FOXTON’S MICROBE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1518, 4 March 1916, Page 3

FOXTON’S MICROBE.

(To the Editor)

Sir.— Will you please allow me space to publicly express my pentup feelings against things in general in Foxton. If I don’t let off steam, sir, I’ll bust! I want to say, first of all, that Foxton people are the most docile, longsuffering, easy going I have ever encountered. I have been exercising my grey matter to find the cause of this drowsiness, and have come to the conclusion that this somnolence is due to a microbe which insidiously gets into the system after a residential period of about two years. I have seen people take up their residence here full ot public vitality and enough enthusiasm to provide propelling-force to drive a locomotive. But, alas, the insidious

microbe has kid hold of them, and in about two years they have become inert and helpless so far as the public weal is concerned. See how this microbe killed the Chamber of Commerce, water and

drainage schemes, closer settlement, and made the borough a victim to company promoters for the gas works. Can you deny it, sir ? See what is / happening to-day. Who runs the Borough Council, the members

elected by the burgesses, or who, .anyhow? What public steps are being taken to scotch the microbe’s ravages in connection with the all-important railway connection ? What is being done to protect the health of the people against an open stinking sewer running through the heart of the town ? Again the microbe! What community in the Dominion would suffer like Foxton in connection with the go-as-you-please railway service ? The microbe agains. Rongotea, a little out-of-

the way hamlet, has an 8 a.m. to

8 p.m. telephone service. Foxton has the same, when it should be Irom 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ' And in this’ connection the microbe has got the exchange in its close grip. One has to ring two or three times—the average is easily twice

—before a reply is obtained, and then the subscriber is compelled to make his own connection. Again the microbe. Even the school children dawdle to school behind time ! Why don’t I clear out or do something, you say ? The microbe is holding me back, and tells me I should be as a voice crying in the wilderness. But, sir, I want to fight this damnable microbe, but single-handed I am helpless. For thirty years the microbe has held us down. Can we not make a united effort to crush it by resuscitating the Chamber of Commerce and pledging ourselves to a definite policy of progress for a period of three years, and by that time we may at least scotch the microbe which has for its motto: “Foxton, as it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be.” —Yours in anticipation, The Growler.