IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 8

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

HOSPITAL SAVINGS. THE SICK SHOULD NOT SUFFER. (To the Editor.) One is amazed at the statement of Mr Wallace, chairman of the Hospital Board in connection with the hospital "cut," and I ai sure the public of Auckland will sympathise with the board in its very diflicult task. But sympathy alone will not get us very far; w e will have to do something niore, and I : feel sure the public of Auckland will not permit the sic-k and poor to suffer un.ler the name of "economy." Whatever has to-be done "to" economise, people's lives should not b 2 jeopar discd by tlrs '•cut."' The sick must be looked after, and if the "cut" is forced on the hospital, then the patients cannot receive tli'e attention necessary for their welfare, and ii the end it will only mean more expense to the country. .Already many of the patients are worrying as to what is going to happen to them,, and with this thought in their mind* what chance have tlicy of gett'ng batter?.' We have got to see that the sick are left oat'of this vicious "economy." I would also' like to say that the public should aisb see that i the nurses' and other officials' remuneration is not cut down. We all know the splsndid work they are doing, and their salaries are small enough now without any reduction. If the Budget ha n to be balanced at the expense of the sick and the splendid body of sisters, nurses aud other officials, then I hope it will never be balanced, and I am quit;'.sure other hospital visitors will agree with me. .■T ; - A. HAMBLIN:-/,!, — THE SPIRIT OF ANZAC. = - . While reading the "Anzae Book" recently j I came across' a passage in Sir lan Hamilton's report that seemed to me to embody tlfe spirit and message of Anzae: "Hill 60. Second Assault. Gallipoli, August. 27-30, 1915. Luckily the New Zealand Mounted Rifles refused to recognise that they had been worsted. Nothing would shift them. All that night and all next day, through bombing, bayonet charge, musketry, shrapnel, and heavy shell, they huug on to 150 yards of trench." As New Zealand is about to as-sault a peace time '"Hill 60," J wonder if we will exhibit the spirit of these men, many of whom fortunately still live with us. They were not supermen, but our friends and brothers; they put New Zealand on an equal footing with the nations. Will we now keep it there, and, like them, hold on for better times ? I would write that extract on the . walls of every school and every home until it is engraved on the hearts of the people, for this is the spirit and message of Anzae, that we refuse to accept defeat and hold on—hold on. T. S. COLLINS. ST. HELENS HOSPITAL. f " * " Of all the dreadful things thai havehappened in this era of dreadful happening?, I think that the raising of the charges at the St. Helens Hospital is the worst yet.. I am afraid that the only reason that there has not been an outcry this is that the poorer clashes are at present so downtrodden that they have not the spirit to rise against this latest imposition. I would like to know*"; what some of those persons supposed to be managing thin country would do on £3 5/-a week, with three children to keep and another arrival to prepare for, with winter coming on and every prospect of their husbands being put off at their work any day. What are we going to do? How are we going to live? I leave it to Mr. Forbes and his far-seeing-Ministers to answer. EXPECTANT MOTHER. TIMBER TRADE DEPRESSION. On April 16 the s.s. Waikawa, one of the U.S.S. Company's fleet, discharged at Napier 250,000 feet of Oregon pine to be used in the earthquake area for reconstruction purposes. Why was this. passed over by the Government when our own sawmillers could have - supplied this order and several more from present stocks without milling any of it and thus kept the money in our own country, instead of sending it overseas? If the Govern ment could only see what it is doing-perhaps it would call a - halt and rectify matters by helping for one the sawmilling industry, which could absorb a greater portion of the unemployed, and a better policy is to prevent our money, which is scarce, from leaving the conn- 1 try to pay for foreign timber and goods. More increase of .tariff is needed badly, and the bigger the tariff the more chances the New | Zealand s-vmiller has to keep his mills-going and keep them fully staffed. To-day the miller is faced with ruin and the worker with poverty due to the hesitancy of the Government in failing in its dutv to its own people. A NEW ZEALAND WORKER. BRITISH OR ENGLISH? When I protested in the "Star"' against the practice r t" morning cm:temporary of claiming English-born celebrities as New I did not anticipate the display of Anglophobia which two correspondents.. "British" and H. Mulvihill, have indulged In. In my letter I referred to the recent eases of Freyburg, Chichester and others: long ago there was Bob Fitzsimmons (Cornish) and quite recently the airman Scott, al! English born. The two correspondents mentioned stated that Englishmen are the worst offenders, but they do not name one celebrity wrongly appropriated from New Zealand 01 elsewhere. As an Englishman I challenge them to do so. H. Mulvihill, however, refers to the case of H.M.s. Calliope, which forty years ago escaped from Apia Harbour during a hurricane. His remarks, owing to their absurdity, are worth repeating, viz.: "A monocled M.P. in the House of Commons referred to this exploit as "Awfully jolly! English grit, English pluck!'" Lntil Mr. Mulvihill quotes his authority fully for this absurdity I suggest that it is his invention. Your correspondent "More Impudence' has adequately explained why in England the weird "English." is occasionally applied to British people generally, and his remarks are verified by the New Zealand Press when it frequently claims that New Zealanders are more Enghs than are Englishmen. Were not the four greatest men in New Zealand history, viz.. Cook, Selwyn, Grey and Seddon. English bornDoes the native land of Shakespeare. Milton, Drake, Nelson, Marlborough, Cromwell, Har vey. Newton, Turner, Reynolds, Florence Nightingale, Grace Darling (to say nothing o Charlie Chaplin and Amy Johnson), require o filch the celebrities of other less fortunate countries, including "the most distressful conn try that ever there was seen'? _ " ENGLANDER—BUT 46 YEARS IN THE WIRELESS LICENSE. On the first of this month I applied for a renewal of mv wireless license, for hah" a ? ' but the official at the post office inform*~ that he had no jurisdiction and could not iss the half-yearly license. I therefore withdre j not being inclined to be forced i nto , the full-yearly one. My principal objecti is the quality of the programme?! w include too manv uninteresting talk«-_- - .