CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2872, 18 April 1925, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor.) Sir. —In your issue of Tuesday last appears a tirade of abuse hurled upon myself because I dared t i indulge in a perfectly fair and frank criticism of Foxton as it appears at present, hut fortunately "'lien i! is all boiled down “Introspect s- intellectual poise gains nothing. 1, as well as others, have a perfect right to utter my opinions, ami at a later stage “Introspect” will have the pleasure of listening io some healthy criticism from the public platform on municipal affairs, which no doubt, he will attend, and let us hope he will benefit thereby. May I ask your correspondent why he has omitted to inform us why this town, with its magnificent dairying country around, is so backward. Will he tell me why it is that if the ratepayers are so satisfied with the past- Council that such a body as the Chamber of Commerce, realising that Foxton lequires progress, intend to run a ticket that would dominate the Council, in order to put Foxton on such a plane as would induce other enterprises to come in here? I made mention of the Harbour Board. lam aware they have a fine shed, but I am not aware that it will bring any more shipping to Foxton. Will “Introspect” tell us why it is almost impossible to get other shipping firms in? But lam afraid I am taxing “Introspect’s” intellectual poise rather much. Side by side with my last letter (apologies to “Introspect”) appealed the report of the Chamber of Commerce meeting, in which reference was made to the fact that a certain scheme adopted by them and the Palmerston North Chamber had not even been acknowledged to date by the Harbour Board. Why? I am fully aware of the proposals, and 1 am also alive to the fact that other interests are dead against the scheme. The whole of “Introspcct’s" effusion shows a marked iaek of anything worth while replying to, but it appears to have anitcyed him when I say we are behind lhe times, and lie shows nothing sensible to disprove it. If my clarion call has done nothing else than to waken him tip, surely he won’t say the effort was wasted. If we are such a bright little town (electric light?), where is our library, swimming baths, public conveniences, decent rest-room, children’s playgrounds, public gardens, decent footpaths (not the tracks wild pigs made fifty years ago), what increase in population in that period, what inducements have we to offer outside enterprises to come here (not forgetting the butter factory that was squashed, thanks to a certain public man) ? Oh, no, “Introspect,” if you are satisfied with the present state of affairs, well the bulk of the more sensible ratepayers are not. The only body that tries to push this is the Chamber of Commerce, and give them credit for it. Our future lies in the waterway we possess, but it has to lie developed, and it can only be done by getting on the Harbour Board men who are tied to no interest, and it is the duty of the Council to back their every effort, or the shed may become a monument. Really, Sir, I did not think that my last letter to you would have resurrected one with such stick-in-the-mud, out-of-date, barren of ideas or ideals, as “Introspect.”—Yours, etc., PROGRESS.