CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 155, 4 July 1927, Page 17

CORRESPONDENCE.

MAORI LANDS.

(To the Editor.)

ow that the Maori question is such a problem to the Europeans who are on the land, I for one wish the Government would settle it. My own short-lived experience is not altogether a very pleasant or satisfactory one. If the Far North is to be settled, then they will have to see that the white settlers are not to he left at anyone's mercy. The natives have thousands of acres going to waste around here, only waiting to be developed, whilst many of them, I understand, receive charitablo aid. They pay no rates, or, I suppose, taxes either, but the pakeha who pays for and develops his land pays very high rates to be expended principally in charitable aid to help the natives, and even then he cannot be left at peace to farm his j place. Are the natives to have everything? They enjoy all the laziness and luxuries, and we have to work and pay for it. They can run all over our property, and turn their stock into it to graze, quite undisturbed by our opposition and protests. There seems no way of treating them but to grin and bear it. NORTHLAND SETTLER'S WIFE. "HEATHENISM" IN ONEHUNGA. Whether or not the taking of a religious census is the best way to induce the people of Onehunga more freely to attend the local churches is open to question, "or my part I object to being catechised by strangers about my private aflairs (and a man's religion is his private affair) and I dislike telling people to what denomination I belong, though I would not object to telling a clergyman if I belonged to his church, if he told me what his church was. Perhaps it is natural that clergymen whose churches are sparsely attended should think that people > ■> stay away are living in "heathenism." But is there no "heathenism" in the churches? Is it not a species of "heathenism" to turn the Bible into a kind of fetish, to read it with a reverer ''at is lacking in intelligence, and to look upon any every parrt of it as equally and as richly and divinely inspired? Yet when we go to church how often do we hear some vindictive Psalm or some commonplace passage from the Old Testament about the slayi- j of animal sacrifices, read as though it were on a level with the Sermon on the Mount, and solemnly referred to as "God's most precious truth?" All honour to those who have caught the breath of a new spirit, and who are seeking to imbue men with nobler ideas and saner views. But in some churches we could name there is a well-defined line drawn between faith and intellect, and if a man cannot believe that a literal fish swallowed Jonah, or the exigencies of biblical exegesis require such an interpretation, he is regarded as a traitor to God's Word. PHTLO ALETHIAS. A STATE BANK FOR NEW ZEALAND. The acting-chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr. R. W. Gibbs, in referring to the Commonwealth Bank, at the annual meeting, endeavours to prove that that bank has done little or nothing for Australia, and that New Zea- 1 land is getting along quite well without the aid of a State Bank. But I <jo not think Mr. Gibbs' criticism puts the position fairly. For though the Commonwealth Bank's advances may be very small in comparison with the private banks, and its rate of interest the same, nevertheless it acts (or could be made to act) as a governor for the control of the currency of all the other banks, and thus prevents (or could prevent) the periodical contractions and expansions of the currency which are the bane of our present private banking system. At present all the private banks of Australia use Commonwealth bank notes, and presumably have to deposit with the State (or Central) Bank, gold to the value of the notes they have the right to put into circulation, and get in exchange for the gold, though the Commonwealth Bank only has power (or should have) to hold this gold in trust for the banks, never to use it, or put it in circulation as money, or pay interest upon it. Again, it does not follow, because the present Australian State Bank does not do all that it might to assist production, that therefore it is of no service, and could be dispensed with without ill effect. People who have lately come from Australia, say the general feeling throughout Australia, is one of optimism. In New Zealand, in spite of the higher price for our butter, and falling land values, it is one of decided pessimism everywhere, owing mainly to the difficulty small farmers and producers generally find in getting financed promptly and at a reasonable rate of interest. It would be as unfair to argue that there is no necessity for a State Bank, as to argue that there is no necessity for the present private banks, though, according to many people, they have not done all they might have done to finance farmers and others. C. P. W. LONGDILL. | CHILD LABOUR IN CHINA. If we understand your correspondent, "Student," aright, he is contending that the harsh conditions of child labour in China are due to foreign Imperialism, particularly British. That, we contend, is absolutely wrong. The persons he quotes from—Lieutenant-Colonel L'Estrange Malone onward—are none of them judicial authorities. They dwell mostly on the badness of. the conditions, which nobody disputes. Your correspondent's quotation from James H. Dolsen's work, "The Awakening of China," commenting on the findings of the Shanghai Child Labour Commission report, is simply nonsensical taken by itself. No one would contradict the statements of the commission, and for your correspondent to infer, as he does, that the Welfare League is doing so is positively ridiculous. Having read the whole report carefully, we are confident that it fully supports the stand we have taken in this question. The evidence of these papers is beyond question that the British Imperial authorities have done all they possibly could in an endeavour to limit child labour in China. Evidence before the commission shows that most of the cotton mills in China are Chineseowned; next come Japanese, and there are only five British in alt Capital invested in British mills is 8,300,000 taels, in Japanese 20,600,000, and in Chinese 48,245,000 taels. Sir R. Macleay reporting to Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, wrote: "Mr. Brett (acting-commercial counsellor) points out that there are only five British cotton mills in this cbuntry, that the labour conditions in these mills compare favoura/bly with the conditions existing in factories controlled by Chinese capital, and that the suggestion that British mill-owners are largely responsible for the unsatisfactory labour conditions existing in Chinese factories is baseless." We acknowledge that one enclosure with Appendix No. 1 of the report bears out "Student's" contention that there are a greater proportion of children under 12 in Britishowned factories. This may, however, be

due to tlia class of work in the factories, as 26 are shown, not merely the five mills referred to previously. On the following page to this "analysis" this statement is made: "In considering the question of child and female labour in foreign factories, the fact must not be lost sight of that local customs, associating this labour with certain occupations from time immemorial, enter into the question, and also that certAin classes of work are allocated to women alone." These papers are the best evidence: — (1) That British Imperialism is not responsible for child labour enslavement in China; (2) that Chinese customs, absence of proper Government, and the practice of Chinese parents are responsible; (3) that British capitalist owners are more anxious for reform to protect the children than the Chinese capitalists are. N.Z. WELFARE LEAGUE.