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James K. Baxter Complete Prose Volume 3

Baxter Agrees with Council

Baxter Agrees with Council

Most people would think that the last man to agree with the Wanganui County Council on its approval of the report of its health inspector on the Jerusalem community founded by James K. Baxter would be Baxter himself. But ‘Hemi’ not only agrees, he has already started renovations.

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Spoken to at the Wanganui home where Mr Baxter and his brothers are regular guests, after yesterday’s council meeting, he was asked what his reactions were.

‘I’m quite glad it all came up – the community responds more to immediate pressures,’ he said.

And the response has been quick. Already the ‘Top-house’ has been repainted, and 500ft of weather-boards have been taken to the community for repairs to the ‘Bugg Inn’.

Mr Baxter said he definitely agreed with the spirit of the council’s decision – ‘but one needs time to do things.’

He had been trying for four months to get materials and tradesmen to work on the buildings, he said.

‘I’m hoping for the council’s help to get tradesmen there. There is money set aside for renovations – no financial worries,’ he said.

Any animosity towards the community by residents in the Jerusalem area would be restricted to a small sector.

Our style is nearer the pa style than the farming style,’ Mr Baxter said. ‘Some people have fears and reservations about us, but this is understandable.’

Waxing philosophical, he said: ‘Rough water doesn’t sink the boat – that needs boulders. We’re in rough water now. Boulders would be quarrels within the community, or serious cause for discontent between us and the local people.

‘If the residents wanted me to shift, I would be out tomorrow,’ he said.

‘The community is like a child at present – young and vigorous. But you can’t expect it to walk and talk right away.

‘The mother of the child is the pa. Without the pa we would be nowhere. The Church plays a part, but it is mainly the pa.’

Asked if he thought the coming May university holiday would cause overcrowding at Jerusalem, Mr Baxter said he had acquired a farmhouse in another area.

If there were too many at Jerusalem, he would ask some to move to the other property.

‘I want to avoid putting any strain on the hospitality and patience of the River people. I don’t want anything to disturb them – and I feel this like the sting of a wasp.

‘A big influx would disturb them,’ he said.

Mr Baxter said he would wish that the community could always remain in a state of poverty, even after the renovations, and that all there would share everything.

He emphasised that this did not mean sharing people. Free love had never been practised at Jerusalem.

Turning to the popular belief that the community has been responsible for some of the crime in Wanganui, Mr Baxter said there had been a burst of page 350 offences against property in the city, and he thought it unfair that this should be attributed to Jerusalem.

He agreed that some people concerned in these offences had been to Jerusalem, but it was hardly fair to put the blame on the community.

‘If someone blows his nose in front of Parliament Buildings, does the fact that he has been to Jerusalem have any bearing on it?’ he asked.

Society today had an obsession with material wants – the Jerusalem ethic went in the opposite direction. It was concerned with man’s needs, not his wants, Mr Baxter said.

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