UNITY AND CONCENTRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 May 1919, Page 4

UNITY AND CONCENTRATION.

It was only natural that members of the Harbor Board should, be pleased at what was practically a unanimous vote of confidence by the people of the harbor district in the scheme of harbor development. It is questionable if Taranaki has ever before shown such unity in connection with any public project, and it augnra well for the future. Taranaki in the past has lost a great deal by not pulling together, and coordinating and concentrating its efforts upon the main provincial and national works. Distrust and jealousy have been allowed to come in where there should have been goodwill and co-operation. That sort of thing operates against progress, for it is a truism that what benefits a part must benefit the whole. The construction of the Stratford-Okahu-kura railway is a work of paramount importance to the province, as well as to the whole country, and every settler should do his beat to urge the Government to speedily complete it. This, of course, Bhould not be necessary, for if the Government conducted its operations on business lines the railway would have been finished years ago, and been earning interest and promoting the I district's prosperity for years. But the I Governments of recent years have been | more concerned about keeping the various districts quiet and luring them on with promises than with concentrating on a few essential works and getting them out of the way. So long as this indefensible policy is practised, so long must districts like Taranaki unite their! forces and battle for their rights. The' second important natio#al work in' Taranaki is the improvement of the road connecting the province with Auckland. It is a striking commentary on i the apathy and incapacity of past Gov-1 ernments that the road in places is in j no better state to-day than it was twenty years Ago, and that the Mokau river remains unbridged. If in Canterbury or Otago these works would have been finished years ago and the province —the richest in the whole of New Zealand—been covered with railways. The Te Eoti-Opunake, and the Opunakc-New Plymouth line, serving closely settled, districts, would have been given attention years ago, but then we are riot in! those favored provinces and we have not had, like them, unity of purpose and concentration of effort. We have been shown the advantage of organisation and \ unity in connection with the war, and if we translate the lessons we have learned into action as regards the development of Taranaki we can make it truly the banner province of New Zealand. We have made a good start with the harbor scheme, which will play a much more important part in the province's development than at present is generally realised.