Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1909 CIVIC-MINDEDNESS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4373, 13 February 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1909 CIVIC-MINDEDNESS.

this above all—to thine own self be true , \nn it must follow as the night the day Jhvu cansl not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

In the platform of the recently formed Citizen’s League of Auck> land there is much to command approval. Such a league, formed to deal not only with one specific question, but with all question of civic and national importance, will be welcomed by all those other leagues which for years have wrought so patiently and valiently for the promotion of- sound public opinion on individual questions such as the No-license question. In a question such as the No-license question it has been perhaps imperative that the great leaders of the cause should confine their attention more or less rigidly to that one matter because they have felt how vitally that one thing underlay all questions of civic and national advancement. But great strides have been made. The movement has during the last few years travelled onward in magic, three-league moccasins. The promoters of public opinion in this ,one matter may reasonably take breath ing space to look about them, and, finding such a league as this Citizens League offering its services to the cause of the public good, may very thankfully make common cause with it in all its schemes for the creation of “ A healthy and rational public opinion in all matters of a social, commercial and industrial character. ” In the various clauses of the league platform, which we append in full, the public will find matter for warm .approval. It has been tfie want of public and civicspiritedness which has opened the door to such shocking excesses of civic and commercial corruption in America We are heartily in agreement with the desire expressed in the platform of the Citizens League, for the “ creation of a true and spirited sense of citizenship. ” The following is the platform. To endeavour to organise throughout the City of Auckland the huge unorganised section of its citizenship whose views and opinions are not relied ed by the motives and objects of any existing institution, with a view to :

(a) Creating a healthy and rational public opinion in all matters of a social, commercial, and industrial chai-acter. (b) Inspiring citizens with a true and spirited Sense of citizenship.

(c) Inducing broad-minded men of integrity and ability to contest all public positions. (d’' Counteracting as far as possible the influence exercised by organisations having for their objects the imposition of extreme views and measures upon the community. (e) Supporting actively every movement which makes for the betterment and liberty of the community. (f) Taking an active interest in all concerns which affect the port, city, and citizens of Auckland. (g) Expressing the voice of true public approval or disapproval, as the occasion demands, on the actions and schemes of public corporations in the administration of public affairs. (h) Representing the voice and rights of the public in all industrial conflicts which occasion loss and inconvenience to the citizens. (i) Extending to men of recognised ability the opportunity of addressing the citizens upon matters of a public character whereof they have made a special study. (j) Urging the claims of Auckland to the right to be supplied with necessary public buildiDgs. (k) Offering every reasonable inducement for the investment of capital with a view to the pro gress and prosperity of the city of Auckland. (l) Establishing throughout the city of Auckland a complete system of organisation with a view to the achievement of the above objects.

But the peculiar insistance upon the value of distinctly “ average ” public opinion, which marked Dr. Barnlbrd’s speech of last Tuesday seems to indicate a certain element of futility in the characfer of the league. Dr. Bamford says “ The main purposes of the league were to create and express public opinion. The league would express moderate, average and sober public opinion, they might not always be right, bnt there was a probability that they would be.” We would like to remind Dr. Bamford thp,t there is a peculiar probability that extreme allegiance to moderateness and average-! ness will not always tend to “ mightness ” of attitude on public

quesUons lie further went on to say. ’ It was not so much a question of reforms’with the league, b it oue of creating in the people a rational, sound, healthy, and national character.” And here again is a weakness. Character can not be realised without reforms, not only as its outcome, but as its creator. Character is created by action just as truly as action is created by character However, the Citizen’s League has been formed, and if it takes itself seriously enough it would soon get rid of any vein of futility which these utterances seem to express and find itself in the thick of all sorts of reforms. The idea of instituting a Citizen’s League is a grand one, and we recommend it to every town of every size in the Dominion.