WHAT ABOUT OUR SHOP HOURS' BILL?

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 29, 3 February 1905, Page 2

WHAT ABOUT OUR SHOP HOURS' BILL?

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l have been closing my shop at 6 p.m. during this last month (January), and am still doing so, expecting every day that our inspector of the Shop Hours Bill will instruct others to do the same;, for that is what all the shopkeepers are waiting for. If something is not done very soon I shall have to fall in line with those who keep open till 9 p.m. every evening.—l am, etc., AN ADVOCATE OF EARLY CLOSING. PRICE OF POTATOES. (To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your last two quotations in your commercial notes you quote potatoes at £11 per ton, and in to-night's paper you quote good sorts up to £ 10. Now, Sir, I have been at the sales last Friday and Tuesday, and all good sorts brought from £11 6/ to £14.-1 am, etc., N. H. WATT. Newton-road, February 1, 1905. A YACHTING QUESTION. (To the Bditor.i Sir,—There has been a lot of discussion lately amongst yachtsmen on the subject of keel versus centreboard boats, and on the unfairness of allowing centreboard boats to compete with keel boats. In the regatta held last Monday, in No. 8 class the following keel boats were entered, viz., Hauiti, Kotare, Bonn, Mavourneen, Vanora, and Rose, the lastnamed being built like a patiki, but having a keel; Aoma, Bellbird, Doreen, and Advance, centreboard, and of the patiki type. * There was not much wind nor sea, and the whole thing was a gift to the patikis, which against the tide had only to lift their centreboards and skim over the water. Not so with the keel yachts, which had to fight the tide, owing to depth. I have never considered it fair for a keel and a centreboard yacht tc be allowed to compete in the same races, and I am sure that last Monday gave us a practical demonstration of the unfairness of allowing such a thing, and 1 am satisfied that if this matter is allowed to continue by regatta committees and yacht clubs in the future, very few owners of keel boats will enter to compete against skim dishes.—l am, etc., MARCO POLO. HATRED OF MR GLADSTONE. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l have been reading the letter of "E.S." to the "Star" re Dr. Bakewell's hatred of Mr Gladstone, and wish you to allow mc space for a few remarks. I am very sorry for Archdeacon Deniston being so badly treated, and think it a shame a man cannot in a free country— so-called—express his opinion of a politician without having to pay two hundred pounds. But Archdeacon Deniston was not alone and Dr. Bakewell is not alone in disliking Mr Gladstone. How often you hear it said that he was not a sound politician. Be that as it may, a greater man than Archdeacon Deniston has expressed an opinion on Gladstone, and not a flattering one either. Thomas Carlyle, a countryman of his, loved truth and justice for its own sake, and when he heard that Gladstone had thrown over the Protestants in Uleter, in order to catch the Irish Catholics' vote, said: "He was as hollow as a blown goose egg."—l am, etc., VERITAS.