IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 154, 2 July 1927, Page 8

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

NEW ZEALAND MORALS. •• GETTING WORSE AND WORSE."« (To the Editor.) "«?

It is nice to read that everything is of the best in this country of ours. It would be nicer still if it were true! If "Aotearoan" were correct, and the state of affairs Mr. Marsh denounced were the "tailings"' of the rrar. we should be getting better and better. Instead of that we are getting worse and worse. There is little moral restraint, and our system of education has much to answer for. Parents have failed lamentably, and some other means of checking the drift is sadly needed. The illegitimacy figure for 1926 was 5.17 per cent of births, the highest for many years, and though most will agree that inordinate love of pleasure is principally to blame, we have to ask ourselves whether our system of training is not an originating cause. It is, however, in the cvidency of the attempt to dodge marriage responsibilities that the state of affairs is most clearly shown—in the proportion of extra-marital conceptions to first births. In 1922 the proportion was 2-5.37 per cent, and last year it had risen to 33.95 per cent. It is little wonder that there is such a crop of divorces and so much unhappiness in married life when marriage is so avoided that almost one in three of the first bora of the land are cither illegitimate or are born under seven months after the marriage of their parents. We should face these things and put our house in order instead of spending so much of our time patting ourselves on the back and boasting that we and everything about us are as nearly perfect as possible. Moral training and consequent moral restraint are needed if we are not to sink still further, until we may Yarn a name as a nation which is bitterlv resented the wide world over by individuals. PLADC SPEECH.

SHOPS AWD CHEMISTS. Jf I bare before me a report of two deputations, one representing the Auckland chemists, and tbe other the Wellington chemists, who recently waited on the Hon. G. J. Anderson to discuss with him the proposed new bill to fix shop hours. Mr. R. Cotterell, president of the Northern Pharmaceutical Association, opposed extension of hours to small shops on the ground that such were pirates, and tbe sales of pills and patent medicines would be carried on after the chemist had dosed. Is Mr. Cotterell willing to support us in a demand for the classification of businesses? If so, and we were sncccssfnl, a great number of chemists in the Dominion would go out of business. Gramophones records, cameras, perfumes, soaps, and many fancy goods lines can be obtained in most chemists' shops in the North and South Islands. Daring the last five years the shop assistants have wrung from the larger retailers concessions which have had the effect of seriously diminishing their pockets. High wages and short hours call for increased business. This can be had by crushing the small business man. As some return for concessions granted the Shop Assistants* Association has influenced the Arbitration Court in the framing of awards to assist in making it impossible for the small business man to survive It must be conceded that some such organisation as the New Zealand Small Shopkeepers' Association is necessary for the protection of the small business man. Upward of eleven thousand small shopkeepers, oppressed by the present legislation, are eagerly awaiting the proposed new amendments, praying for relict. A. E. LYNNE, General Secretary, New Zealand Small ShopKeepers' Association.

CHEAPER FAKES WASTED, -fgf It appears to me that our most able Tramway Committee is going the wrong way to make its trams and buses pay. I am a resident of Point Chevalier, and I travel in the council buses, but lately I have felt a bit lonely when I have entered a bus, as I get the whole bus to myself. I believe the only way to make trams or buses pay is bv introducing cheap fares, and I, for one, say that the fares to the Point are exorbitant. How does the Tramway Committee expect workers to go out to live in the suburbs if fares are prohibitive? I notice in the Glasgow "Evening Standard" the following paragraph headed "Bradford to Copy Glasgow's- Tram Fares." It runs: "Our tramwav manager, in a letter to Mr. J. H. Palin, M.P., ex-Mayor of Bradford, states that the adoption of" a twopemir fare maximum on July 1 by the Glasgow Corporation has been a great success and has increased the revenue for twopenny fares bv £48,081, compared with the same" period iii the previous year. A general falling off iu revenue has been arrested, and the department is now recovering much of its former position. A deficit of £11,000 in tie first month of the financial year has been wiped out, and the department has now over £6000 in hand. The twopenny maximum fare, he states, has countered the bus competition. The longest run on a single route is over twenty-one miles. It is understood that some Bradford councillors favour the adoption of the Glasgow plan of reduced long-distance fares to cope with bus competition." To my mind the council should also take a leaf out of .the Glasgow book. RESIDENT OF THE POINT.

IMMIGRANTS DISAGREE. I congratulate "Britis-lier" on his stubborn and unrepentant attitude Stubbornness to overcome obstacles is one of the chief characteristics necessary to any man who leaves England for the colonics. As regards the capital cost of bringing rough bush land into a useful and productive state, it depend* entirely on the nature of such land. The chief expenditure, however, would be an unlimited supply of elbow grease, plus the necessarv determination to use it with effect. Tt is useless going on to the land unless one's heart by nature is with the fascinating environment of the -tall timbers/* Rome was not built ia a day, and fanning, like Empire-building, takes years of perseverance and useful endeavour before any material benefits can be obtained. Britisher" apparently does not appreciate the fortunate position he is in, and eridentlv beheves that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. He lacks absolutelv the spirit conducive to progress. .To base ones calculation on statements made bv growling member* of the British Labour anv other partv wno cannot speak from actual experience is equivalent to throwing in the towel before the ngnt. ANOTHER BRITISHER. AVD THOROUGHLY SATISFIED.

MR. V. H. POTTER'S POSITION. As a political supporter of Mr. V. H Potter as member for FoskiH, and an old support-r of tbe Reform Government long before "Mr Potter stepped into the arena, let me congratulate J£r. Potter on the stand he has taken v P , "d fU ? in fi° att * nd thc caucu*. Mr. Potters differences with the Government wT ,e ?^-r itll . the ot *** iniquitous Ct * When *• m <>nster petition presented to Parliament by Mr. Potter, bearing the signatures of about 75,000 w« completely ignored. Mr. Harris, member for Waitemata, , 8 , n much the same position as Mr. Potter, and he is also to be congratulated lILmJ? 1 !* t0 * nv morc of the bi g stick wfelded by our Prime Minister. It seems to me . .™ the Government, owin~ to thr socialistic and monopolistic nature of soire of ~J e f*^u on .*v d iU ahnost «niplete disr* gard for the righto of thc people, is no long* ntted to govern this country, and although it bear, the name of «Beform»*it no longer repreS2* - LfS? 1 J""* **» coSeqneltlr Reformers at the next election. We are badlv in need of a new party that will govern the country along sound democratic lines. KOSKILL ELECTOR