LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33438, 21 January 1974, Page 14

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

(1) Letters to be considered for this column must not exceed 150 words. They should be on only one side of the paper; preferably typewritten. otherwise clearly written in ink; and ample margins and space between lines should be left for convenience in sub-editing. (2) A legible signature and full address — not a P.O. Box number — are required whether these are to be printed or not. (3) The correspondent must say whether the letter has been or is to bo submitted elsewhere. -.4) The editor cannot return or keep ans’ letter not accepted for printing; nor does he: undertake to acknowledge oi enter into correspondence concerning letters, although an acknowledgement will be made where this seems to be necessary or helpful. (5) As a general rule, correspondence on news items in other publications or carried on radio and television, is not acceptable. Margaret Quantock. —Referred to our trotting writers. Clare Duff and Others.—Thank you. Controversy will not be encouraged just now. M.J.W. —Owners’ opinions and agents’ advice must determine such advertising. G. A. Leicester.—No space now for a subject that has often been aired. Rubbish collection Sir, —As a resident of the Aranui area, I fully support the complaint of your correspondent with regard to the dropping of litter from vehicles proceeding along the roads leading to the Bexley dump. Commercial vehicles are the chief offenders, although the opening of the dump on Sundays, since October — against the wishes of the residents — has accentuated its use by private vehicles. The Christchurch City Council has full authority under the Litter Act to take action against any offenders, and it is time that, instead of lip service, an end was put to this nuisance. Perhaps the ward system, in which ratepayers can approach their local councillor for some action, will be the answer. —Yours etc.,

ARANUI RATEPAYER. January 19, 1974.

City beautification Sir, —If the authorities concerned — probably the Railways Department, wish to do their bit to improve the appearance of the city, they will remove the unsightly, disused power poles around the Lyttelton waterfront area in the vicinity of Cashin Quay and along the Christchurch-Lyttelton railway line, including those in the main marshalling area of the Christchurch Railway Station. —Yours etc.. CHRISTCHURCH DURING GAMES. January 18, 1974. Manx Society Sir, —The convenor of a function held at a local hotel in honour of the Manx Commonwealth Games team was reported as saying that this was the first occasion local Manxmen and their descendants had gathered together in the city and that it was likely a Manx Society would be formed in Christchurch. A Manx Society functioned in Christchurch in the 19205. My late father, J. E. Cowell, was president. Other members included the late Mr George Gray, and a Mr Lewin, who was Superintendent of Police.—Yours, etc., S.L.D. Cleaning footpaths Sir, —I am amazed at the amount of rubbish I see strewn about the new Cathedral Square—milkshake containers, straws, cigarette packages, paper bags, etc. You might think that Christchurch residents would show more pride in their new Square and try to keep it free of litter. If it looks like this now, imagine what, it will be like during the Games. What is the answer? More rubbish containers, anti-litter signs, or re-educating the public regarding litter?—Yours, etc., R. PARKES. January 18, 1974. Dr Kissinger’s visits Sir, —To bring the subject back to Dr Kissinger’s visits, admittedly he, together with President Nixon, visited China; but China was trying to be friendly with every nation. There is a famous photograph of Chairman Mao holding up his finger at President Nixon as if in reproach. The correct people to handle international affairs are the United Nations —not someone who may be connected with Watergate. M.C.H. mentions Pakistan, but what about the doubtful "aid" India is getting from the Soviet. Union? HsinHua News describes it as “who takes asvay who’s things without pay?" Using "economic aid" as a pretext, the Soviet Union has accumulated huge interests from its loans, and has exploited India so that India's debt is now 3850 million rupees.—Yours, etc., P..1.A. January 19, 1974. Sir, —P.J.A. has written that China has never interfered in the affairs •of another country. This must be news, indeed, to all Tibetans. —Yours, etc., DALAI LAMA. I January 19, 1974. Solzhenitsyn Sir, —For two good reasons, Lydia Chukovskaya’s prophecy that streets will be named after Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn will never be fulfilled. The Soviet people do not honour fascist sympathisers like Sakharov. In j "Gulag Archipelago,”- Sol-

zhenitsyn slanders Lenin, revered by the Soviet people for leading them from the horror of their capitalist past, to return to which Solzhenitsyn nostalgically hankers. They would never exchange history’s greatest revolutionary leader for a renegade scribbler. The ludicrous attempt to foist Solzhenitsyn on the world as “Russia’s greatest living novelist,” as the blurb on the Penguin edition of “Cancer Ward” has it, is doomed to fail. The mind-moulding techniques of Western propaganda which put Nixon in the White House will never secure Solzheniitsvn a place in Russia’s literary heritage. The furore of critical acclaim surrounding “Gulag Archipelago” in the West, is a futile endeavour to make a molehill out of worm-cast. —Yours' etc., M. C. H. January 19, 1974.

Sir, —The Soviet regime’s constant, cruel, persecution of the Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn for his exposure of the truth, on Soviet prison camps under Stalin and the treatment today in mental institutions, of any Soviet critic of the one-party, extremist, military, regime makes one appreciate the freedom of the press in New Zealand. I hope some of our Leftist supporters take note of the strangling repression that the Soviet regime exerts on

its people, who are struggling to achieve at least personal freedom of thought. Those in New Zealand who seem bent on destroying our democratic system should remember that the alternative is a State-run propaganda press, and State police and security forces that watch and control every move we make. You cannot even live in Moscow without a permit from the authorities. Thank Heaven for a free society like New Zealand where one can air one’s ■ views.—Yours etc.. C. G. MARSHALL. January 18, 1974. No I hail k 5 Sir,-—While spending a week-end in Oxford early in December my seven-year-old son found a very nice, and expensive, man’s wrist watch. I took the trouble to travel twice—a distance of four miles—to the police station only to find nobody there. I left the watch with relatives in Oxford, and they later informed the local police of the watch. In due course the watch was claimed. Do you think we received a word of thanks for our trouble? Not on your life. It is just too much trouble for some people to put pen to paper. Meanwhile, we are still waiting.—Yours, etc., JUST GLAD. RAKAIA. January 16, 1974.