LOCAL TOPICS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 360, 16 October 1930, Page 4

LOCAL TOPICS.

(By

“Verax.”)

Unity of Churches. It was extremely gratifying to the writer to see the Protestant united service such a success, for “ Verax ” was the first to publicly advocate the holding of such a service. It, ; shows a kindly feeling among members of the denominations concerned and it is this understanding feeling that is so much needed in these days of stress. To the writer’s mind church union is not so essential as is the need for a better understanding between the people, be they Anglicans, Presbyterians, or any other religion. It is a wonder that the economist has not turned towards the duplication of churches as a means whereby to give rein to the study of his subject as it affects the economic aspect of church life. Harold Bell Wright, the American novelist, has handled this theme rather well in one of his recent novels. But all this is in passing, and it is to be hoped that the combined services will be held at intervals. There is a great chance here to get some outstanding thinker to address one of these gatherings. It has been suggested to the writer that an effort should be made to get the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe), one of the most thoughtful and inspiring speakers in New Zealand today, to address such a gathering. Courthouse. The manner in which Government departments keep a matter “ steadily in view ” has been well illustrated by the fact that no provision has been made for the erection of a courthouse in Putaruru. The Chamber of Commerce have been steadily hammering away at the Justice Department to get a greatly needed courthouse erected, but the matter has been “ steadily kept in view ” until it was lost to view when the framing of the estimates was being done. To add a sting to the matter there was a sum of over £3OO placed on the estimates for additions to the Rotorua courthouse.

Up-to-date Putaruru.

There are very few towns of the size of Putaruru that have so many and varied interests as has our little community. We have local bodies of almost every description, and we are well supplied educationally. For those who wish to improve their culture t’-.e box scheme of the Workers’ Educational Association has been a boon.

The efforts of the Chamber of Commerce to foster aviation is a reminder th -1 the townspeople and their varied representatives are alive to the need for being up-to-date. It is not a case of looking too far ahead, as some people think, for on several occasions there have been ’planes hovering over Putaruru looking for a landing place. It was stated at the last meeting of the Chamber of Commerce that a large afforestation company had been going into the question of suitable landing grounds for ’planes, to enable their large blocks of tree-planted land to be viewed from the air. It was also stated that there are at least two gentlemen in Putaruru who had quite a deal of air experience during the Great War. Wasteful Expenditure.

To turn from purely local topics to national affairs, I was very much struck by reading the Railway Commission’s report to learn that the Railways Magazine was run at a loss of over £SOOO yearly. When the railways are fighting for their very existence it seems peculiar, to use a very mild term, that the management should permit this huge loss. Surely the Government will have courage (not being in the House I can suggest that they are likely to lack courage in carrying out all the recommendations of the Commission) enough to stop such a glaring waste of public money.