THE EXCLUSIVE SCOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1923, Page 7

THE EXCLUSIVE SCOT.

EX-PRTSOXER.—Make your complaint r to the gaol visitor. y

. t (To the Editor.) * s ' r , —The newspaper version of the pro- 6 posed new voting measure seems to be a cross between preferential and propor- ° tional voting, and the idea is to give towns proportional voting and country ° preferential. There is no doubt the n idea in view is to flatten out the Liberal *' and Labour portion of the electors. It F would save a considerable amount of s time and debate if, instead of letting 41 ° M.P.'s decide what the people want, if s for once, Conservatism would trust the c people by giving them the right to de- E cide liy majority in providing that the * two systems of voting shall be in vogue I in the next elections, the returning offi- * ocrs having two differently coloured * voting papers, and asking the voter under which method he wants to record his vote—preferential and proportional voting—and the voting papers asked for would be given. By this means we shall have a truer expression of public opinion as to the two eyetems than by Parlia- r mentary enactments. — I am, etc., \ FAIR VOTING. v

} (To the Kditnr.) c Sir,—Mr. Coates, true to the Govern- t ment Conservative policy of helping the i strong against the weak and the capi- i talist against the worker, proposes cal- i I ling for lenders for public works. The t idea must result in giving thousands of * pounds to American, Canadian, and Brit f tish contractors to go out of the country l j in their capacious pockets instead of into ( i the pockets of the navvies and others i I working on the contracts. The Minister c jof Public "Works is not experienced! i j enough in public contract matters of the j 1 [ past to know what contract work means, j ] ;He docs not remember a contract for < railway construction in the old days 1 when the contractor had two shillings j i 1 and sixpence per cubic yard for earth- ] J work, and as soon as he received the i j tender sublet the whole of the earthwork < for one shilling and threepence per cubic yard, thus pocketing one hundred per < cent on earthwork alone as a contractor. • This cannot be stopped. He provides that the contractor must erect houses and dining rooms, etc., but has he provided i for a strict reading of the Truck Act? : I have known a contractor to make more out of his "storre" on the works than out of his contract. Contracts will be worse I in the future than in the past, but never i again will contractors get twenty-two i cubic ynrds of earthwork shifted by spade labour for seven shillings a day. i I 1 there was any idea of benefiting the ' New Zealand navvy, why not go in for j the co-operative contract, which gave a I fixed price by the engineer per cubic ■ yard, with ten per cent as the contractor's profit added. There are men to-day who own small cottages, horses, and carts made out of co-operative contracts on the Main Trunk railway line up to 1908—and the dictum of the engineer who had supervised many miles of that line on co-operative contract was, . after years of experience, that co-opera-tive contracts cost the country a little ' less than the ordinary contracts, and were a little Ibctter carried out. Now although not neainst pushing on our railways by contract let it be co-operative contract, for, if the proposed contract be about , half a million sterling, and ten per cent (fifty thousand) is the contractor's proi fit, would it not be better for the country i nnd its inhabitants if that fifty thousand j went into the pockets of the men work- , ing on the railway construction than into Llie pocket of one man as a contractor! I I am, etc., FAIR PLAY.

(To tUc EMI tor.) Sir, —Like most country people I read the daily newspaper with great thoroughness, little escapes mc. and it seems to mc that something very like a Scottish invasion of your correspondence columns has been taking place recently. With reference to 11. Murdoch's letter which appeared in your issue of the 2Sth inst., his statistics arc no donbt very depressing, hut then statistics usually are, and it would appear that in this case the ploom would !«■ more appropriately spread through the medium of "The Glasgow Herald" or "The Scotsman" than by the "Auckland Star." It certainly appears that a very larce number of Irish are living in Scotland, but, one would imagine, if they must go there then the only possible thing to do was to go in large numbers. One hates to think of a few lone Irish adrift in Scotland. The Irish are a brave people but not foolhardy enough for that apparently. It is said that "A Jew will starve in Aberdeen"; from the statis- ' tics it is clear that an Irishman must be prepared to run that risk in Glasgow. Doubtless the Scottish character is "loved at home," and possibly "revered abroad," but Bobby Burns' prayer "to see oorsels as ithers see us" is seldom taken to heart by any Scotsman. The great and admirable qualities of the Scots arc self-evident and no one doubts them—least of . all the Scottish —but there is another side to that character (though probably all Scots doubt that) not admirable at all. In the South IaI land the writer once had the fortune !to be one of seven men living together lon a station; the other six were Scotsi men. Though a New Zealander born and bred I then had the useful if unpleasant experience of finding myself a stranger iin my own land, and it was then that T became acquainted with this other eide or Scottish character. I once had occasion 1 Lo point out that Bannockburn was not I the only battle ever fought between Scots aiid English. It was foolish of mc, no doubt.'but I was younger then. Those six men were not aware of any other battle, and I have since found that this is the only fact in English history known to any .Scotsman. Thus it ' was that. I first met that narrow self--1 glorifying nationalism which is so un- ' pleasant and glaring a part of Scottish ' character. The most surprising tiling ' in Mr. Murdoch's letter is that. he. a .rood Scotsman, should ever fear that the Irish even innumerable Irish, could have any 'possible effect, good or bad (of ' course it would be bad), on Scottish ' character. Is this the softening influence .'.of our antipodean clime? In conclusion, '. I the answer to your correspondent's final i! paragraph is simple; if the Scots wish to j keep Scotland for the Scots, then forego { ■ those wider activities and stay at home., They are too wise to do that, however,: I so good luck to them in their world . wandering, but don't the poor [ Irish the room they don't want themselves and, besides, think what a chance for improvement the Irish will get!—l lam, etc., C. R. MURRAY,