THE RANKS OF TUSCANY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 516, 27 April 1933, Page 4

THE RANKS OF TUSCANY

It is encouraging to note, on • the eve of the return of a new council, that there appears likely to be a more congenial atmosphere between the council and the Rotorua Ratepayers' Association. Members of the sitting. council at their final meeting last evening, could be excused for expressing surprise at the receipt of a very generous message of appreciation and goodwill on the part of the association. In the past, exchanges between the association and the council have hardly been of the appreciative order and retiring councillors may perhaps feel a little regret that they have been obliged to go so far before they have elicited the faintest suspicion of a cheer from the ranks of Tuscany. However, as the association points out in its letter, the function of a ratepayers' association, is to scrutinise so far as it is able, the activities of the council and where criticism is necessary, to give it voice. In this, an association of this nature can do a great deal to safeguard the interests of the ratepayers and to assist the, council in maintaining a proper sense of its own relative importance. But, as we recently pointed out when referring to the necessity for a strong and capable council dur.ing the coming term, there is justification only for helpful and constructive criticism — carping fault finding and needless obstruction cannot be justified under any pretences whatever. In very many centres, ratepayers' : associations have served a most j useful purpose and have become ; a very living force in the civic life of the town. Given a greater and more repr.esentative measure of public support, the Rotorua Ratepayers' Association should play a similar part in the development of the Rotorua borough. Just as it is the duty of every citizen of the borough to exercise the right of his franchise in the coming election and so far as he is able, to take an intelligent interest in the affairs of the town, so it is the duty of every citizen to support any organisation which is genuinely out to for ward the progress and development of Rotorua. This is the object of the Rotorua Ratepayers' Association and it is an object which can only be fully achieved by the general support of the ratepayers and not by that of one section alone. As the association pointed out in the course of its letter, while the two bodies may not have seen eye to eye on a number of questions, they should have one final object in common and that is the good of Rotorua. Unfortunately, it is in the determination of what does and what does not constitute the good of Rotorua, that they are likely to disagree. At the same time, there is no reason why disagreement should necessarily be a bad thingi It may, on the contrary, prove very salutary to both parties so long as it is not conducted in any spirit of mere captiousness. There is a tendency on the part of municipal politicians, as with national politicians, to consider that the tenure of office protects them from criticism and it is therefore a very healthy thing to maintain an intelligent public interest in their activities. This interest can be best stimulatec by such bodies as ratepayers' associations. It should be realised, however, that these bodies— ratepayers' associations, progress leagues, citizens' leagues or whatever other names they may be called — exist for other purposes besides merely vocal criticism. It is possible for them to give substantial and material support to any ;schemes which they consider in the public interest and by so doing they may best prove the sincerity of their endeavours. A great deal can be done in this direction in Rotorua and while complete agree-

ment between' the council of the day and the ratepayers5 association, is neither pr-obable nor desirable, a very great deal may be done by the members of both, working with a common object, that like St. Paul, they may proudly avow themselves "citizens of no .mean city."