PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 164, 11 July 1919, Page 2

PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

(To the Editor.) \ Sir,—l feel sure that all loyal citizens will have read with great regret your intimation that illuminations are to have no part in : the celebrations next week, especially > as the excuse is shallow in the extreme. 1 We cannot believe that coal is co scarce ] as-to.,necessitat,e^a, i ;<lraetic curtailment in the railway service when we know , that a steamer under Government con- ] trol, that-cottld-have brought coal from , Newcastle, landed a shipment of Austra- 1 lian wheat in Timaru, the one district in j New Zealand that already has more , wheat than it knows what to do with, j We caanot believe that gas is so scarce j ac to necessitate the elimination of the , favourite system of celebrating a great , event when we know that every night .' this week tens of thousands of street • lamps are burning as usual, consuming ; millions of feet of gas in an utterly futile attempt to outshine the moon. 1 have always been curious to know what object is served by allowing the street lamps to burn on moonlight nighte, and more than two years ago I drew the attention of the governing body in the suburb in which 1 reside to the waste of a national asset at a time when Mr. Lloyd George was proclaiming from the housetops the supreme need for economy. What wae true then is equally true now, and no process ol reasoning would regard the consumption of coal for street lighting on moonlight nights as of greater importance than conserving the coal for an efficient' railway service or for duly celebrating the most momentous event in modern history.—l am, etc., ANTI-WASTE. (.To the Editor.) Sir, —Why are we 'to be deprived of one of the main functions with regard to our peace celebrations? I don't think for one moment that the illuminated displays which have been arranged will mean so much difference to our coal supplies as to have them deleted from ; the programme. If. as the papers sax, j Saturday and Monday, the 10th and j 21st inst., are to be public holidays, won't the saving in power consumed 'by our many large factories (which- will 'be closed on those datoe) more than compensate for' the comparatively small amount of current used for lighting decorations?—l am, etc., CELEBRATE.