CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 69, 23 March 1926, Page 17

CORRESPONDENCE.

;, -, . TO CORRESPONDENTS. [WAGER —"Bobby" Leach went over Niagara Falls on July 25, 1911. He was in t'-e barrel for 39 minutes and was picked up in tho Bas3 eddy 18 minutes after making the drop of 168 feet at the Horseshoe Fall. FIRE ENGINE FATALITY. 'To t'ne Editor.) g* r __l understand Ihe Newmarket fatality happened on a second trip, and when there was littlo prospect of a seriour outbreak. Why should buses pull up alongside safety zones at Newmarket, and when is a safety zone not a safety zone? With the speed of motors the exemption of brigades from traffic regulations should cease. When will pedestrians get some consideration from those who are supposed to control the • traffic?—l am, etc, ; CONSTANT READER. DIRTY FOWL YARDS. . ' (To tho Editor.' ' Sir.—l wish to corroborate ."Disgusted's" letter in your paper. Whether we get the promised drought or not, •this matter should be seen to. Our borough inspector is very lax in this matter. Our next-door neighbour has her fowl yard as far from her own house as possible, but adjoining our back yard, and within twelve feet of our back door. I can assure you on a close day after a shower of rain the stench is dreadful. As far as I can observe, the said yard is never cleaned out from one month's end to another, and although we have complained to the inspector the annoy* ante, like the brook, goes on for ever.—> I am, etc., SUBURBAN RESIDENT. ] SANDING OF STREETS. '■ (To the Editor.) Sir.—Tn Friday's issue I am sure that . Jir. Briggs expressed the opinion of a great many people who think the same about the sanding of streets for the : safety' of horses working in the city daily. Members of the City Council should go in different parts of the city and stand for a time, watch the horses moving along with their loads, trying bard at times to grip a hold on the slippery paths, or going up an incline continually stumbling. They would also , see the difficulty to Testart after resting the horses, and that the driver has to ". use the greatest care and utmost vigilance to keep the horses on their feet. Then members would realise the necesi aity for the sand feeing laid. Surely there are some lovers of animals : amongst the members of the City Council. They themselves have many ; beautiful horses working in the city. : Certainly they value the safety of them. : I am, etc., I. NOBLE. - ! • I ELECTRICAL WIRING. I ' (To the Editor.) Sir, —The Auckland Power Board is naturally disconcerted and the public j panicky over the discoveries of "catch '-. as catch can" wiring.. The fire under- . writers' rules have been flouted, the •board's inspectors tricked, and the owners of tho premises relieved of money under false pretences. My personal ex- . perience of inspectors has been, they are painstaking and conscientious, but as they are not equipped with 5 an X-ray . outfit, have to take a certain amount for granted. Few people would build without an architect to guard their interests, yet never dream of employing an experienced electrician to guard their . interests. Contractors quote ridiculously low prices owing to keen competition, and many are resorting to boy labour to make jobs pay. One has only to I scan tho newspapers to see the following typical advertisement: "Wanted: A fast wireman." The "Desert Golds" and "Gloamings" of the trade cannot do a good job, efficiency being sacrificed for speed. Cheap jobs are dear at any price and boy labour, the bane of tho trade, naturally reflects itself on the standard of the installation. When carefully and conscientiously installed ] by competent tradesmen, electricity is ; as safe as the proverbial church, but if : breakneck speed—which ia the order of the day—is perpetuated any intelligent person can anticipate the inevitable. Coni tractors play at "Beggar my Neighbour," the public pays and a stigma falls upon the sweated wireman. Somewhere in ' antiquity an individual "fiddled while Rome burned"; how long are the public ' i who are the victims, going to allow this system to continue? Installations should be parried out by the Auckland Power Board,' and thus eliminate the pernicious slogan of "'Profits First,"' which is the law of the competitive system.—l am, •tc,, M. P. O'LEARY. .] LOAN FOR MOUNT ROSKILL. i ' - ' ; (To the Editor.) 1: Sir,—My attention has been drawn to a statement in the columns of your paper whereby the Mount Roskill Road Board agreed (with the exception of }': two members, Messrs. Lamont andPres- ;- ! ton) to take a poll for the raising of loan moneys on Saturday, April 24. The ; members of the board are doubtless aware that by virtue . of Sub-section : Four of Section 33 of the " Road Boards Act, 1908," an election of retiring members shall be held during the first week in May in each year and that as the fir3t day of May falls on Saturday in this year, tlie election of three members for the board will undoubtedly be held on that day. This means that a general election will take place exactly six days after the poll for the loan proposal, and as all elections and polling in connection with the loan proposals are expensive and have to be borne by the ratepayers, the board is causing and imposing an unnecessary expense and burden of £60 on the general account funds. This unnecessary expense could well be avoided and utilised in repairing the roads and footpaths of the district that are so badly needed and it is inconceivable to any sane-thinking person why the hoard should make two issues of the .matter which could reasonably be undertaken in one day. Moreover, it is recognised as a general rule in connection with the local bodies that ratepayers take little intev*st in the recording of their decisions in connection with loan proposals, but much Wider and keener interest is taken in elections. By submitting the loan proposals on the same day as the elections would, in addition to saving the sum of £60, be a great convenience to the ratepayers and would not entail any hardship ■whatever, but would give, a greater census of opinion in connection with the loan, proposals.—l am, etc., . A~:: I*. A. TOZER. . ,

AMERICAN ATHEISM. (To tlie Editor.) Sir, —Referring to the statement in your article on the above subject, viz., To suppose that it (the universe) is the result of blind chance is not possible," your correspondent, A.E.0., says, in effect, that the universe is the result of "definite natural laws," but adds that he does "not require to postulate a supernatural force." I -would ask, -which is the more reasonable to believe—that those laws made themselves, or that there is a Lawmaker? For the universe of physical effects which we see around we must pastulate an adequate cause, a supreme intelligence. A.E.C. also says that "the man who dogmatically denies the existence of God and the man who dogmatically affirms the existence of God arc logically on the same footing." Are they? Was Christ on the same footing as the fool who said in his heart, " There is no God?" If A.E.C. "holds suspended judgment on such questions as the existence of God," he should be careful not to suspend it too long. No amount of evidence will convince some people. They scout it themselves, but not satisfied with this, tlifey industriously endeavour to induce others to do likewise. Some of them doubt even their own existence. —I am, etc., F.E. (To the Editor.) Sir, —A.E.C.'s letter regarding the argument from design reminds mc of an incident related by the late Lord Kelvin, one of tho greatest scientists of modern times — probably the greatest since Newton. Yon Helmhotz described him as "one of the first mathematical physicists in, Europe." Kelvin was walking in the country with Liebig, the famous German chemist. Kelvin said to his companion! "Do you believe that the grass and flowers which we see around grew by mere chemical forces." Liebig replied, " No, no more than I believe that a book of botany describing them could grow by mere chemical forces." Kelvin placed on record his conviction that we must choose between " creative power " and a " fortuitous concourse of atoms '< as the explanation of the universe. He emphatically declared that scientific thought is compelled to accept the idea of creative power—by which he meant belief in God. —I am, etc., NORMAN E. BURTON. *% CITY WATER SUPPLY. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Referring to the letter by "City Ratepayer" in Friday's issue of the "Star," I happen to be in a position to give him some facts and figurse of interest in this important matter. In October, 1923, a vote of £300,000 waa taken by the council for the express purpose of constructing the Huia dam, but nearly the whole of this money has been spent on preliminary work, the purchase of adjoining lands, and on the 33-inch and 18-inch pipes; while the balance of £80,000 has now been allocated by the council, to the raising of the Waitakerfc dam to a height of 16 feet 6 inches. The council has commenced thia work, and it might be looked upon by some as "unauthorised expenditure," aa the ratepayers have not yet been asked to vote on this work. The council, however, get over this difficulty by taking the balance from the £300,000 vote, Which was specially earmarked for the Huia dam' As to the new loan of £470,000 which the council is asking' for, and which will be voted on about April 14, it consists of £70,000 for filtration plants at Waitakere and Nihotupu dams, and the £40,000 is to be spent on., the Huia dam. This money forms part j of a scheme on which the council pro* | poses to upend no less than £1,637,000, for the construction of six more dams, three filtration plants, pumping station, tunnels, pipes, etc., and this enormous expenditure, it is stated, will supply the city with water until 1958, a matter of thirty-two years only. " City Ratepayer " is quite right when he considers that this money would more than exceed the amount to be contributed by the city towards the Lake i Taupo scheme, which scheme is esti- i mated to co9t altogether two and a-half millions. At the end of the thirty-two' years, we shall have to go further afield for more water. Why not go direct to Lake Taupo ? From this source we can get a permanent, unlimited, and uncontaminated supply, which would be available, not only for the city, but for twenty-nine local bodies, and over 100,000 people outside the city. I am glad to see that the Government has stepped in, and has appointed a Commission, through the Board of Health, but unfortunately the council decided (see Friday's "Star") to go on with the polling, and> not wait for the finding of the Commission. Many consider this a foolish policy, and one that many ratepayers will resent. The City West Rate.payers' Association has asked for a referendum on the alternative schemes, but the council has refused to allow this. The only hope that the ratepayers have, is that the Commission will prevent the council going on with the vote until after its sitting; or that the ratepayers will follow the sanie wise course that they took on the Civic Square Bcheme, and strike out the loan. Public meetings will be called shortly by the above association in order to give further information on both schemes, and thus enable the ratepayers to decide what is best to be done.—l am, etc., A. G. JARRETT. AVONDALE ADMINISTRATION. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Recently much criticism was published against the above council for its mismanagement of the affairs of the borough. I don't say all the charges levelled against it are correct, but many of., them are and no adequate replies have been made. Only a very small portion 1 of the borough Will benefit by present drainage operations but a rate is now levied on the whole borough to provide interest on the loan of £32,000. In spite of this the council is now compelling a large part of the borough that is unfortunately outside the drainage area to lay drains and provide a cesspool at considerable expense. This work can only be temporary as these will all be abolished in the near future wrhen the drainage area will have to extend to comply wi\h the Public Health Department. It may not be generally known outside the borough that those living outside the drainage area have to bury.their night-soil on their sections. The borough has no nightsoil service in any part of it. The Public Health Department should insist that those parts where the population is fast increasing and where drainage is urgently needed, the council should be compelled, to extend and bring those parts .within the drainage area as soon as possible. The temporary convenience which, the council is now trying to enforce on those living outside the drainage area are an imposition and injustice;—l am, etc., RATEPAYER. ,