LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 598, 28 August 1909, Page 10

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE FOR PUBLIC WORKS. • Sir,-rSome'short .-time ago a letter appeared' iii : ; .v'o)ir ; paper,, asking the above, Minister cor-: tain questions..,-,, Ail the- Minister,-was ,'absont from Wellington at tho time, nnd unless ho has a clerk specially engaged in the samo duty as one employed by- tlio lato Prbmior, ho may not have eecn the letter in question. I, therefore, ask',him tho question that .was formorly asked: "Did 1 he, at a meeting of electors, held at Collingwood a few years ago, in his address to them, stato 'that ho would support tho con', struction of a lino of railway, from Collingwood to Nelson.' Is he still prepared to support 6tich a line, now that he is tho Minister tor Public Works?" As tho Minister has cohdemned the Roxburgh line, and tho lino from Nelson to the Wflst Coast ib still under construction, will the Minister cause to be published the folloflnng..information:— ;

' 1. .Cost of line from Belgrove to the, present terminus,,'at Kiwi. 2. Number of passengers carried and revenue. 3. Quantity of goods carried and revenue. 4. Number of settlers in an area from Bcl.grove to 'Kiwi in a' straight line, and.' 20 miles on each side, that can be berved by'suoh lino. 5. Return of, interest on such cost, and percentage of profit.- 1 / '..■■■ , If the Minister has not the, .courage; to publish, the above,, it is.to bo hoped some M.P. { will Ask' for ' sack' a return'. when" * Parliament •. /'Av •:•- ."= ' . i ' I sto that ■ tho,. Chfistchnrcli, sviulioftt*} which l ;hM,;ithe...Parapara.',-iron .leases ,to ...make an .effort to'sell'to ah "American or English syndi- : .cate.'i .-Now,••strangely, enough,, the- present Minister for. Publio Works is tho same member for Motneka who induced the Government to have a most objectionable clause inserted into tho tease that "tho lato' Sir Alfred Cad-' man had to acquire from the' Government, and which'cawed the English company that would have been' formed, to throw over the' whole concern. You will see from tho -above that the country is not likely to be much the better for the advent of tho above Minister.—l am, etc., - . . PRO BONO PUBLICO. August 24, 1509; . •

• ' THE BAILEY SEANCES. ; Sir,—l think it is,about.time that the stupid questions, submitted to Mr. Bailey's"."controls." were- put sin eiid t to. ..Gome :people seem' '.to imaging that a spirit .has knowledge of every-,thing-under, the sun—in fact; knows more than jthf Supreme-Deity-whom Cteistiaiis'; warship. ;A/little .xetudyc of? the .'subject ■■; would ' prevent I many/, of aur.v,wiseacre?'.-frorn'''making '- : ae«<>"a of 11, he]"u.selves for there rare .evidently; ignorance and liars intho.spititpal as >ell as on the: mundana :Bph<3rQ/; <To my mind, the most important point of these seances,'has not yet been disproved, viz., tho supposed passage of matter through ■ matter, ana 1., am very ; sorry to . see that.Mr.jDriver, who offered, to.,wager that this.portion of. the seance was a fraud and oould be imitated by him, has entirely backed : down and gone otl a' different tack. ■ It- certainly looks like, "funk." .No .doubt he was seeking, notoriety,; arid is now sorry-'that'-he . was so precipitate.' But before Mr. Bailey leaves our shores, I trust that, in the interests of science, an opportnnity will be given our- most prominent .'scientific and medical men to fully prove Bailey's bona fides; for I-consider.scien-tists alone could solve,what is undoubtedly a scientifib problem.—l anT,eto., : ':• . -.' ' ' ■ '' : ' SOLIDS. !AugUst 2f.. BOXING AS A SPORT, - Sir,—Reading'your' report' of'-thi) contest W tween It. Uliholz, .of 'South .Africa, : and.'-Tim /-Tracy,-, of Wellington,for.'-, the light-weight ,championship,ofr,.New ?ea!andi which l ourloctil ipapors proferred-..not i tp:-.reppr.t: uponj.lamimoro. ■tlian* pleased to i I are/ catered ;for,. !by. yoUr' valuablef paper.t;'am.. not author* ity, but'l olaim, lilcSi'thpn^dsTmb^.thiit:the little I learned at boarding-sohool has stood me' in good stead.; The report says:—Close on 4000 were present to witness the contest, which speaks for itself and Wellington; I strongly object to! the views expressed by somo of your oitizens that the Town Hall should hot bo used for such a purpose. If ; the -art of selfdefence is low and , brutal,' as some •' would have us think,, what can we find,to supplant iit? The knife, the pistol ~ or, perhaps, the , stiletto. .1, .as fist," Iknown and respected'airqv'er the", World as the national weapon; when- necessity:demands; and you' must ayree ivith mo that-if the one is abused, then the others will be jal6o, according to the. temperament of the- individual under whose control' it is. bin'/H pure lover of the art—that is, self-defence,. not-prize-fighting, afi we read of taking '.place in'.other,-parta of ,tho world. But,/so long as: we: have men clean, olear-headed, and fair; so long'have we the right to claim pur share,. like Srs. .Napier M'Lean and Newman,: with Mr. Whatman and others , too- numerous-- to r mehtioh, : but equally well- known and' respected;' .lend their names to the'art',.l am" proud'to. W among 1 them.. Now, for , the gentlemen who fought, Mr. Unholz says': "I desired to. win,,but "it was not my wish to do so on a knock-out blow." I am with him.' It is,not .knock-out: blows that the' genuine sportsman goes to'-■ seeiifc'; is science.' Traoy is just n«. honest;, asjhis'Vjopjponent, saying i- "Unholz' a clean fighter." What more, can'^yoii^havd..-'to adyooate—honest spor.t*—than the opinions, of those who plugged away! at each other, allowing that they were not evenly matched. ; I; think, Mr, Editor, if we had more true, manly, science introduced into our everyday lives, wo should not find so many cases of some low brute waylaying and brutally illtreating quiet and respectable oitizens, a 9 is, of- frequent occurrence in our cities.'.-'I fully agree .with Mr. Frost, who says he has 6ecn men coming off a football field in a much worse condition that' the' boxers last night. If the sport will not bear the light of day, wipe it . out altogether; if it will, then ive. as supporters and interested,-respectable-citizens, olaim the right to the Town Hall just as much as any other organisation—l'am, etc.,, ' ." BRITISH SPOKT.

BADLY LIT RAILWAY CARRIAGES, .Sir,—We desire. to. draw the.attention of the public'and the Railway Dopartment to the, continued wretched.'system' of lighting l in Somo of the carriages in, the ,5.10 p.m. Pahuerston I North-Wellington train. Wo refer especially 'to.'»•• first-class emoting' compartment,' Where •two" antiquated'i> dirty'kfirOsono'lampS,'' dimly, ;very.--dimly:.burfiipg.vJiave been-our companions nightly .for many months.. |We have complained time aflerVtimo'td the officials that the lighti- was : quite .-.insufficient for travellers to read by "with any ..convenience, 'and we understand thai? these complaints have been forwarded- to the authorities,'but all'to no purpose. We have languished and cursed as-we. nave sat in- the murkiness- of : the dreary.trip to Wellington, but no general oomfort has followed, and we-now turn in 'our trq'ublo to the public press. On Tuesday night, August 21, one of the half-baked' illuminants 'went wrong, and burned all round, and was in danger ..of exploding. A,guard, and a passengfer nut the light out after Eome trouble, but not boforo several passengers had vacated their carriage. But we ask why should pnesengers be put tothis inconvenience ; through the wretched incapacity of'the Department. '' In this particular car referred to there 1 are : facilities for , light-, ing. by electricity, but the lamps are. never lit. In,response ,to inquiries, the- official answer'is that, since taking over the Manawatu' line, the .Government does not ; use electric' lights. It' must not;,bo understood that the bad lighting on this train'is general, because, on August 24, a second-class compartment next our smoker ;was 'w6ll : 'lit. "So' \fflfl lit, ■'in.'ifact;."that an. [official that '"wor should: "'make > a 'ohange from our dungeon; but it appears to as that there, is .something, very- rotten in the state of Denmark, which permits such- eonv tinued injustice. to train 'travellers,' regular travellers, whose passago money helps to make the wheels go round.—We are, etc.,

FOUR CONSTANT TRAVELLERS. August 21. . : SERMONS IN FERNS. Sir,~l wish some of the persons responsible for tho "decorations" at ■ tho Town Hall, : and other places whero daiices aro held, had been present" at the. Town Hall Inst 'night: to see tlit exceedingly tasteful schcmi of decoration, obtained in a very simple mtinner by the placing of- ' pot?'plant# at regular iritorvals down the staircase, and tho ingenious use of coloured drapery in tho two hulU. It is very annoying to see, as you so, constantly do, beautiful treo ferns and other plants that have taken jears to grow uprooted merely for tho sake of giving n few hours',,transitory enjoyment. Surely people can bo a little■ moro unselfish in. their •amusements, and learn to do without things .which, though eminently' beautiful in themselves,, look exceedingly out pf P) nco 'in tho artificial atmosphere of a ball-room—l am, etc,, ■ >■■<:■■■: "f > DANIEL QUILP. •• Wellington, • August 26.-' P.S.—lf, the rate, of for ..this year is kept up, there will soon l>e not a green thing in the place. [A iluinbor of letters aro orowded out, and will acpear on MaadayJ':