CANTERBURY RESIDENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13614, 24 December 1909, Page 10

CANTERBURY RESIDENT.

LETTERS IN BRIEF. -? Mr C. Stewart Edward enters *"■' . strong protest against the neglect of ' ■ the Scottish poet Tannahill by the Scot* -•' of New Zealand. It has often seemed - ; strange to him that no olub or society --'. has been formed to keep in memory the JXi name of Tannahill—there are many in, VI the western shires of Scotland where, t, his name is reverenced and loved. And '.;' yet it is not surprising when it is considered that many Soote never heard of -'.>; the poet. "I iave been present at a t? *; concert .called;,'A -Bufnf,* ' • - when several sangs t>y Tannahill h*j«,. been among the numbers on the pra>'- i gramme, and no one appeared to louMr/, - of the mistake. The national festival v;"; season is at hand, a-nd in their tout /- let Scots give one to l|fie memory pf;-/' Robert Tannahill, the 'Paisley .weaver.! Our correspondent asks if onr ] readers can give offhand the rnames~a.ft~the authors of the following «rog*:—f^Vl. "Bonnie Woods o' Cragie Lee": "Lod-.ir;% din's Bonnie Woods and Braes ; "jSh, >t>11; Are Ye Sleeping MaggieP"; - "Glooaijroij| Winter's Noo Awa*"; "Jessie, 'tlie t_i' Floor o' Dunblane"; "The Balquithor." He expresses the that his.fellow-countrymen will awaken/"-S to a sense of duty long forgotten. ' 4 &k "0" applauds the determination oC *lf Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., to check excessive speed of motor cars. . He *h» '* # points out that there are many mm. /35 who can "pace a mile accurately X ■* enough for practical purposes." "Martha" supports the protest of ''-*&& "Mary" against smoking on the tops -||p of tramcars. She does not believe that *':J| one woman in a hundred .prefers "the, hateful odour" of tobacco to U»: Jg sweet sunshine, and suggests that it _ _% would tone men up if they could 4a'-M without soothing by artificial means--*;g for a little. . ' '-M tr ßeader" complains that a large pro- %. portion of the books at the PooEo ,-.| Library are out of date and : iot __» ' .'% general interest. Be notices _k»:that " X in buying new books the managp-ttet .' "• cater to. the literary tastes of Wcsoflft" in about the proportion of iovutTftmf& books to every one for men. Hejfefc* , that many people also buy sixptorr editions because they cannot e&fß** '$■ books they want at the Library. ' X. ;if "Georgiciis" refers to what he term - 7y. "another, proof of the retrenchment bungle" in the fact- tiiafesg£,. the systematic collection of nnd pastoral returns has been doned for a process of guesa-work. ll&jffig"' points out that the return* could Sfcy&r collected under the old piroce-a result published by the middle of vember at no greater cost than The information, he claims, V-..w<_ifirap' many times that amount. The-otfejjg unreliability of returns collected a*"»3ar present might mean hundreds of thoti*£|!l| ands sterling out of tlie pockets of producers. T^_S Mr G. H. Hall thanks the many aktfm ladies and gentlemen who so assisted to make the Christmas tnerftPSgh tertainment given to the the Beckenham district on night a success. ?^_W "Anxious Parent," writing in ence to the recent motor prosecutk>aJ«|f|r expresses gratification with the t___fsf that we have a Magistrate who d*J2sj|| to try to protect the children. S*3|j|j contends that people living on WjpX North Toad and the police are XMfggfe capable of judging the excessive of motor cars than "someone sitting *§|Vi a newspaper office in town." ~^JH