IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 261, 4 November 1929, Page 6

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

PUBLIC ADVERTISING

BLOTS ON THE LANDSCAPE,

(To the Editor.)

"It hardly requires a statute to remind us that there are some places at least that should be immune from the invasions of the products of advertising genius, and parks, public places, scenic reserves and open landscapes generally must not be used by those who would solicit public appreciation of their wares." So runs your report of Professor Algie's address to th 3 Advertising Club Convention. I hope the pro. fessor was correctly reported, and that his statements are to be taken quite literally. The other Sunday L went for a walk with'a friend along the Great South Road, through Otahuhu, Panmure and Papatoctoe. It was. l a perfect spring clay, and I have never seen the countryside looking better. Green paddocks, blue sky, orchards in bloom, oaks and poplars covered with their young leaves and red house tops combined to make as pretty a picture as one could wieh for, and we were charmed by the gorgeous yellow of the gor.se which the farmers of the district had planted in order to beautify their little corner of God's earth. , . One feature alone of the "open landscape" detracted somewhat from its loveliness; as we went on our way we were constantly being met with injunctions to use this brand of' medicine, or that brand of tyre, or somebody else's eatables. Nothing M'ae left to chance in impressing upon us the urgent necessity for providing ourselves with these wares. Large boards, containing eulogistic references to a wide range of products, and painted in bilious combinations of colour, were propped up in fields by the wayside, set at such an angle that one's eye simply could not miss them. We returned from our walk a little dazed. We had not imagined that there were so many good things in the world that we had been missing. At the same time we were acutely conscious of the fact that nothing is so calculated to prejudice the beauty of an open landscape as a powerful entreat} - , placed well in the foreground, to use a certain preparation, and no other. When I read the professor's remarks it looked like a way out. Is this sort of thing really illegal? A. R. D. FAIRBURN.

ECONOMIC LAWS.

Neither Mr. Weston nor any other serious student of economics would for one moment make such a' foolish suggestion as that any economic law was immutable. Economists recognise that conditions are ever changing and the economic condition of next year will of necessity be quite different from the economic law of the present. Such immutability is not and cannot be, but there is immutability of consequences and responsibilities, the outcome of certain economic laws. Mr. E. Morton speaks of the six to ten thousand workless males and suggests that this most deplorable and serious condition is due to those hated capitalists accumulating capital for reproductive investment. Can Mr. Morton conceive how many more thousands might be workless and how many, many thousands would be living on or below the poverty line of existence if men of ability and means had not in the past accumulated capital for reproductive investment? CHARLES LAUDRIN.

TRAMWAY EXPENSES.

, , . Replying to V. G. Goddard, I would like to state that his idea of selling concession cards on trams is hardly possible here. It would be if, as he says, the correct money was tendered, but it would not be. We have |£5 and £1 notes given for tickets without the merest apology, and people are supposed to tender correct money. People usually buy their cards in the evening at the busiest hour and on Friday night —pay night. V. G. Goddard himself says that the trams are overcrowded. Imagine what it would be like when everyone was wanting to buy concession cards and with wages unchanged. AN AGENT.

HOSPITAL VISITORS.

In.her attempts to justify remarks already made in support of what must be, after all, a purely personal grievance, the anonymous complainant who aptly styles herself "Sufferer" has shown extraordinary ignorance in so far as the conduct of visitors to the hospital is concerned. For instance, her concluding reference that "she has yet to meet the gramophone operator who knows when to stop" surely is incongruous when applied to a hospital entertainment. Such matters as this are predetermined by the sister or charge nurse allotting a. given time. Concerts are similarly arranged. Further, at the "cue" of the one in charge of the ward proceedings can be made to stop immediately. I am troubling to deal with "Sufferer" because on Friday night last the patients of the ward I was visiting requested it, fearing xhat some board members may be weak enough to take notice and that action might be taken to deprive them of something "they looked forward to with pleasant anticipation." NEVILLE CARLSEN , .

PITY POINT CHEVALIER.

I think the people of Point Chevalier are the most loyal supporters the Transport Board has had to deal with. Increase their fares, reduce their section and cut down the timetable, and still they pay up with never a protest. We used to enjoy a ten-minute service. Then it was considered, as the place grew, that a thirteen-ininute service would be "0.K.," as the loss was so heavy. Still the district grew, and the service was thought too frequent, so we dropped back to a fifteenminute service, and still the houses went up, and the school swelled, with over six hundred on the roll. We now enjoy a twenty-minute service and pay threepence to ride from the hall to the beach, a little over one mile, and we are in the happy position of knowing the trams will be run at the same figure. Buses off the road cannot earn revenue, and buses ou the road are run at a loss. Now I will leave it to the office boy to put us wise as to how things can be made to pay. We have yet the Auckland Gas Company increase the price of gas because of the keen competition of electricity. But that is quite different to transport. That's a business, and it pays a dividend. M. P. HOOPER.

"WITHOUT CHILDREN."

I notice in an avertisement that the Dingwall Presbyterian Orphanage Trust Board called for applications for the position of superintendent of the new orphanage at Papatoetoe, the "successful applicant to be a Presbyterian and preference to be given to a married man without children or whose children will not require to live at the homes and whose wife will be qualified to act as matron of the senior boys' home." Surely these are extraordinary conditions to be attached to the appointment by such a religious body as that which controls this trust. In the first instance, condition "no children" is strangely at variance with the oft-repeated pulpit call of "keep the cradle full." The second condition, that if there are children the parents will not require them to live at the institution, strikes at the very root of morality and family life, the preservation of which the Churches have preached so consistently and persistently. ALARMED.