TOWN BOOSTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 141, 1 November 1912, Page 4

TOWN BOOSTING.

The citizens of Nap«r haye made up their minds that there is work to be done in the way of promoting the expansion of their town, and they have set themselves to do it. They are eager to see a population of 30,000 people within the borough boundaries; and with a view to "boosting" the town they have formed a Thirty Thousand Club. This kind of club is common in America, where town rivalry has occasionally startled and amused the States. Sydney., has a Million Club and Dunedin has (or did, at least, intend to have) a Hundred Thousand League. These movements, in reason, are good, but the Wellington Post, in commenting on the Napier scheme, says that they are mischievous if they are concentrated on urban development, to the comparative neglect of the back country. "'ln tlie Napier case," says the Wellington journal, "we should prefer to have the 30,000 on the land near that beautiful town, which is justly famed for its civic spirit and general pleasantness. The best deed Napier can do for its own advancement is to populate the desolate spaces not far from its back door. Napier is the gate to a rich district, and the port must thrive if the hinterland, now sparsely people, is settled by sturdy men eager to use the land well, for the comfort of themselves and their families and the good of the whole community. Napier has not worked hard enough to disturb the •squatocracy in the bade country. Here is work for the Thirty Thousand Club —the ideal of a new 30,000 on the sheep walks. For every family settled on the territory which cries out for better use Napier 'must benefit. That way lies the foundation of a Greater Napier, a foundation, firm and enduring. An booming of, a town can shoot up its stature to giddy top-heaviness; a crash comes, and the last state, is worse than the first. New Zealand and Australia can offer a few sad examples of that unnatural growth ■ffhieh ends in pain."

ITALY'S NEW SUBJECTS. Without being consulted in the matter, the native of Tripoli have nominally become subjects of the King of Italy. Probably it will be many years before they own allegiance to their new ruler, and in the meantime they may be trusted to provide his troops with plenty of occupation. Last month Mr. Alan Ostler, the brilliant war correspondent of the Daily Express, had a remarkable conversation with a prominent Arab sheik who had in some degree the gift of prophecy. Talking about the war, the Arab said that sooner or later the Turkish Government would be compelled to agree to peace. Troubles would break out in Turkey itself. "Threats of war will be engineered," he added, "and it will be impossible for her to deal with her own affairs till she has made peace." Asked what would follow the declaration of peace, the Arab replied that Italy's real troubles would then begin. He explained that the war in Tripoli had really been between the Italians and the Arabs. There were very few Turks in the country, and if they were all withdrawn it would not matter much. On the other hand, the withdrawal of the Turkish artillery would be disastrous, and so the Arabs- had decided to retain it. Many Turkish officers, the sheik added, had lived in Tripoli for years, and would never return to their native country. "So," asked the correspondent, "you will continue the war on your own account?" "Aye, by Allah," was the reply. "Shall the Arabs be driven from their own homes? No, not if every Turk deserted us this night." This is the spirit of the Arabs, and it means trouble for the Italian people. The Turks in Tripoli, the chieftain said, only fought for their honor as a nation, but the Arabs did more than that—they fought for their desert homes, and never would they allow the Italians to rob them of their oases, gardens and plantations. Theirs was a. poor land, and life was hard; but there they had lived for years, and there they intended to live, Italians or no Italians. There is some talk, Mr. Ostler states, of the Italian Government paying out large sums to the Senussi chiefs, ostensibly for religious purposes, hut really to' buy them off. It seems likely that unless some plan of this sort is adopted and proves successful Italy will find her now possession a constant source of trouble and expense.