CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 102, 30 April 1913, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUEAT BIRKENHEAD. CTo the Editor.) Sir,—-Mr. F. M. King, an ex-secretary of the Single Tax League, is again promoting a poll on the above-mentioned proposal. He has twice before secured a poll here at a cost of £50 to the ratepayers, and was badly defeated. Similar polls at Avondale and Northeote resulted in defeats, and I am sure the proposal will be again rejected at Birkenhead, because it is unjust. If it were carried the wealthy Sugar Company would have more than £ 100 less rates to pay, and this will be put on the backs of the hardworking fruitgrowers. Again, take the ease of a rich man and a poor man who may own adjoining sections. The rich man erects a house, value £1,000, the poor man a house value £300, and under Mr. King's proposal both will pay the same rates. It is well for ratepayers to know the aim of the Single Tax or Land Values League. It is, first, rating on unimproved values, which is "local single tax," and the thin edge of the wedge to secure Dominion single tax and "free trade," and finally "land nationalisation." 1 hope ratepayers will carefully consider these "facts." —I am, etc., ORCHARDIST. THE MILK QUESTION. (To the Editor.) Sir, —A correspondent signing himself "A Toiler" has some appropriate remarks in your correspondence columns on the milk question, and, although there are considerations that are not reckoned with, still they are of only minor importance. However, "A Toiler" forgot to mention that it is sometimes proved that some milk vendors have been discovered selling milk containing as much as 15 per cent of water, and have actually been fined £5, and even £10. Just imagine this hardship! Perhaps those vcudors were lined under unfortunate circumstances, yet nevertheless the watering discovered represents that three shillihgs worth of milk so diluted out of £1 was water. What a nice profit this would be if continued for one year, supposing a vendor was selling £3.000 worth of milk per annum, which contained 15 per cent of water, equal to £450 per annum; and actually they were fined, when convicted, £10! Does it pay to run the risk? "A Toiler' has struck the right note. Why not form Consumers' Associations, each member to pledge himself to purchase through a stated channel in stated districts? All that is necessary would be to appoint a capable manager, and one who could make satisfactory arrangements for a supply of milk from the producer, and with guaranteed customers the rest would be easy. This system of collective purchase, 1 am convinced, can be brought to a successful issue. No shares need be taken up. It is a system that would solve a great amount of labour agitation, and could be greatly assisted by the various unions. There are several lines of commodities which must be had for daily use that a thoroughly organised system could control, to the advantage of the general public, with no risk of loss and no waste.—l am, etc., M. Rox 029, P. 0., Auckland. NEW ZEALAND BOOTS AND SHOES. (To the Editor.) Sir, —May I crave the indulgence of your paper in order to assist a cause that lacks assistance, viz.: the poor support given by tho public generally to the New Zealand-made boots and shoes—boots and shoes that are made by union labour, and made faithfully and equally as well as the imported article'; 1 wish to point out to you, Sir, that the shoe which is doing the greatest harm to New Zealand manufacturers and operatives, and a shoe that is boomed by retailers, is one manufactured by a firm who, according to the "Shoe and Leather Record," when the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives asked for recognition, denied them tbe right to bo heard, when every other manufacturer in the town accorded them that right, and I may say. Sir. that during the whole of the industrial unrest of the past two or three years the boot trade and the Operatives' Union have gone along peacefully, because the Union is pledged to compulsory arbitration. The Union wished all manufacturers to join the Federation, and whatever agreement was arrived at between the Union and the employers, both parties would be bound by it. This firm refused recognition, and other manufacturers in the same town said it was of no use asking for any advance in wages unless the firm in question decided to come into the Federation. Commenting upon the refusal of the firm to recognise the Union or treat with Union officials, the "Shoe and Leather Journal says: ''Whatever point there may have been in this attitude years ago. there is none now, and it is too late now for a single firm of boot manufacturers, however eminent, to refuse to adopt a principle that has been accepted in nil trades.*' Now, Sir, most families in New Zealand are more or less connected with trade unions, and we ask the public to realise that there is someone related to them who is a member of a trade union, therefore we, as trade unionists, ask for support for the trade by which we earn our living, and we ask the public to treat the product of manufacturers who will not recognise a legitimate trade union as tho product of non-unionists, and in the manner which will show that the people of New Zealand do recognise a legitimate trades union, and in all cases to distinctly ask, when buying boots and shoes, for New Zealand-made. I am prepared to leave the public to judge, after giving New Zealand-made boots and shoes a trial, whether the local article is as good a one as any that are imported. The value of boots and shoes imported durir.s 1911 was £312,040.-1 am, etc., C. A. WATTS, Secretary N.Z. Federated Boot Trade Union. CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. Militant SuffragcUes.— Mr H. W. Lee, replying to Miss M. Clyde's vindication of the militant metlwxis of the English suffragettes, says: "It may be arguable whether man should without hesitation hand over the reins of Government to woman, for in England, where women ; have s-,H-ii a numerical advantage, the i proportion amounts to no !<t-s. But suppose we concede that a* a b.tsis for 1 the di—Uirsioii of the real >wic. which is whether any end can justify the adoption of such brutal means as those adI vocated by Mrs Pankhurst and her foli lowing, if women are outlawed, the fact does not prevent them from taking advantage of the protection of the law, ! but for -which and thn truly exo Ulplajy I fort—trance of the London crowd there

would be many more applicants for the martyr's crown. A* to the hostile attitude of mi—stens and the police towards deputations and meetings of suffragists, if M. Clyde will place the facts in their | true chronological order these manifestations will appear more justly as an effect than as a, cause of the militant methods. Mr __quith's Government cannot notr, in duty to the electors, introduce any substantial suffrage hill without submitting it to the country. The result of such an appeal was foreshadowed by the defeat of Mr George Lansbury, which was, without reasonable doubt, due to public irritation at the tactics with which he identifies himself. If M. Glyde thinks that this irritation will eventually have an opposite result, she has a lower opinion of the average Englisliman's strength of -mind than I have 'been able to form." "New Zealand Sport" denies that the Sports Protection League has done anything to protect or advance sport. He says: *T am both a cricketer and footballer, yet I have never Been or heard of any official from the league being on the ground to see if there was anything it could do to protect them or further their interests. It calls itself the New Zealand League. Well, what is it doing in the way of finding athletes or training them for the next Olympic games? That is a question for a New Zealand League, especially when the German Government has donated a handsome sum to find the best athletes in the Empire, and leaving no stone unturned to carry off the championship, while we are asleep." "Vox Populi" thinks New Zealand lias expended enough money in making the gift of a battleship without drawing upon the funds of local bodies for a reception to the vessel when visiting our ports. "Bara Fostus," speaking as an Irishman, denies that, apart from political differences, the Irish people have any strong antagonism towards England, or that any but an insignificant minority desire separation. The chief cause of trouble, he declares, is sectarian bitterness, which is fomented by men like Car—ii and other Unionist leaders. He says: "When tbe Carsons, Londonderrys, Bonar Laws, Smiths, and their ilk, tell Irishmen that the English Parliament is able to do "all" good things for "Ould Ireland" I would respectfully ask them how an English Ministry sitting at Westminster is to deal effectively with the squalid wretchedness existing'in the congested districts 1 of my native land?" Mr. A. Sanford contends that it would not be a benefit for the people to desert the cities and go back to occupy small holdings of land which they can cultivate with their own families. He says: "The chief object to attain, in the interests of the people, is lo get the land 'used' so that the maximum quantity of products is raised with the minimum expenditure of labour power. This can only be done by holding land in large areas and using tbe most up-to-date labour-saving appli° ances. and then devise a scheme which will give all the people the power of purchasing their fair share of the products raised on the lands of the world." "Neglect" states that in one day he observed two instances in which passengers by tram cars were almost thrown down through cars starting before they had completely alighted. "He say 3: "I do not think it possible to see from tbe front end of a full car who is getting on or off." "H..T." referring to Sir Joseph Ward's suggestion that New Zealand should contribute a capita of 10/- per head towards the navy, being an amount equal to that of the Mother Country, says that the naval expenditure of Great Britain isi 20/- per head, and that to draw a mil-1 lion sterling from this small country.' which would have to pay for the bill in exports, is quite beyond our means. In Great Britain the military and naval expenditure is merely circulated in the Home country. The Avondale Road Board. — Mr. William Cooper regrets that none nf the candidates for election to the Road Board have yet considered it worth while to announce their platforms or expound their news at a public meeting. He suggests to all intending candidates a few planks, in the belief that those who are prepared to take their stand upon them would find favour in the sight of most ratepayers. Here they arc:—(l) Economy in'expenditure: (2) efficiency in administration; (3) equality of treatment; (4) reduction of rates. Mr. Cooper proceeds: "On any properly constituted Board there should be no difficulty about the first three, and in view of the reported great increase in the Government valuation of property, there should be no difficulty about the fourth plamk. Although all candidates are not yet announced, it is <—ieraJly understood that nearly all the"members of the present Board are in the field, yet the present Boaru has systematically ignored Uie principles underlying those first three planks, and, after enormously increasing our rates during its term of office, is threatening further increases, instead of considering the possibility of a decrease. The Board's doings during the last three years may be briefly summed up thus: It has played havoc with our revenues, ducks and drakes with our loan, and the very devil with our roads, more particularly the | Manukuu Road. The Board has done i worse even than this. At the Avondale public school, which is now one of the largest in the Auckland district, the primitive sanitary arrangements are a great and constantly increasing menace to the health of the whole community. The Board of Education, on the representations of the School Committee, ' agreed to erect a septic tank if the Road •Board would lay down the necessary drain to carry "off the effluent. The Vhool Committee requested the Road ' Board to do this work, the cost of which, ' according to one estimate, would not ex- ' ceed £25. The Road Board refused to 1 undertake the work, akeging that it ; had no funds. Yet, only a few weeks later, the Road Board unanimously, and | illegally, voted a sum of £15 to make ' merry "over the arrival of a battleship. Nearly a year ago I drew attention, in your columns, to some of the peculiarities of the M—rukau Board. It now possesses more, for, as one walks from Avondale South to the railway station, he has to pass three distinct ranges of hideous clay hummocks, the work of the Road Board, and for the creation of which the unfortunate Mnnukau Road is to be debited with £7 ! 3, or more. .. . I am merely the voice of one crying in the wilderness of Avondale South: 'Give decent paths in our district, O Board. Make clean the highways within our hordcrs! Level those beastly hummocks and reduce our rates." "