Licensing Hours

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31142, 19 August 1966, Page 10

Licensing Hours

Sir,—“Conditioned Zombie” should go home, sober up, and stop breeding like battery fowls, as he suggests New Zealanders do. 1, for one, am not a Rugby enthusiast. I enjoy an odd day’s racing, but do not drink. I believe 10 o'clock closing must come, and with it the amenities in hotels for the wives to accompany their husbands. I can assure “Conditioned Zombie” that my friends and I do not breed as he suggests. Also, he must like it or he would not have stayed so long. Most immigrants leave their own country because all is not as it should be and then complain all the time they are here. I suggest the fault lies with themselves.—Yours, etc., (MRS) J. DRYDEN. August 17, 1966. Sir, —The answer to the ironic effusion on “Rugby, racing, and beer” by your correspondent, “Conditioned Zombie,” lies In the cartoon published in “The Press” on February 13. The cartoon shows two bowls players in a hotel bar. The caption beneath reads: “Your life is more than bowls and beer; that’s your trouble.”—Yours, ete, SETH NEWELL. August 18, 1966. Sir, —“Conditioned Zombie” cast his delightful pebble in the pond and waited, tongue in cheek, for the inevitable waves of indignation. He was not disappointed. One of our

national failings is our inferiority complex, engendered by insularity, remoteness, and growing-pains. We tend to resent and reject criticism, even constructive criticism. Anything smacking of criticism (such as the Rev. Bob Lowe’s stimulating remarks on the Kiwi male) is likely to be quoted, often out. of context, by journalists wise enough to recognise good copy when they see it. We boast of freedom of speech. Our interviewers ask the questions. If we don’t like the honest answers, we should blame the interviewers for asking the wrong questions. Get rid of our interviewers, stifle the press, and thicken the cocoon round our thin and tender skins. —Yours, etc., N. ZEDARIAN. August 18, 1966.

Sir, —“Disillusioned Nationalist” advocates trust control, because he claims their profits go to the whole community, not to vested interests. In recent years vested interests in Christchurch have provided the Shirley Lodge, the White Heron Lodge, the Russley Hotel, and many other fine hotels. In addition, others are planned to provide muchneeded accommodation for tourists to the south. Where is the matching performance from the trusts? Does your correspondent really believe that free sweets for the children are more beneficial to the nation than a stimulating tourist industry which is made possible, not only by jets for Harewood, but beds to satisfy an increasing tourist demand? The dead hand of socialism is costly and cold.—Yours, etc., DISILLUSIONED LABOURITE. August 18, 1966.