IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 241, 11 October 1934, Page 6

IN THE PUBLIC MIN D.

NEGLECTED FOOTPATHS.

THE SALES TAX.

SHIPPING COMPETITION

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

THE FRUIT BUSINESS,

A WORD TO LOCAL BODIES. * (To the Editor.) I write with some anger to protest albut the apparent indifference of the various nuimicipal councils and their officers to the welfiare of the pedestrian. Wherever water, "as or electric supplies are taken through our streets especially close to the city, they arc convened beneath the footpaths of first one neighbourhood and thten another. Roughly filled "in trenches, cross lines and square holes atnd broken surfaces are to be found in most «of our localities, to the great discomfort of fopt passengers, who soon become afflicted with corns, bunions, calluses, etc. Surely tlie engineers and inspectors can give us bettcjr asphalt paths made with fine metal and quitie smooth in this scientific and artistic age, fotr such as we have arc unbearable. I have heard American people commenting upon the ness of our shell and scoria "sidewalks," an they term them. Other travellers say wef, can't call it a Queen City when we consider-; the state of our footways, which they describe' as the worst in New Zealand. CORNS. !

Your correspondent Mr. E. Stevenson might have carried his analysis a little further. All taxation in a time of depression bears the hardest on the workers. To attempt to relieve a burden by placing extra weight on the burden bearer is insanity. If our Government had, when we were struck by the "alleged" depression, abolished our tariff, mil. lions of pounds would have been added to our purchasing power. A line of demarcation should have been drawn between "The House that Has" and "The House that Hasn't." (Even the former would have benefited.) "The House that Has" should have been compelled to bear the major portion of the burden. The "sellers" in the Dominion have been injured (and, of course, the buyers) by our tariff more so than by the sales tax. Seeing that our production is enormous (and our capacity unlimited), a wise Government would have reduced taxes to a minimum. Production, has been "robbed" of its efficacy. Access to our wealth has been destroyed through lack of purchasing power. The terrible burden placed on the people by a high exchange will in a few years hit back like a boomerang. There is nothing to prevent our people enjoying the present high production save the attitude of the Government. There is an old slogan, "Only those who have should be asked to give." I notice that a reliable witness at the monetary inquiry stated that nine-tenths of the wealth of this Dominion was in the hands of a section of the people. Is it any wonder that the sales tax has 'had the effect your correspondent refers to? HERBERT MULVIHILL.

Had "Sanity's" reply to "Red Ensign' hot been couched in an offensive style about the British Empire in general I doubt if I would, have taken the trouble to answer him. However. it was only in a generalising way I sought to voice my protest >and give "Sanity" the outlook* from our (a British Dominion's) point of view. It lias Tiecn' a cherished hope of ours here that we could market all our produce in the nearest market, and America is certainly a very desirable-one, but a shipping bar was never thought of or contemplated, nor*" is there any necessity for it. I suppose before the war the trade between Britain and America was so elastic that orar unequal trade with America was not frowned upon; in fact it was a good way of transferring credits. But to-day, with a still more unequal trade, a high tariff wall, subsidised shipping plus a bar to British shipping—well, we arc compelled to sit up and take notice. As a Dominion we may have the status of a budding nation, but that doesn't wipe out the sentimental ties to the land of our fathers. We have had many good things from England—good constitutional government, good institutions, and good learning. Do you wonder that we lean towards Britain in the matter of shipping competition rather than throw in our lot with America unconditionally? For that is what "Sanity" is reafly driving at under his shipping competition argument ° NO BAR.

In recent issues of your paper there ha\e been numerous letters 011 such as "Science and Religion," "Atheism in Universities" and the rest. There is one point that many of your correspondents fail to appiecia e —and that is the grotesque figure cut by the modern Church when it seizes with pathetic eagerness on the statements of modern scientists which appear to support religious doctrine. Surely it is ail inglorious spectacle. Eminent supporters of the orthodox Churc sparing no efTort in an endeavour to prove that the mighty words of wisdom of a scientist and his son in actual fact do support religious tenets! Nearly 2000 years ago the Founder of the Christian religion ga\e his message to the world in simple language unadorned with flights of rhetoric, but witn a power of sincerity that commanded tne respect and following of multitudes throng the centuries. A simple carpenter flung His challenge in the face of orthodox rcbgiou supported bv the srreatest theological echolsrs or His time —and won! To-day—His representatives, despite the intensive theological training that evcrv parson receives, are actually appealing to scientific scholarship to connrn the Truth that Christ expounded. Such is tue Church that modern young people are for deriding! SCIENCE GRADUATE.

Your correspondent "Grower" draws attention to the unsatisfactory state of the frill business, and well he may! From the point of view of the grower it is especially tinea isfactory. Government inspectors inspect e\e lino of fruit every day at the city nuirkei<>They inspect for bad packing (fruit must t> well graded even if it sells for but 1/ P ease) and for disease. Should they <' c any of the barred diseases (codlin moth, etc.) a case of fruit the whole case is taken awa. and burned. The grower gets nothing. word ''Condemned'' is written on h:s accou of sale. I once (at the low ebb of the depic° sion) saw- over twenty cases of cooking app» condemned for what I think was ca "mussle scale." This was a slight ,® ca ,T. the skin of the apple which, it was said, dm harm to the consumer. These twenty cases nppies were not given to the poor or _, a low rate, but were burned. In a hundred ways the grower suffers. He, the tonnda of the fruit business, is the underdog, merchant is protected in every way, and retailer is able to protect liimselt. » v J, J the growers put up with the present, uns - factory methods of the disposal of then go Co-operation is all they need to hauinh i • NOT A GROWER.