POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24345, 25 August 1944, Page 7

POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

H. J. Buttle (Barfield) contends that a variation in fertilisers is as useful as a rotation of crops, while the constant application of one fertiliser may be injurious to soil health. "For that reason serpentine super is valuable as an alternative to superphosphate,” he writes, "and to use both is much more useful than to use one only.”

For those studying war neurosis “Groping” recommends reading Gilbert Frankau’s novel "Peter Jackson, Cigar Merchant.”

"Pill Box” suggests that the Government should take a referendum on three propositions.—(l) That the Labour Government no longer has the confidence of the people: (2) that the people are opposed to interference in the milk business; (3) that all loans to returned men for housing be inter-est-free, repayment to be at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum.

On the question of the bonus for superannuitants “Taxed Again” asks: “Would the Minister of Finance justify the tax of 2s fid in the £ on, the bonus of 10s a week granted to lower-paid superannuitants partly to cover the rise in the cost of living? In the past, grants from the Social Security Fund have always been tax-free. It appears that the Minister of Finance must have his cut even out of a cost-of-living bonus; £26 a year was granted, but only £22 15s will be paid out.” On the same subject, “Pill Box” contends that equality in pensions and allowances can be achieved by the payment of a national dividend, which he says is “based on certain statistical findings.”

On broadcasting, 0. “Countryman” writes; “If the power# shortage is so serious, why not cut the B. programmes in half and give us better quality. Some of the ‘shrieking sisterhood’ and ‘Dismal Jimmies’ could be well eliminated. All the sessions before 7 a.m. might be dispensed with. The Addington market report, as given by the man with the gruff voice, is first-class, but very poor otherwise. The Burnside, Dunedin, report is atrocious and should be either improved or left out. Farmers who are unable to attend these markets look to these reports for reliable information.”

R. F. Joyce (Kaiapoi) expresses gratitude to Professor J. Rutherford for “drawing his colleagues’ attention to the failing powers of expression among history students.” The correspondent contends that “the trouble starts not in the homes of the people, for many parents speak far better than their ‘better educated’ children, but in our system of education, where the subjects are too numerous, the classes too large, and the teachers themselves untaught in powers of expression.”