The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 1. WANTED, PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZENS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 352, 1 April 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 1. WANTED, PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZENS.

The growth, progress, and success of all towns depend entirely on the enterprise and municipal pride of the citizens. Men who advance with municipal progress created by others are not the very best kind of citizens, although they may have achieved competencies for themselves. A person who owes his success to the expansion of a town, the necessary increase of values, and the continued influx of population owe something to the town from whence their wealth has been derived. In New Plymoutjuwc have occasional examples of that kind of public spirit which induces gifts to the citizens. A\e had oile, for instance, yesterday, in the Hon. 0. Samuel's handsome donation to the Recreation Grounds Board. These examples, however, are so infrequent as to cause surprise. As everybody knows, there are in this town an unusual number of rich citizens who show no disposition to expend even a small proportion of their wealth in improvements or public institutions. It is a little extraordinary that appeals from outside the Dominion frequently earn a more ready response from the people than appeals from within, so that a vigorous canvass for the heathen of other lands is much more likely to bear good fruit than an appeal for local improvement. Beautiful as New Plymouth is, there is 110 gainsaying the fact that its natural advantages might be materially increased were all our wealthy citizens to suddenly remember that they owed their competencies to the town and district, and showed gratitude of a substantial kind. Auckland is one of the best examples in New Zealand of the best kind of .public spirit, for in very numerous cases huge gifts have been made to the

city. It is not necessary to give a list of the institutions in that city - which owe their existence entirely to the thanks-offerings of wealthy citizens, but as one example we quote the generosity of Sir John Logan Campbell, who recognises that he is indebted to the city for the position lie occupies among "solid" men. New Plymouth must expand, whether wealthy citizens help it or not. With its expansion wealthy people grow still more wealthy without any effort of their own. In a community such as' this, the centre of a vast, beautiful, and extremely fertile country, it is something of a slur that our "big" men are not all quite as liberal as they might ,be. It is no credit that there should be any institution — such as the Carnegie Library—that the people have not paid for. It is no disgrace to "beg" from a local man who owes his all to this town, but it certainly is a disgrace to accept doles from outside. A large banking account is not necessarily happiness, and a wide domain does not always bring satisfaction. People who know suggest that there is greater satisfaction in giving than in taking, ana at any rate, money is only useful for what it will buy. A combination of our wealthy citizens could effect such improvements in New Plymouth that would make it the most beautiful and progressive town in NewZealand. The pride that stops at the I threshold of the home and does not come out into the public street is not the best kind of pride. A civic pride is a possession that is extremely valuable, and while there certainly is such a pride in New Plymouth, it is not a characteristic of our wealthy men. Perhaps they only need reminding of their remissness to follow the example of mpngyecTcitizens of Auckland or Dunetfm.