LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1039, 31 January 1911, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE BIG LOAN. Sir,—l have been extremely interested in the recent articles in Tile Dominion on the subject of Ihe "Big Loan" and find it difficult to believe that the result was really so bad as your financial expert would liavo us believe. If the conclusion 1 have arrived at under your guidance is a correct one then how is it that - no other paper in the Dominion is supporting you; and how is it that tho public utterances of tho Prime Minister conflict at nil points with your statements, even when tho point involved is purely a question of fact? I wish you would consider the following statements and tell me whether I have correctly understood your articles and drawn correct inferences troni your remarks. This £0,000,000. loan was taken up by the underwriters in London in tho form of 50,000 debentures of ,£IOO each, bearing interest at 3i per cent. The price paid for each debenture was ,£!M 10s., and each debenture may be either redoomed for jEIOO sterling in 4 years or converted into .£lO2 worth of 3J per cent inscribed stock before that time. Six months interest was to bo paid on each debenture two months after flotation. The underwriters offered to soli these debentures to the public at <£!)8 10s. any time during tho period of flotation, but were only able to dispose of V per cent of them. Therefore, the public could buy .£lO3 of 31 per cent inscribed stock for JCUB 10s. or ,£IOO of it for ,£S(> lis. 5d., and after two months receive =£1 15s. in interest, a present of four months' interest or £1 3s. id. Thus the net price to tho public under this flotation of 31 per cent stock would be .£95 Bs. 6d. This is under the ordinary price of our 31- per cent stock and under the price at which the public were buyiug a new issue of per cent stock from the Straits Settlements at this same time. Further, this stock woukl bo the first guaranteed under the Public. Debts Extinction Act which is surely worth at least 10s. per cent, and yet the' public would only buy 7 per cent of it. Besides the Prime Minister has assured us .that this Straits Settlements issue was giving

"a wider margin of profits to the investor than our .loan did." Now the conclusion I dcduced from your article! was that our loan was equivalent to Hi per cent stock at i; 95 Bs. Id., whereas the Straits Settlement's loan was 31 per cent stock at .£95 iOs. Therefore either you are wrong in yonr statements, I am wroug in my reading of them, or the Prime Minister was wrong at Stratford. As one of the Prime Minister's own quotations from the. "Financial Times", assured us that the "terms of this loan were unusually generous" there seems to bo grounds for accusing him 'of what your evening contemporary (when it fell on tho other side of the fence) once euphemistically called "Ministerial evasions." . . Another'point that bothers mo is that tho Primo Minister says that the underwriters will not sell their debentures but aro holding them as an investment, and. vet you say. wo paid them <£50,000 for buying what they want so badly. And, finally, can you tell mo why these loans aro floated as debentures redeemable in four years at par, or convertible into inscribed stock at 2 per cent, premium? If the holders do not convert them tjiey get (I understand) four years interest at 3i per ccnt., and .£IOO for eVorv <£58 10s. invested at the end of four years. That is for a loan of .£9B 10s. for four years, the lender gets <£14 in interest • and •-El 10s. in premium, or .£ls 10s. That is, tho colony is borrowing at the rate of very nearly i per cent., and paying tho underwriters over 1 per cent, in addition for the privilege of doing it. Surely that is an absurd rate, to pay. If tho 'debentures aro converted the holder gets .£lO2 -of 3i per cent, inscribed stock lor ,£9B 10s., with' a present of £1 3s. id. in the first two months. That is, he gets .£lO2 of 3J per cent, for .£97 Cs. Bd., or <£100 of <U per cent, for '5.% Bs. Gd. And this time the colony pays tho underwriter 1 per cent, for soiling inscribed stock at (I believe) slightly under its. usual market value, and certainly under tho price (.£95 10s.) which the public wero then paying for Straits Settlements stock bearing the same ■ rate of interest and without any guarantee of repayment in. 75 years.. Tho Prime 'Minister approvingly quotes "Tho World" as saying that tho fact of the loan dotation was not "as black as it is painted." He would, at the same time, deny ally blackness at all, except in the the opposition critics: But if your articles are corrcct, and my deductions from them corrcct, then there is considerably more darkness in the transaction than the peoplo > of this Dominion, and the newspapers ill particular, should bo satisfied to condone. The terms and conditions of tho loan seem carefully calculated to enable the Minister for Finance to bluff the people into believing that they are selling .£IOO stock bearing per cent, interest for =CfiS 10s., whereas really ithey are' only getting <£94 Bs. 6d. l'or it. ' I liopa you will tell me if all this is correct, and, if so, I must. thank you, and you alone, among the papers of this Dominion, for opening tho eyes of A LIBERAL VOTER AT LAST ELECTION. Wellington, January 29. [Our correspondent, it will bo seen, anticipated the points we made yesterday. We are afraid ho must not expect any satisfactory answer to his arguments. It will prove a small matter that The Dominion is at present practically alone in exposing the shifty tactics of the defenders of tho loan.]

SECULAR EDUCATION. Sir,—ln-reference to your editorial comments on the speech of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington today, concerning Catholic education and the relation of Catholic, schools to the State secular system, has it over occurred to you that tho Catholics of New Zealand could paralyse tho State system in twenty-four hours if they saw fit to do so ? I take it, as a broad-minded man, that the only fair answer- that can be mado by tho State to tho demand of the Catholics for educational aid is that tho State makes ample provision for tho education of the whole of the youth of NewZealand.

Now, it. is at onco patent that tho State doe 3 nothing of the kind. If tho Catholics decided to-morrow to send their children to the State schools, the secular system would be reduced to a state cf absoluto absurdity. Tho Catholic children have. a., perfect 'right to attend tho State schools,'and God help the State system if they ever decide in one fell swoop to demand admittance' to tho various teaching establishments. It would make no difference to tho Catholic schcyjls— the Catholic parents could afford to pay fees what time their offspring assaulted the State school citadel. Tho only legitimate answer that can bo made to the deinaud" for aid to Catholic schools for tho purely secular education that they impart is that the State has ample room for - all children of school ago in Now Zealand in its State institutions. Has it?—l am, etc., J.G. Wellington, January 30. STATE AIDED FRUIT, Sir—Mr. F. W. Burke's letter on the above subject appearing in your issue of January 25 will have found many interested aiid sympathetic readers. Numbers of people, beside Mr. Burke, do view tho Government's guarantee of one penny a pound on fresli' fruit shipped from Nelson to the London markot as distinctly bad business. . In tho interests of fruit fanners an experimental shipment covered bv such a guarantee was, perhaps, advisable, and as an experiment that failed, it cannot very well bo cavilled at. Tho taxpayer must, therefore, accept the loss of some hundreds of pounds with as pleasant a countenance as possible. Now, however, that Ministers aro in full possession of all there is to know about fruit exportation and importation, tho placing of another large, round "magnum bonum" oil the Estimates to further lessen a food supply that is already lamentably short of tho needs of our own people is mooting with general ro;entmcnt Tho loss of the monojr that Ministers with open eyes aro throwing away if! of so muoli importance to our peoplo rji tho loss of tho fruit; but whon tho body of taxpayers aro asked n second timo to meekly'bear tho loss of money votod, as well a's of tho fruit, r.uralv somo strong characterisations of JUnlMerlal business methods arc Jufitiflablo, The failuro already experienced was conclusive proof for most men that fruit-farming in Now Zealand i was not to be benefited by draining after

a market so far away. There was n tinio when the Rimutaka hills were ample protection to Wairarapa settlers against their produce being undersold in Wairarapa towns by cheaper goods coming from Wellington, just as distance' at the present time will prove a complete bar to successful exploitation of British markets with Now Zealand-grown fruit. It is a noteworthy fact that while our Government is paying a penny a pound to send away our good fruit for nothing, we are paying from fourpenee to sixpence a pound for Tasmania!!, Cnliforninii, and other country products. Approximately, one-third of all tho fruit that is consumed in New Zealand, or, rather, one-third of all the money New Hollanders spend ou fruit goes for that imported from California and other places. That the production of fruit in this Dominion is not anything like equal to the demand is regrettably obvious, and hoiv tlio Government is going to mend matters by wastefully sending away that, which we do grow is too knotty a problem for easy solution.. New Zealand annually imports considerably over 2,000,000 pounds of fresh fruit-, at a' cost of between £30,000 and .£40,000, a good (leal of which might be grown here, and would be with intelligent legislative assistance. ■ It may be said that importations arrive only when our fruit is out of season, but just one visit to Wellington fruit auctions in July, the time when Tasmanian and Californian apples commence to teem in, will provo the utter fallaciousness of such thought. These importations enter into direct competition with our apples, which continue to reach the auction rooms for many weeks thereafter. Assuming that our Government lias done its best to lighten tho lot of tho fruit-farmer, its efforts so far have been merely speculative, and tho knowledge it has brought to bear has been crassly inolficicnt. Working people cannot afford to buy the fruit that is necessary to keep them in health, and yet they aro taxed to provide money for what Mr. Burke terms "fool's ventures." Fruit as a food is quite out of the question at present prices, and still fruitfarmers- do not receive fair or adequate remuneration. In searching for the cause of such an anomaly everything seems to bo in order till the fruit leaves the auction room, where tons of it. are sold at prices the poorest of our people ' can afford to pay; but when it is offered to them it has gone up in value by from 100 to 300 per cent. It is this unreasonable difference, absorbed between producer and consumer, that delays legitimate extension of -the fruit-farming industry, and prevents the use of fruit as a food by working people. If tho collective intelligence of Government, growers, and auctioneers is' incapable of dealing With the anomaly mentioned, then the fruit-grower is in a plight'that guarantees on shipments to England aro not likely to relieve. The demand for fruit is far in excess of what is produced, and to use the public purse in quest of very doubtful markets' is grossly unfair to those who have to.find the bulk of the money while' being short of tho means to buy fruit for themselves and families. The duty of tho. Government is obvious. Will they face, it?—l am, etc., POMONA. Wellington, January 27. .

THE VANCOUVER SERVICE. Sir,—l wish to reply to the remark made .by Sir Joseph Ward to the Auckland "Star" recently, concerning the proposed line to Vancouver. Sir Joseph Ward stated that he hoped for better time across Canada. 1 wonder if ho knows that it takes at tho present time 98 hours in tho summer to do the journey from Vancouver to Montreal. • The train only consists of one first-class coach, baggage, and. mail car. ' I would, liko Sir Joseph Ward to travel by that train, and he would not talk such rubbish as doing better time. Why, the route of tho "Rockies" alono is, one of the most dangerous at fast speed'in'the world. If Sir Joseph Ward requires a faster speed he must sacrifice the lives of'the passengers ,and train crew. 1 hnvo had ten years' experience of the line,'and know something about it.. Take tho part of the line 'between the Glacier House and the llevelstokc. Wo wero not going at break-neck speed, and still we "jumped tho track," and if we were, going at tho speed Sir Joseph Ward wishes, well, I would not be here to write this letter.— I am, etc;, .... JOSEPH W. SPEATiMAN, Late Lieutenant 3rd Suffolk R-egt. Wellington, 'January 80.

METHODS OF' OFFICIALISM, Sir,—l should like to draw your attention to tho amount of power which lies in tho hands of certain Government officials, and' tho consequent handicap of different Departments, i'or instance, in a certain district .at the present . time tho police havo written proof that an important letter has been opened,- not by mistake, or accidentallj-, but with unmistakable, evil intent, yet cannot tako any action, because upon being informed of the matter, a post office official, instead of inquiring and then handing the matter over to the police, turns on tho informant and when asked by tho Department .to inquire, simply makes incorrect statements about tho informant in order to shield tho other official under him. Tho Department, on hearing of the affair refers tho matter to the local Chief Postmaster, who practically does nothing. Tho fact is this, that the Department does nothing, except through the Chief Postmaster, and so the evil goes on. Of course, in cases of this kind, the person affected, may take action, but why should they bo put to that expense because one official will not do tli'o right thing? Whv should there not be a central control ot cacli Department and the whole Departments under one head? '

Wellington is certainly the centre of different Departments and I do not dispute that there are many things which must bo locally determined; but .why not have a central control with one section responsible to another, so that officials cannot work mischief independently without anyone being'able to interfere? Tho Education Department offers another striking cxamplo of a. need which is keenly felt by teachers. I have known cases where teachers havo applied to committees for improvements and the committees have applied to tho board and tho board make the excuse that tho Department will not grant- those improvements, and the Department excuse thcm : selves that they cannot act qxcept on tho suggestion of the board, and so the .shuttling goes on, and the schools And education generally suffer. In small communities whero personal feeling too often creeps in the need for' central control is most felt. At the present' time a teacher who moves from one district, to another is very much looked upon as an outsider and has to take the chance of going downhill instead of up. Boards will naturally prefer those they know to those they do not know, even though tho unknown person may be better in every , way. Who is better able to judge tho ■ requirements of tho school than tho teacher, and who to modify or pnlargo on those requirements than the inspectors? Yet'.teachers are handicapped because the board do not think this or that necessary. Do boards study the propress of education and.know exactly what is required ? Just ask a few members one or two simplo questions on the Education Act even, and in soito of their laying down tho law. you will find them very much at sea. Why not have a central control and fair play all round, instead of having one district with a board composed of men suited to their responsibilities, as against perhaps six with boards wiio are not? Most teachers. I feel sure, look forward to' that time which I hope is not very far distant when school committees and education boards will bo things of the past, and improvements will be executed where necessary and appointments mndo according to merit throughout the Dominion.-! am, etc., A HEADER. Wellington, January 27. THE "SOUTHERN" GOVERNMENT. ; Sir, —Mr. Samuel Vailo's letter in your paper on Saturday last does not go for enough. Ho saj-s: "Why should wo not havo financial separation between tho two islands?" I Eay: "Why should wo not havo a complete separation from tho South Island?" Wo of tho North have had huito enough of a Southern Ministry. It would bo idlo to stato what the South has done for usj I havo never heard that it lyis done us any good, Thero Is ono thing fairly certain: that tf a Northern Ministry was In power, the old soldiers' claims would have been settled long ago. It Is, of course, certain that only Northern members know what these soldiers i pawed through, half-staved, half-naked,

fighting for their Queen and country against n strong mid fierce enemy in dense bush and generally rough country. My nilvics to these men is "pack up, and take lip land in Australia, where an openhanded Government will welcome them." Although these men's services arc priceless, no value is set on them. Let them take my advice, and go where they are valued. If they go. I know they will not go alone, but their children and tlieir children's children will go also. Let me point to the Wairarapa timetable. It seems that, nothing will move the Minister; but has lie forgotten what tlie people can do? 1 think lie lias. I.et them remember that at election, and vote. Now, I say to your readers in the Wairarapa: There is no reason why your trains should not run as you want them. Put coaches and brakes and motor-cars on the public roads, the Ministers cannot stop you. Thousands of dissatisfied farmers would patronise them. There would soon be plenty of goods to carry, and it can bo carried quite as" cheaply as the railway can carry it. All the people ill the Hutt and Wairarapa are not Southern sympathisers. I must say that the Ward Government is'purely Southern, and the sooner it is sent "Down to Dixie" the better for the North Island as a whole.—l am, etc., ZEALANDIA. Wellington, January 30. CRICKET EXPENSES. Sir,—As a great supporter of Wellington cricket, it is with regret that on rumours I learn that four of our players sent in a bill for four shillings expenses on the northern tour. This action speaks for itself, and holds the whole team up to ridicule; and the sooner these sort of players are excluded, from .the game, the better will become the sport, and greater will become the keenness of the players. While actions such as these continue, cricket must deteriorate, as the real spirit of English fairness in the game must continually stand in a shadow. I hope your paper will ventilate this matter to the fullest in protection of our national sport.—l am, etc.,' A. THOMSON.

"FIGURES!" Sir,—Journalists sometinies \£ork under extreme pressure (I have lieard). The good man who usually writes excellent "leaders" tor Tiie Dominion must have been working under extreme pressure, when, on January 25, in his reference to Irish representation in the House of Commons, lie wrote: (1) "The Eedmbiidite votes cast, however, numbered 58,842, and these were represented by no fewer than 68 members." These figures, apparently, jnake no allowance whatever for the fact that five-eighths of the Redmondites. are

"elected unopposed." It is impossible, therefore, to estimate, not to mention know, their numerical strength in those districts where no elections occur. The figures, then, as quoted . above, are .useless—they prove nothing. (2) "In the interests of free, and independent Nationalists, a drastic reform of . present methods of representation is urgently ne 7 cessary." Wopld the Independents really gain if the seats were adjusted according to population? The population of Ireland—Nationalist Ireland—has decreased greatly everywhere (and especially in the south, where the Independents are 6trongly entrenched). In the event of a rearrangement of seats, the Independents would suffer at least equally with the regular Nationalists. (3) "In the. interests of English voters, a drastic reform of present methods of representation is urgently necessary." If the- population of Ireland at present numbered, sav. fifteen millions, I wonder whether Unionists would insist urgently on reform. Unionists don't advocate a readjustment. of seals in Wales or Scotland, or in the English counties (so.far as I.know), because tho Literals would gain a numbeT of extra seats thereby. On the other hand, they (tho Unionists) would gain something by the readjustment of seats in Ireland. This, however, is the point: Over one hundred years ago, when the Legislative Union of England and Ireland was brought about, it was enacted that Ireland should in the futuro send 103 members to Westminster. Why should that solemn agreement be broken now,, and by Unionists, too, if you ' pleases whose main plank is to maintain the Union?—l am, etc., NON-FACTIONIST. LYALL BAY.

Sir,—l am puzzled ami dismayed on reading iu your paper that the Mayor has asked the .Reserves Committee and tho city engineer to devise a scheme for the "improvement" of the city reserve at Lyall Bay. If the reserve means the sand-hills, 1 don't see how it can 'be improved. The sand-hills arid the hollows among them are ideal places' for picnicking, for use by surf-bathers as dressing sheds, and for sun-bathing. To destroy them and put lawns, gardens, and promenade, a; rotunda, and tho like in their place would fie an act of vandalism of tho most wanton and thoughtless character, and .an almost criminal waste of public money. 1 make bold to say that the sand-hills, in all their primitive'' wildness, aro more beautiful and more in keeping with the locality than anything which . could bo substituted for them. Many besides mj-self would be greatly relieved if the Mayor would assure us that our. fears in this matter are groundless.— I am, etc., SAND. CRICKET. . Sir,—Has all the sport left our players when we hear that lonr members of our last touring team have gone so far as to. ask dinner-money which they had to spend while travelling to and from Auck-' land? It is high time that Wellington mado our representatives pay their own expenses. Then we would get better sport which means better play. This proposal is not unprecedented, tor I believe, our Wednesday representatives had to-pay-for everything and they sent two teams north and had no difficulty, in getting men to go either. I, believe the . Christchurch team now playing Auckland have decided to help their. own •. association by their own expenses; ' and to show ' that' they hare the real sympathy of the public 15 answered by the why the public have helped them. At the present moment tho Wellington Cricket. Association have as much as they can do to meet their calls and every caro of the finances should 1)6 taken. This year wo must lmvo spent about .£2OO on touring, and if this was expended on our city grounds much more good would result to cricket in general. Tho action of such men as above mentioned is killing cricket, and the sooner-they show themselves as thorough professionals tho better for tho interest of young players.—l am, etc., CRICKET.