CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 306, 30 August 1924, Page 14

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. :l)lS:.. - lVri:i).- Write to the committee Il.T.i:.—The mean distance of the moon from the earth is :2;>S,H(IO miles. CffilOL'S. — L'uilcr the Gregorian calendar trie intercalary -day is omitted in all centenary years which arc not multiples (if 401). The year 1!) IMP was therefore not a le«]i year. | • THE SUGAR DUTY. ] i I I i iTn the Editor.) I i Sir.- I wish i<> inform you of i I tile following fuels regarding the! j sugar duly i|iii>slii>u: There was I no vote taken on MeKoen's amend- 1 ! went which ]iru|iused a duty of I £1 0/-1 on sugar. What occurred is as , follows:— (I) There was one division taken mi the question that !Ci IS/4 should stand part or" the <|ue.stion. This was resolved in the affirmative. Subsequently tin w:i> a division on the pro- , posal to add to the question. "That the j i report do lit , upon the table," the following words: "And that ill the opinion , (if this House it is essential in x lie inioi'usU of the community that a pin- j .tective duty (if £1 IS. 4 per ton should j be nililed to the Colonial Co. on all WhUe sugar of a grade of Dulen standard No. ii ami over." This was resolved in tin- allirmative. {■!) There} j was in division taken on (ho question 'of whether the duty should lie Ul !»/•-! 'per ton. An amendment was proposed I to strike, out Ci IS/4 with a view to i insert £1 9/2, Inn as it was resolved ! (as supra) that HI IS 4 should stand part of the question, the proposal to '.make the duty £1 '.>'i was not put to Hie ilc.uM-.— I am. etc.. : THOMAS M. WIJ.rORR ' SUFFERING humanity. I iTo ihi! Editor 1 . j j — It seems to mc that, people who ! suffer and consult a doctor of herbalist, j ! should have some written statement . with regards to their ailment, as a I person has nothing to go on if a ease lias to go before a Court of Inquiry. I In such an eventuality, the doctor is I by all accounts taken the most notice ! of. Anyone may go into a shop and see what they are paying for, but of the person who you ;>o to for a cure j you know nothing, or as to whether he is right or wrong in his treatment. We j are tola by a number of doctors that I salt is very good for the health, others refer to it as the means of bringing i ..ii cancer. We arc also told that white I bread shouldn't be eaten, but that : brown bread be used. If this is so v."hy not use brown bread m the Public Hospital, so that patients coming out would have contracted the practice, and then people could sec for ilieni- ', >«lvf f 's the true value? I do think it is time that our Uovitriinteiit moved iji the interest of snlleiini; human- I ity, as they are helpless to rectify j matter-.--1 am, etc., PRACTICAL. ' i J THE TROLLEY NUISANCE. j ' (To the Editor.) ! Sir.— As the father of the boy coniicrned in the letter under the above I'heading in Wednesday "Star." I should esteem it a favour if you .will permit 'mc to reply. While 1 quite agree with I "Resident" that the trolley is a diuigor i and a nuisance, in this particular case he. or she, has exaggerated the facts. The "boy" in question is only a child of six. This is the lirst (and last) time I lie has been to the top of Wanganui j Avenue with his trolley, and he hapI pened to lie on an errand for his mother J at. the time. As to the injury indicted on the .woman knocked down. T have it I on the authority of the doctor who attended, that it was hardly worth mentioning. The shock was worse than anything else. The child assures mc that he shouted to the woman to warn Tier of his coming, but she probably I thought lie was an older boy and eoulii i avoid her. as the footpath is' fairly wide. j The kiddie was also warned not to coast j down the street with his trolley, but, like all other healthy boys, he preferred to "give it a go." Are we to get the police to hunt all boys off the footpaths I with trolleys, while they are on legitimate business? ].-,„• instance, the ! "Star" boys all use that method of 1 locomotion in this locality, and on Saturday night (with the supplements) the trolley is a necessary evil. If the ' surface of the roadway was the same I in Wanganui Avenue as it is on the streets on the waterfront side of Jer- : vois Road, there would be no necessity for the boys to use the footpaths, lii j the meantime the death rate from trolley accidents is just about on a par with that of perambulators, and if some , of the motor car owners showed as much skill in tl;e control of their cars as the boys do of their trolleys there would be very little to growl about.— am 1 etc., GEO. BItOTHERTOX. 1 CLOCKS, SUNS AND PLANETS. < (To mc Editor.) —The account of an interview i with a local "astronomer' appeared in ' this evening"* "Star"' entitled "Why is I a Clock," in which the scientist says |« that "the eternal why that is moving ' persons of profound abstract knowledge, i deep vision and trained patience (such ' as himself, no doubt) will form part ' of the eventual message from Mars." i This will be just as interesting as the 1 evacuation of the Ruhr, the cure Of i cancer, or even the fixing by Mr. Masaey ' of the moratorium or the tax on Fords or Hudsons. And your erudite con- •■ tributor goes on to instruct us "but i when the idea of a dial and hands to tell oil' the hours and minutes was thought of it was quite the natural i thing that the hands should follow the natural course of the earth's rotation ! in relation to the sun. from right to I left. And the hands of the clock have j I gone from left to right ever since." 1 I j have lived in Auckland for a very long j time, and although the hands of the j clock go as the writer says, when I get I up in the morning the sun appears to '. rise on my right and move during tha i day to the left, and the earth's appar- ' cut rotation in relation to the sun is '■ from left to right. Is it the sun or the • clock that is wrong? The only clock I your correspondent lias no confidence in < is the one at the top of Symonds < Street. It has a "spasmodic action," and wouldn't be recognised by the Green- ' wieh Observatory. I am very sorry in- i deed to read that he and the other local I astronomers and scientists associated ! with him do not expect any spectacular 1 message from Mars; "only the message which grows up : gradually from our cumulative understanding of the immense aggregation of the worlds outside i our own." This is beyond mc. It dis- ~ appoints mc ' very much indeed. Jt $ makes mc and. 1 lean upon my pen and < wipe away a. tear.l am, etc., ? ~ ~ I GEO. U. JOHXSXOX. \ August 1924. ' j <

. KILBRYDE. (To the Editor.). Mr.—Your corespondent. Oswald Schultz, is quite corect in what he thinks about destroying Sir John L. Campbell's late home, "Kilbryde' , -— none of us like ' to hear of a pretty bride killed. 1 have a lovely view of the house J sketched years ago, before the beach in Judges" Bay was spoiled and the din" cut away, j "liiili sketch is now a picture of great value. Is it now too late to explain to ! the Mayor that Kilbryde is of historic value to the citizens of Auckland, and I ram anything be done even now to I flop the removal of the house!—l am, | etc., ARTIST. j POST OFFICE FOR EDENDALE j (To tlie Editor.) Sir,—l rend in your issue of -Till inst. that the proposed post office at Kdcildale had been rejected.'notwithstanding I the mistaken offer of a site by the I I Mount Albeit Borough Council, which would he much better used as a reserve. | Has Mr. Rhodes, Mayor of Mount Albert, j J ever tried to make .an unwilling horse! jump ii hurdle in an open paddock, because if he lias he must know that any end of the hurdle does to dodge around, and not even a bunch of carrots held | out at the other side will coax him to j ?jump? If the Postmaster-General, how- I over, could lie prevailed upon to go as i far as Vincent. Road, view the populated area, and then walk from there to ! Dominion Road Post Ollice and back again just to send a telegram, he might j have a better conception of the real need to give Kdendale its long over-due postal facilities.—! am. etc.. A. ucssiai,. . BANK EARLY. ' (To ihc Editor.) Sir.—vKach of us who toils in the business world has his little swear about tie ""general public,'" that great inconsiderate mass who, one and all. thinks it j impossible that anyone else does any- ! thing, and who will leave tilings until I the last moment. 1 hear bank tellers arc complaining that everyone comes I mailing; into the bank from 2.3(1 onwards to (ling the spoils of labour upon himself and his follow sufferers. It is hard, very hard, that n bank clerk should be subjected to such treatment, but how. I ask can this great rush be avoided? I am a cashier of a large linn. At nine i o'clock 1 start work and at that time j there is only ehauge in the tills. At. ten o'clock customers and money begin to part, and by half past the cheques i sent by post pour in. Eleven o'clock and many more sigh ing customers go away with receipts only. At twelve o'clock I start the bank, and by one o'clock the .slips are done and cheques endorsed. Then comes lunch l-'J; so at 2 o'clock the money and I start for the bank, and arrive at 2.10. Five minutes wait follow.* while a ledger-keeper languidly passes a cheque which I want to cash, and for another ten minutes 1 am edging towards a teller, who is j apparently quite bored by my ottering .and who gets quite nasty because my I fours look like sevens. Yes! it is a I hard life that of a teller (and that, of a I cashier), but really no linn would allow the cashier to dodge up to the bank Us soon as the first live pounds came in. —I «m. etc.. iIONKV GKUBBKR. REFORM AND -AND VALUATION (To the Editor.) Sir.—Nfr. Krnest .lames, the organiser of the decadent New Zealand \lassey party (mis-named Reform). makes a reply to my recent letter. People are now finding my arguments for several years past are comma, only too true, hence the change from ridicule to attempted explanation. 'When 1 pioneered the advocacy of revaluation of soldiers' lands in the Roskill election fight, both Mr. Massey and Mr. Totter pooh-poohed the idea as absurd, statin! the soldiers, with few exceptions, had met their Stale obligations. What docs j Mr. .lames say now when his chief had to turn from ridicule to actually carry out land revaluation? I argued then, as I argue now, this country will never become stable again in finance and business until the lands of the country are completely revalued on the true commercial basis. Every s-choolboy in economics knows that mishandling the land question unstabilises finance and business, commercially and professionally. Reform has blundered on every I primary principle of economics. Mr. .rami's , " letter, which is obviously die- - tated by Cabinet information, br>'lc.l down, asserts that the Government is not responsible for the policy of tile Valuation Department. No intelligent person will believe him. This is an old trick of Reform to shoulder their complete failure in administration on to their Departmental officer*, My opponent tries to blind this issue by referring to several small amendments of the splendid Liberal laws, which they have utterly failed to administer. Eighty thousand small farmers and thousands of suburban dwellers will bear testimony to this fact of the absurd noncomiiicrcial Government valuations. The methods of redress are worse than useless, viz., owners can force the Governmeut to buy if they wish. A house or farm owner knows that if he did this j thing, he would have all the huge expense of shifting when he would have to buy at the same inflated values again. The Government know this, and use this a* a bludgeon to silence unfortunate land owners. Mr. James is foolish to deal with personalities, when he suggests I have very little knowledge lof law —what has this to do with political writings? This is an old game lof Reformers to attack people professionally or privately, and leave political argument, in the background. I therefore decline to reply further to impudent personalities other than to say my first twenty years was spent on a mixed j farm, and my last twenty years in professional business, which speaks for I itself, whereas 1 understand Mr. James ' Jis neither farmer nor lawyer. In conI elusion, my opponent chides mc with I ignorance of the. appointment, of .the I Valuer-General, lie says the Public Service Cotnniisioner appoints him. If he looks up section."> of the Valuation of Land Act, 190 S. he will find the Governor, by Order-in-C'ouncil. makes the appointment. Mr. James has made a bad start on the first legal question he raises. If such care "is taken by Government valuers, why did the Gov- ! ernment buy Ardkcen Estate, Gisborne, I for £133,000 -when the Government value j was only £45,000, and why Tatua. West I at £27,500 when it was bought a short ' lime previously for. £4300.1 am, etc.. I