurring the Cham-, ber of Commerce into active participation in matters relative to the best interests of the town were studiously ignored by that body, as also were private representations. A deadlock and stagnation looked certain until the last meeting of the Borough Council. At that meeting righteous statements of indignation were made against the councillors being continually called upon to undertake affairs which were no business of theirs whatsoever. It was pointed out at the same time at the meeting in question that the matter was one for a chamber of commerce. For that reason the report of what occurred and what was said was published in these columns, in the hope that the chamber would be shamed into action and forced out of its lethargy. The Mayor remarked last night that it had had this effect. It was published as a means to an end for the good of Paeroa, and that end has been accomplished. That the provincial Press should copy the report from the columns of this paper, as was obviously the case, as no other paper was represented there, and leave out the true facts of the case as published in the “Hauraki Plains Gazette” —that the council had unanimously agreed to suitably welcome and entertain the visitors—was deplorable in the extreme, and not fair to the Paeroa Borough Council or to Paeroa. At the same time, the report of what happened at the Borough Council, as correctly reported in the “Gazette,” was not at all likely to cause any harm to Paeroa’s interests, but, in fact, the very reverse. Men of the calibre of those who belong to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce would in all probability welcome and admire the spirit shown in the discussion, as in delightful and refreshing contrast to the usual fawning attention which greets them nearly everywhere in country centres. However, the fact remains that Paeroa has now a Chamber of Commerce, and a chamber which gives promise to do everything possible for the good of the town and those connected with it. In conclusion, the hope is reiterated that nothing but success will attend its efforts, and that it will in every way prove a live conclave, never again to slip back into the category of a nonentity.