CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 69, 21 March 1916, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

BE BATHING IN WESTERN SPRINGS. (To the Editor.) ? ! Sir,—ln answer to " Aqua's " conten- ]. tion, that bathing is confined to the s1 overflow. Now, on Sunday, February t , 27, I was taking a stroll around the f Springs with my little daughter, when v, we heard voices and splashing across the a water, and were soon able to make out G two boys enjoying a dip. The spot r . selected was a kind of bay surrounded c by tall growth on two sides.' I-may i, state the overflow is a favourite bath- .' mg place, but on that particular day it >. was not being used—if fact, the place T was quite dry.—l am, etc., E. A. REID. t Grey Lynn, March 20, 1916. 1 ■ n LABOUR AND TEE WAR, d CTo the Kdltor.) a Sir,—Anyone reading the letter of-Mr S Chas. Carroll, re the above, which b appeared in Friday's issue of the "Star," v would almost conclude that during this s crisis labour was continually raising b unnecessary quibbles. Let mc" here say l that in this period; of the Empire's c danger labour is not only doing its fair a share, but is prepared to make even r greater sacrifices- Amongst the "noble a slain" on the hill of Gallipoli are to be t found th£ bleached bones of former trade c unionists, and still every day great man- t bens of other trade unionists are leav- ( ing their callings and responding to the j Empire's call for recruits. And while 1 this is not a time tor encouraging in- I dustrial unrest, yet there are wrongs i in our midst that could be righted without in the least way prejudicing the Empire's position in this war. Notwithstanding Mayor Gunson's statements to the contrary, the slums referred to by Mr. Wesley Richards do exiet, and are a positive disgrace to our otherwise ] beautiful city. The cost of living referred to by Mr. Carroll as a quibble, ' has reached such a height as to cause j serious alarm to the workers. Mr. t Carroll is certainly not abreast of the 1 position, or he would not refer to such . evils as quibbles.—l am, etc., z C. CARTER. i t RAILWAY LUGGAGE VANS. J (To the Editor.) j Sir, —As a frequent passenger on the ( railway I should like to point out the ( inconvenience suffered by the public ( owing to the ridiculously small luggage vans that are placed on our various sub- ( urban trains. I have taken particular ( notice of the 3.12 p.m. train (Auckland ; to Papakura), and sometimes passengers ( are obliged to wait for another train, , owing to there being insufficient room for their luggage. Often it is full up ] with bicycles, prams, and other luggage, . and.l have seen the guards and porters , having difficulty in moving about. As , . an invalid confined to a chair, I am : obliged to travel in the van, and on i i more occasions than one I have been ( i unable to enter owing to the lumber , • placed inside these compartments, which . 1 are little bigger than dog-kennels. If '■ conditions-are so bad now for invalids, , what will ithey-rxi 3rherP ! *he- wounded ' return from the wart Surely the De- , ' partment could place some of the larger | ' vans on these trains, and convert the , ; smaller ones into some other vehicles. — I am, etc., C. R. CHRISTEY. I » WAR ECONOMICS. 1 CTo the Edltor.l f Sir, —The recently-appointed Professor j of Economics at Otago University reJ marked: —(1) '"All borrowing from Great Britain should cease, and we ' (N.Z.) should lend to her." This is distinctly funny, considering the fact that ' we owe the Old Country anything up to 1 £100.000.000. Surely it would be ' sounder finance for the Dominion, having at the present time a big credit in J London, to buy up her three per cent issue at the city market price of 76. In I IS!U> this stock stood at 103j. At 26 1 below par it would be good biz for t New Zealand to quietly buy all she can n get. Further, this would give England I a little needful cash. Under heading * three the professor says: —"To minimise 3 the inflation of the currency and maa creased prices and the cost of living II occasioned by internal loans, the whole tt cost of training and equipment," etc., P etc. An external loan, coming out in *' the shape of coin, or used as credit for I the purchase of goods abroad, might r tend to inflate the borrowing country's t currency, but no internal loan could pos--5 sibly have such effect. As a matter ot d fact, the inflation of the world's currency as caused by the magnificent yields " of the Rand mines has, together with s the freezer, been the salvation of this k Dominion. Professor Bedford wound up II by saying. ''By raean3 of loan* and taxes <t we should endeavour to draw off all the - 1 money now devoted to luxury." Evi- '• dently this sage would reduce our cities •s to the plight of Hamburg, of which we n read: "A visitor to this German port k saw appalling poverty and misery. Hunn dreds of music halls, theatres, restaud rants, picture 6hows and shops are h closed," etc., etc. —I am., etc., H-J----'5 . a BRITISH LABOUR OUTPUTS. Ie c (To the Editor.) Sir, —The '-Nineteenth Century" maga- -' zinc, which is, I fear, an authorityabove reproach, recently published a comparison of tbe value of the weekly 6 output by British and United States T America workers per head: — u.e. ' 'c.sri.

le er It is difficult to understand some of t. these figures separately, hut the whole la being so terribly against the British n- workman, causes one very serious ie thought. t- If the United Kingdom has to rise k- after this war bearing the enormous h- debt she will have, such a table as above presages her almost certain collapse; it will pull her down. It is probably the most serious indictment yet made of the at utter selfishness and carelessness of con- - sequence of the workers, and of their Id poliyc ot wasting time. is Another view we must take, and that se in self-defence: if we are to agree and *- limit ourselves largely to purchases "'- within the Empire, we shall be, it would ■' appear, simply aiding the system which .-, causes the above, and wasting our means ii. for no effect but evil.—l am, etc., * J. CI*JIRE.

KOTTJIHI COMFORTS FOR GERMAN PRISONERS. (To the Editor.) . Sir, —Reading "Zamiel's" notes re •] Jrisoncrs at Motuihi, I beg space to cor- i rect same. The residence was not .built for the young married couple that he , states; it was built for the former caretaker. This young man spent quite a \ few pounds out of his own pocket to ~ beautify his anticipated new home. Someone informed him that the German Governor was going to occupy his new residence. This caused him to make complaints re the rumour. What followed I do not know, but it is a fact that he never entered the abode which he had spent- his spare cash on. Now, the young man mentioned in "Zamiel's" article arrived in his place, and wishing to get married, asked for thU house. The request was refused by the Government, and he is living in the old residence, which, I understand, was condemned by the Covernment ten years ago. I would like to ventilate another grievance which occurred at Motuihi. I, being the contractor for this residence, was asked to give a price to excavate th' site, which I estimated at ,£od. I bei. bound by the arbitration award to, p. the union rate of wages under a penalt. of £50. Yet my tender was declined, and competition started in .opposition- to mc, which was done by German prisoners at 3/ per day. This seems unfair to trade unionists. This residence was cleaned out, I understand, by the territorials at the Island, so that the German Governor should not catch infantile paralysis. Let us hope that our English kindness will be a lesson to our German foes when they think of their treatment j at Motuihi.—l am, etc.. G. H. EDWARDS.-Contractor. RAILWAYMEN'S GRIEVANCES. CTo the Editor.) Sir, —The country is confronted by a large section of the erstwhile loyal and peaceful railway employees taking to the methods and actions of the syndicalist 1.W.W., Red Feds. This is a juncture and denouemant that all right-thinking people in tbe community never expected. We all expected better of our railwaymen, who, with a pension and superannuation scheme, gratuities from the travelling public, and a fair rate of wages and constant employment, Daloved of the workers who were thought to be above the temptations of outsiJe Inbour. But it is not so! The railway employees, however, must not think the country is helpless; we know by l -experience how to defeat the violent methods of Socialist Federationists. The last strike gave us many lessons. There arc quite a number of farmers' sons, our brave college boys, clerical workers, etc., etc.. who are still willing and able to counteract all these violent acts, at.d methods of m«guided workers, and they have not all left for the front, cither. The -working class need not lightly think to take advantage of the war, and the diminution of the loyal and soberminded portion of the country, who have volunteered for the front. Thank God. there is a goodly number of patriotic men left yet. and they can be looked to with confidence to handle the situation. The country could stand a cessation of traffic upon the ( railroads for a week or two. or at"feast a partial tervice with great equanimity; it would njt be -crucial, as the railwaymcn think. As a retired civil engineer and surveyor, tne Government 'of 'this . country can count on mc in the situation, if it should arise, to run a locomotive or other tccnnical work.—l am, etc., JOHN DAVID STEVEN'S. GRADING OF TEACHERS. (To the Editor.* Sir,—For years the friends of a patriotic national system of education have been advocating measures tending to centralisation and inter-district uniformity. Of recent years a flood-tide of ad ministrative improvement has rendered inevitable the obliteration of landmark after landmark of provincialism. Be cently the Department, per its Assistant Director, undertook the formulation oi a Dominion grading scheme. The gentle man to whom this task was thus dele gated claimed, prior to his appointment a larger share df the confidence of the service than any other teacher Esteemed as a man sound in his views and absolutely reliable, he was rcgardet as an ideal Departmental head. He ha: a far better claim to set forth the view of teachers generally than many who now from selfish sectional motives, oppose th< grading scheme he is entrusted to draft Those opposing it come mainly frftta thi most northern district, and include tin assistant teachers. Their obvious reasoi is a fear that a Dominion grading schemi may put them on the same footing ii regard to promotion in their own dis i trict as many who hitherto have had t< i confine their hopes of a career to thi ■ meagre opportunities of such small dis tricts as Marlborough. The reason the; assign is the purely hypothetical om : that their inspectors grade them ii accordance with a higher standard thai is maintained in other districts. Thi assertion is a piece of untenable ani ! gratuitous arrogance. I write this let ter in ho fear that the ultimate fate o a truly national system of pedagogica promotion hangs in the balance. Tar absolutely confident that that will come in spite of all the pettifogging associa tions ever conceived in the narrowes -'spirit of sectionalism. What seems th real concern at the moment is that ai . administrative machinery so deplorabl, antiquated in most of its parts, slial without delay, have the most ramshackl and. clumsy portion of its anatomy rt moved to permit of tbe insertion by a; - expert hand of its modern and friction * less substitute. Not in days like thes ? can parish pump ideals hope to h 3 mighty and prevail. Assuredly not fo 4 the benefit of all the assistant teacher ' ever created is a great reform in th ; greatest of our national services goin 7 to be tolerated. —I am, etc., 5 BACKBLOCKER. 3 , CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. "Specialist" thinks that what is calle f infantile paralysis is caused by the "ej c treme heat and contaminated atmo; tt phere of the last few weeks, on wha s we may call unaccustomed constiti tions," and that as soon as the cot c weather begins the complaint will quickl 8 disappear. * "An Old Fireman" suggests that pai of the dock site should be used for a fit station to house appliances for use o the waterfront. r "A Patriotic Sympathiser" accuse some young women of keeping men froi t enlisting, and thinks such people ougl j to be interned or put out of tl , 3 country. d! - h . is Wolfe's Schnapps represents tt supreme perfection of a distille I «Dir!t.-.f

£ s. d. Boots and shoes 1 7 4 Cardboard boxes 1 0 0 •Butter and c-heese ..281 Cement 2 10 10 Clothing 1 3-1' Cotton goods 1 10 5 Clocks and watches .17 9 Cutlery and Tools ..181 Gas workers 4 J 1 Brewing and malting 6 7 3 Paint and varnishes . 3 16 2 . Printing and publishing trades 3 13 1 Soap and candles ... 2 19 8 £ s. d. 3 10 0 2 15 .10 8 3 1 4 17 8 4 7 4 2J3 9 4 3 0 4 1 6 11 16 7 19 10 5 12 0 3 7 16 11 11 7 8