WHERE, O WHERE?

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 61, 9 September 1921, Page 4

WHERE, O WHERE?

.' TO THE IDITOR. Sir, —It is published that last night members of \ the Town-Planning Association passed the following motion:— "That the Town-Planning Association intends to continue the work it has been doing for many years past." I have been in Wellington for many years, and have failed to discover thi3 work. 'Can you, Sir, direct me I—l1 —I am, etc, INQUIREK. Bth September, 1921.

"Resident" writes: "May I as one of the many who entered our Botanical Gardens on Sunday last, and saw tho disgraceful way those thieves left our beautiful hyacinth beds, be allowed tp ask if our council are Koinjr to move to have this vandalism stopped. lam sure when we saw how those beautiful plants were pulled out and broken, leaving only the sharppointed shoe and liifrh hoel-marks of tho culprit behind, it makes one %yonder. As one of the many residents living on tho sides, and in full view of these gardens, may I be allowed to offer & suggestion or two? If these gardens are open as a public thoroughfare to tho residents ofKelburn after sundown, let our council plaoe liffhts through the main paths; if this cannot be done, close and look the ffates after sundown, with prohibitive notices to that effect. 1 do not for on» moment east any blame on the Kelburn residents, but when one sees tho number of people, other than , Kelburnitos, pass in and out of these gardens, Tuided only by an olectric torch, I think soiae move by the authorities in this yf»s would be greatly appreciated by the residents in this locality, besides goinc a good way to stop this vandalism." "At theypresent time the furniture manufacturers in Auckland are seeking the protection of the Court to compel their competitors, the Chinamen, to adopt the award rates of labour, because the Chinamen are able to undersell the whites" (writes "CM.") "Whilst trav-elling-through Wansjanui and Hawera recently I was deeply impressed by the large Sjiid increasing numbers of Indians and Chinamen, who run either fruit shops or laundries, or work in hotels. The City Corporation of Wellington, unwisely, in my opinion, grant barrow licenses, and as it is a cheaper method than renting a shop, the coloured men are keen applicants. At the hotel whore I write this,, the proprietor tells me that he was driven to employing Asiatics, as he could not keep a European more than a month or so even if well paid. Perhaps the present hard times will put the whites into this employment and push the coloured labour out, which, of course, is no satisfactory solution to the real problem. . . My fervent hope is, and this is the object of my letter, that all aliens will com* pulsorily be repatriated at the end of, say, seven or ten years, and the same men and their' wives and children not allowed to return to New Zealand. This would prevent them becoming permanently established in New Zealand, and if Australia would adopt a similar method we might be able to prevent future trouble." In reference to traffic control at Cour-tenay-place Terminus, P. J. Thomas writes as follows: —"I would suggest that a concrete island be laid down which would act both aa an indicator to drivers the proper direction to proceed, and us an island of safety to pedestrians midway in a congested and dangerous square. Tramway standards could be placed at the three corners, painted white and each supplied with an overhead light. The policoman on point duty would then have complete control of a wide area of intersections j at present ho is hidden behind tramway poles. I might also state very few drivers know t*he correct course to pursue at this intersection, *s tramway poles,\ oncoming traffic from all quarters (and the policeman not being very conspicuous) leads'to one often breakingl the bylaws unknowingly." "Kaikohe" writes: "One solution which would help the unemployment problem deserves public notice, a.nd has not yet been proposed to my knowledge, namely, helping those who have not the necessary money to proceed to the North of Auckland districts, where there are many thousands, of acres with untold tons of kauri gum awaiting any persons who will search for it. Men are making good wages at the work, whibh is simple and takes very little time to thoroughly understand*. There »re many men who have spent years at the work, married, and raised fami- ' lies, and their children *re carrying on the same way, so that men who wish to stop working fof employers or who may be unemployed, and become independent of ordinary conditions in tho future, would do well to consider the poraibili tiet of kauri gum digging."