LETTERS IN BRIEF.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13095, 21 April 1908, Page 3

LETTERS IN BRIEF.

"Aqua" -wants to know why t> Licensed Victuallers' Association wh , . , to disclaim tho fact that women drii :> in their hotels. Publicans did iwt break a law by supplying women, am if drink was the good thing thoy r> presented it to be, why not encourage tho women to drink all they require-.' Hβ hopes that the public "will shew their disapproval at the propcrX tinio and place at the evident attempt ."t interference- with tho police in tho proper execution of their duty.

W. R. Smith, writing on "Overcrowding in Schools,' , explains that his complaint in regard to St. Albans was that three children aro accommodated at desks which are meant for two only. While there might be an average allowance of 12$ ft per pupil, measured ovtr the whole school, some individual voor s were overcrowded. The Board hid confessed that at Phillipstown a:. 1 Hornby there was less than the regulation allowance. Tho position wjs an argument in favour of medical inspection of schools. "Anti-Vagrancy" complains that the Dominion is rapidly drifting into tho worst phases of European religioia vagrancy. Tho population has m>6 doubled itself during the last fifteen or twenty years, but. institutions sustained by begging have increased fourfold.

Air F. Gread, Ataahua, writes protesting against the absurdity of "oi.o cow one bail," and wonders why the Minister for Agriculture did not puo his ioot down on tho proposal, li* objects, also, to the demand that a concreted race, Wit long, leading t.i the bails shall be erected within :i month, as most byres were built with aa open front to tho yard. Ihe <Uniands made wore such as to require the complete removal of existing < <n - sheds, and that could only be brougt;c about by a rise in the prico of milk, which would hit the working classes. It was arbitrary ami unjust to compel a leaseholder to make these improvements unless provision was made tot mc landlord to take them over at vaination. If the object of the Government wee to combat consumption, attention should l>e directed to the practice of breeding from successive generations of heifers reared on factory skimmed milk, and to the contaminated water supplies. James Grace writes in support of the establishment of a Coneervatormm of •Music in New Zealand, contending that it would bo in the interests of music, the teachers, and students. '•Hospitality" save that the Government is treating the Nimrod men shahbiJy, and suggests that they should be given railway passes, so that they could see tho country end carry away a pleasant impression of New Zealand. "A Ratepayer" emphatically objects to the barbaric methods followed by the sanitary contractors in 6omo of the most fashionable suburbs, and expresses the hope that something will be done to improve the present unsavoury conditions. ,

Oswald Coates writes at length on the protection of infants and the prosperity of a nation. Ho makes several suggestions, the principal of which are: —(1) That it be made an offence for a parent or guardian to place any child (under an age to be fixed) in a baby farm, or hoard it out. (2) That the Government should place orphan or neglected children in infant homes, eituated ir the country, and constructed on the cottage principle. (3) That adoption of children be prohibited, unless done through the matrons of the homes.

"Linwood Ratepayer," who supports and enjoys the Saturday half-holiday, enquires whether, in the event of a poll of burgesses deciding in favour of Thursday, the result would apply to all workers, no matter where employed, nnd over-ride the Factory Act? Our correspondent may rest satisfied that the result of the poll will not in any way the Factory Act. "A Christian" thinks that while the Jewish Rabbis any, right; in defending Divine methods, they should recognise that the age progresses, and that whatever is the cause of misery to human beings or animals should be avoided. Our correspondent further contends that a man who has been convicted of cruelty to a horse or other animal should not be allowed to resume possession of it.

"Lex" expresses the opinion that "the supine and dilatory conduct" of the Government in neglecting to deal with the Blackball strike seems to ariserather from a desire to appear as lenient and friendly as possible in their pampering of the working masses than from any difficulty in tho working of the Act.