IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 68, 21 March 1934, Page 6

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

BUTTER IN ENGLAND. THE CONSUMER'S TASTE. (To the Editor.) Your correspondent "M.AJv." congratulates himself that he has discovered the reason for the poor sales of our butter in Northern England. He goes to great lengths to show that the British housewife is aware of the age of the butter she buys—but did it ever strike "M.A-K." (or anyone else in New Zealand) that it is the taste thai is wrong? I was in Durham and Glasgow last year, and when I suggested that my friends might occasionally eat our butter I was laughed at. Why? Simply because they do not like the taste of it. To my New Zealand palate Danish butter was insipid—almost tasteless —hut they evidently like their butter that way, so let New Zealand get down to facts and stop chasing shadows and continually complaining because English and Scottish people refuse to eat what they do not like. C.P.

STERILISATION. According to Saturday's "Star," Mr. Carrington, J .P., M.L.C., speaks of sterilisation as tyranny. Allow me to introduce Smith, Jones, Brown and Robinson. Smith and his wife and family have been supported wholly or partly by the community for over a year; the latest addition to his family arrived last week. Jones, after doing a fair thing by his parents, has also indulged in the luxury of a wife and family, but he supports them himself. Brown is n single man; he and his sister are supporting their mother and younger members of their family. Robinson has no relations. He wishes to marry, but his finances are not yet sufficient for Inn to feel justified in trying his luck in that d"-etion. Mr. Carrington says, in effect, to Jor *vown and Robinson, "I object to the sag;.. :>n of relieving you from further increases of the burden of Smiths. I advocate compelling you to continue supporting the Smiths and I uphold the sacred right of the Smiths to continue imposing an unlimited number of additional burdens on you." Tyranny? I hope these few lines may he the means of converting a few more people to the view that it is Smith and Mr. Carrington and their advocates t'<at are the tyrants. CHAiS. C. McADAM.

UNIVERSITY FEES. For sheer "soft soap" I think the letter of Mr. Staeey, vulgarly speaking, itakes the biscuit. The authorities are obliged to give terms to students to pay the exorbitant fees that they ask for, and they might as well be gracious about it. These are hard days for many of us, and the majority of students are compelled to adopt a system of time payment. The University would have to close its doors if this were not. permitted. But it is most noticeable that every time this question is raised it is clouded with a mass of irrelevancy by the registrar, and now with sentimentality by the honorary secretary of the Students' Association. There is only one question that we are concerned with, and the authorities might as well give a definite answer, viz., 1 Are these fees too high 1" And there is only one answer to that: "Under the present state of society they are a do,wnright scandal." Even if the authorities to-day do not lose a student, he will be compelled ultimately to face a hurdle of fifty or sixty pounds when he is through, and—l am speaking seriously—gets a job. No, Mr. Staeey, your letter was indiscreet. And "Father" is to be complimented on _ again brin<*ino- this injustice before the public. ° ° UNEMPLOYED graduate.

CRICKET ON GOOD FRIDAY. Will vou grant me space in your columns in order "to register on behalf of the Auckland Council of' Christian Congregations a most emphatic protest against the action of the Auckland Cricket Association in fixing the dates of the Hawke's Bay representative match to include Good Friday? The council considers it a disgrace that a public body of such repute as the Cricket Association should countenance the desecration of a day which is held sacred by a large section of the community, to say nothing of the invidious position in which it may be placing individual members of the teams selected to play. I grant that there are in the community those to whom the sacredness of Good Friday makes no appeal. I would, however, plead with them, and with the association, to respect the consciences of a section of their fellowmen on this one day in the year. The Council of Christian Congregations reaffirms the fact that Good Friday was given to civilisation as a holy day, and not as a holiday in which sport may be promoted. I trust that the Auckland Cricket Association may see its way to alter the dates of this important and keenly anticipated fixture so as not to include Good Friday. WALTER AVER ILL, President, Auckland Council of Christian Congregations.

CATHEDRALS AND DISTRESS. In the course of religions history temple worship, whether it be among heathen or civilised peoples, has taken many different forms. Perhaps the admonition of Paul to the Athenians can be applied just as rigidly in Liverpool and elsewhere: "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything." It is inconceivable that if Pa l ' l had the value of £220,000 he would have consented to it establishing one hundred yards of comparative, useless masonry. Rather lie would be more interested in telling Gods would-be benefactors that Cod dwells in humble and contrite hearts and the only worship approved is that which worships God in spirit and in truth, for as Christ says, "The Father seeketli such." The pity of things that a pile of bricks and mortar, standing in stark unresponsiveness to God and man, will establish forever a memorial to a particular time in English history when the everyday needs of the common people were most acutely felt, when a quarter of a million pounds could have supplied food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc., and a response to the Biblical injunction, "Deal thy bread to the .hungry, bring the poor that are* cast out to thy house, when thou seeth the naked, cover him." Other things being equal,, this would have endowed the Church with a hallowed gift. ADVANCING. THfc RESERVE BANK. It will be both interesting and instructive for the public to observe how the positions on the staff of this State experiment in_ finance are going to be filled. If Mr. Lefeaux is going to follow the practice of the Bank of England, the right to employment will be determined by a competitive examination, which -would give many of our graduates and undergraduates i a chance to obtain a livelihood in their own I country. __ OYEiR-TAXED.