DECRYING MASTERTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10224, 27 April 1911, Page 6

DECRYING MASTERTON.

[To The Editor.j

gi r —lt is a pleasure to an old Mastertonian to not© the defence yon make for the town against the croakines of the pessimist who would beery and belittle the town to outsiders. Mr McGregor's remarks m Palmerston were a surprise to many, m as much a, Mr McGregor is perhaps one ot Masterton's oldest residents, and has seen the town grow from a bush settlement to its present state. I aJ anv of vour readers: Is Masterton any WOI'SO to-day than it was five years nffo o No! It only requires an old resident to go back after four or live years, and ho is at once struck with the progress the town has made in that time. New streets have been formed, and the bare paddocks and small clumps of bush that used to meet one's eye when approaching the town by rail have all given place to nicely built residences, and welllaidout surroundings. Where are the vacant sections one used to n0^ lce Queen Street? Perhaps Mr Murray would be pleased to inform the manager of the merry-go-round where he would be likely to get another site m lieu of the one he used to occupy, where the Exchange Bmldmgs now stand. When in your town a few weeks ago I inquired of seveial oldestablished business firms as to whether No-License had effected their business to any serious extent, and in on y , one instance did I receive a reply in affirmative. And your eontan. porary asks, ""What s wiong " Masterton?" To erery fair and "gM thinking person, nothing is with Masterton; but to the pessimist, whe will see no further than the end of his own nose, the recent depression, which has been universal throughout the Dominion, seems to be a serious matter. But "these poor souls with stunted vision" have not the forethought to see that Masterton is _ alreadv recovering from the depression, and "in the near future will take its place as one of the most important inland towns in the Dominion. Yon hear on every hand that since Masterton "went dry" it has been the making of Carterton. How has been the making of Carterton. Compare the recent census returns and then answer the question. II i weeds grow apace. Likewise, ill reports, and it seems peculiar to any dis-mterested person that your local contemporary should be a medium in which to circulsfte reports likely to prove detrimental to the welfare of the community and town, on which it depends tor its existence. No, Sir, there is nothing wrong with Masterton. improvements everywhere give the lie to the statement. Its streets are among the best in New Zealand, and its buildings compare favourably with those of much larger towns. It only requires the wide-awake citizens to throw in their weight with the progressive party. Go in for a progressive policy, improve your town as ib has been improved iii the past slowly but surely—and the pessimist who decried it will some morning wake up to the truth of your own words, viz., "This town is getting along very nicely and will live through all the humbug and nonsence which is being uttered by designing croakers and misguided pressmen." I only hope in the near future to hear Mr James McGregor tell of the astonishing growth and progress of the town that he used to instill into the minds of the Sabbath School scholars of Knox Church not so verj many years ago. Mir McGregor, himself is sjire to remember the occasion when he-statec} -building in which 1 ho was was, not so many years before, entirely surrounded by ,native bush. He could perhaps make a much bigger contrast now than he did then. Of one thing Masterton can rest assured, that if the town makes the steady rate of progress that it has done, year by year, during " In; last fourteen years (that is the limit of my knowledge) it will still hold its; own with any ether town in the Dominion. Trusting some abler pen than mine will continue this discussion. —I am, i etc, | " JOSEPH LOGAN. Wangan li, April 25, 1911.