LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24820, 9 March 1946, Page 5

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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RUSSIA AND WORLD PEACE . si E~ T he onl V thing I fail to understand about Churchill’s speech is why he did not make it sooner. Stalin’s fawns and pawns may honestly believe he is merely safeguarding his frontiers, but all unbiased observers know full well that there is no fundamental difference between his tactics to-day and those of Hitler yesterday. —Yours, etc., March 7, 1946. INDIA Sir.—According to Mr J. Dennehy, Palme Dutt blames the poverty of the Indian masses wholly on the British Government. Does he mention the "mahajan”—the village grain-dealer, money-lender, and pawnbroker—who is lesponsible for the bulk of the poorer classes (70 per cent, agricultural) living in a state of perpetual serfdom and poverty. Age-old caste custom demands the recording of births, marriages, deaths, etc., by expensive ceremonies, and fees to a horde of priests, astrologers, and others of that ilk. The mahajan

kindly obliges with loans at 75 per cent, to 150 per cent, interest on the security of a mortgage on the cultivator s unsown crop. Social reform, the breaking down of caste and religious barriers, with their attendant abuses, which are the real obstacle to progress. health, and prosperity, should be attended to first by the Indian leaders; and this cannot be achieved by legislation alone.—Yours, etc., G. A. PHEAR. March 8, 1946.

Sir,—No bunch of politicians from any country in the world can settle the Indian question, only the Indians themselves. The four principal problems are filth, the caste system, usury, and a controlled birth-rate, the Indians being unable to feed the increasing population. Now the wise guys should give Britain a spell, turn their headlights on the late lease-ldhd, and shew the workers how they have beenexploited by the Yanks. But no, they are silent. The Trades Council should give a balance-sheet of the Hon. D. G. Su|livan’s achievements—importation of wheat, refusal to give a fair price to New Zealand farmers, and still allowing monopolies to operate. You have not given the Labour Party a boost, only a knock. Why dont' you try to get some public convenience and forget India.—Yours, etc.. C. H. ROBINSON. March 4, 1946.

MR CHURCHILL’S SPEECH Sir,—Mr Churchill’s speech, reported to-day, makes ghastly reading. So this is to be the brave new world—a new military alliance with the United States for World War 111. Let us examine dispassionately the complaints laid against Russia. Mr Churchill says that an iron curtain has crossed the Continent, that democracy as we know it is not practised there, and that they are police States. Well, what were they before? B«ore this war Rumania, for example, was the last word in corruption. Its major industry, oil, was exploited by Shell and Standard Oil, and the police State suited these interests admirably. When one compares the average Rumanian peasant’s income of £lO a year sterling, and the industrial worker’s pay, 3|d an hour, with conditions in Bucharest which possessed the world’s most luxurious cabarets and brothels, one wonders where Mr Churchill was in say, 1936. One burning question—have the Dominions been consulted about this proposed alliance?—Yours, etc..

H. JUDD. [Since Mr Churchill is no longer Prime Minister and may now express only his personal opinions, there is no need for the Dominions to be consulted about any proposal that he may make. —Ed., ‘’The Press.”]

Sir, —Most listeners would hear Mr Churchill refer to Czechoslovakia as the only democracy in the Russian sphere of influence, but not all would note the significance of the fact. Of all the States from the Baltic to the Black Sea, Czechoslovakia was, in prewar days, the only democracy. The rest were controlled by militant organisations, governing and repressing in the interests of wealthy and aristocratic groups determined to repel the advance of social reform and service of all kind. These States, so constituted, were menacing foes of Russia. Given the opportunity again* such groups would make as much a farce of democracy as the Russians themselves, in their fear and distrust, are doing. Greece offers enlightenment. Despite all Britain’s pains and democratic patience, it is doubtful if she has quelled the desire of a militant group of the same type as referred to above to set itself up again.—Yours, etc., A.S. March 8, 1946. LABOUR AND COMMUNISTS Sir,—ln spite of half-hearted statements by Labour Ministers that their party has no truck with the Communists (Red Fascists) the Raglan election shows how little reliance can be placed on such statements. The Communists openly stated that they would help Labour, and this co-opera-tion has evidently been accepted, as the Labour Party will stop at nothing to hang on to its over-paid jobs. Nobody in New Zealand can estimate the mess and chaos in Australia to-day caused through the combination of vicious Communist methods and an utterly weak and inept Government, too scared to uphold the law and protect decent citizens. The same thing will happen here if these vile traitors, who enjoy the freedom and privilege of living under the British flag, are permitted to continue receiving orders and money from Russia for working to disrupt our peace, free constitution, and method of life. —Yours, etc., UNION JACK. FOOD FOR BRITAIN Sir, —I am pleased to see that the Returned Services’ Association has made a move to help Britain and the starving countries. How could any New Zealander say he received a bombshell when he learned of the world food position? Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have known it. Many letters have been written to “The Press” urging that steps be taken to send food. Even yet, many do not seem to know what Britain did and is doing. But for her. New Zealand would nave been in Japanese hands. Hungry, cold, homeless people have nothing to lose and would join anyone who would help them. Again, there is fear and distrust. Why not do our utmost to help all devastated countries?—Yours, etc., HELP NOW. March 7, 1946. BOWLERS AND BABIES Sir, —It is only in a society where one is expected to be a charge on the community from the cradle to the grave that one could find a combined appeal like that now being made in Fendalton on behalf of the Plunket Society and the Bowling Club. One wonders whether the slippered pantaloons are in on a fifty-fifty basis with the mewlers and pukers. Or is there to be a bias in favour of the bowlers? One would think that Fendalton bowlers, like sportsmen, should pay for their fun themselves, instead of cadging for it under the hoods of bassinets.—Yours, etc., G. H. BATTERSBY. March X 1946.