CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 70, 22 March 1916, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

ELIGIBLE CIVIL SERVANTS. (To the Editor.) ■ Sir, —I was pleased to see in last night's issue of your paper an account of a message sent to the Prime Minister from the Mayor of Uorthcote in regard to eligible civil servants not enlisting. 1 agree with that gentleman. The Government are wanting recruits, and wanting them badly, while hundreds of eligible young men are enjoying the comforts of a soft job. lam a returned soldier myself, and since being discharged, have been on the road looking for work. I have visited several jobß, including the Public Works, and the Railway, where men of my trade are employed, and could not get work. Now, is it a fair thing? We have done our bit, and have to walk the streets while these men are able to lie. back and enjoy themselves at the expense of others. There are plenty of returned soldiers quite able to fill these places, and I think that the Government ought to set the private employer an example and discharge the lot of them if they do not like to go to the front. Give them a little experience of walking the streets.—l am, etc— A. V. TOMPS6X. "THE LAST MAN AND THE LAST SHILLING." (To the Editor.) Sir, —H we honestly wish to help England we can do it by using public credit in the form of guaranteed paper. The British Government is now buying food in quantities going into millions of pounds sterling. Mr Massey could lend England all this money by paying for it with paper in the form of bond 6, debentures, or £1 postal notes. This money would be a better thing to hold than gold, because it is guaranteed by all the people an New --aland, and owing to us by England, which means that we have the guarantee of all the people of England behind the paper. The New Zealand banks will, no doubt, hold the paper in preference to gold, and credit farmers with the amount deposited. It is a wicked thing for us to ask England to pay us interest on the products raised and carried to market under the protection of England's Navy. People are not investing their money at the present time, and very little of our savings are earning interest at the banks, so we should not be doing much injury to ourselves by lending England money free of interest.—l am, etc., A. SANFORD. ANTI-SHOUTING. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l notice that a Territorial pleads that we should "give it a rest" as regarde associating the shouting evil solely with soldiers. There is some reason in his contention, for our Tecruite are but civilians clad in khaki, and the mere adoption of the uniform can scarcely he expected to eradicate a conventional habit. The shouting practice is more common among civilians than among soldiers: but the results are not bo obvious, as the civilian is more easily shielded from the public gaze. Would it not be well for both civilians and soldiers to wear an anti-shouting badge? Something of this kind was adopted years ago on,the. diggings among a section of the community, who felt it necessary in. self-protection to take a stand against thia senseless social tax. A similar stand was taken against this practice by the station hands; and among some students I remember a limit was set of one glass each, and each to pay for his own. Shouting is ott<outcome of an abnormal love of approbation, and the expense is really very often secretly begrudged. The weakwilled ones who yield to the solicitation to drink are frequently influenced by the fear of the "coldness" that would follow their refusal, and further feel it incumbent on themselves to shout in return, lest they should appear mean. Thus the baH is set rolling. Now, if a badge were worn it would be regarded as an insult to ask the wearer to shout or to accept a shout. Trusting someone with energy and ability will have the moral courage to institute this reform, in the interests of our Empire's safety and suc-cess.-I am, etc., BADUh. CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. "Bricks and Mortar" alleges that there are a number of single men in the employ of local bodies and local contractors who say they have no intention of enlisting. He thinks returned soldiers should be put in the places of these men, and says, -why employers of labour can not compel the shirker to go. Thomas Allen, giving the result of some inquiries he has made into the sacrifices made by a number of local families, contrasts, them with the way in "which certain enemy aliens prosper during the war. He 6ays that -while we are "urging our young men to sacrifice their lives we allow the sons of the enemy to "jump their claim"' and live amongst vb in peace and luxury. "A Dependable Little Scotch Domestic" writes: "In support of George Winstanlejrs striking appeal on our behalf! which appeared in your issue of the " Star * of March 7, might I be alio wed. to say many people are complaining that the Home servants are not dependable. The remedy lies in doing away with the artificial wall erected between them and U3. The servants at Home are, as a rule, excellent because they are treated like human beings, and their best interests studied. Out here many mistresses are too lazy or too fond of pleasure and money-grubbing.-"Fair Play" objects to the statement of the Mayor of Northcote that " many men are marrying to shelter behind petticoats, and men married during the war should be treated as single men"; also to Mr. Allen's reply that it had been decided that any man who has been married less than eight months 6hall not be considered a married man. Oar correspondent challenges the Mayor to prove his statement, and quote one case if he can, for " he has east a slur upon every man and woman who hare entered into matrimony since the war." " Fair Play" asks whether, if a man goes to the war who has been married less than eight months, his wife will be recognised in the event of his death. A. Sanford thinks that the law of supply and demand accounts for the stoppage of the coining of half-sovereigns. In New Zealand and Australia these coins are now in less demand than before the war, owing to the departure of so many men, and the decreased demand for luxuries affecting the turnover. He thinks that in all foreign countries there is more demand for the 20/- piece, than for the 10/- piece. If the war lasts much longer the supply of halfsovereigns will be more than sufficient .for yean to come.