RONGOTAI—AND £70,000

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 8

RONGOTAI—AND £70,000

Sir,—l have just finished reading '"Pacific Flight," the account; of the | late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's and I Captain P. G. Taylor's Brisbane-Cali-fornia 7330-mile three-hop trip, and I am really "Lockheed-minded." One is full of admiration for the wonderful machines we are so soon to see in Wei-i lington. I have read tftso the report in j your paper of the proposal to spend! £70,000 on Rongotai on account of the coming of the Lockheeds —and I am unconvinced. These machines can take off and alight in much less space than certain other aircraft —they can even land in the wind, so long as it is not n tail wind. The Mayor has told us that Rongotai now is as big as Milsom, therefore machines used there can presumably be flown here. I understand that Rongotai as it is now is only exceeded in size by some three aerodromes in America and that most aerodromes in the States are practically only one-third the size of Rongotai. Why, therefore, spend £70,000 more of the ratepayers' money? We have an efficient aerodrome now. If the Government, for reasons best known to the few, wants something bigger and better, then it should be a national matter. not a charge on the ratepayers of Wellington. We are thus entitled to more information before we should be expected to vote in the affirmative for this presumably needless expense. —I am, etc., UNCONVINCED. WHERE ARE WE DRIFTING? (To the Editor.) Sir,—lndividual breach of the law is a crime, but seemingly communal breach of the law is quite another mat-' ter. If the last-mentioned threatens to become too common and the people as a whole likely to suffer from it band together and develop preventive measures that is Fascism. Throughout history communal action against the laws of any country is nothing more or less than revolution. Well may it be asked does the policy now being carried out by the Government reflect the will of all clear-thinking electors? The answer must surely be in the negative. The only safeguard against either Fascism or Communism is for the Government of the day to deal firmly with all lawbreakers. Failure on the part of the Government to deny extremists the right to impose their creed upon this fair land will mean the individual will cease to have any possessive rights at aIL The majority of electors capable of thinking are no doubt wondering if this Dominion can any longer be looked upon as a land of opportunity for the man willing to derive pleasure from his toil. With ever-increasing taxation and consequent burden on industry, together with the freedom of the individual being rapidly uprooted, the future can no longer be viewed with complacent indifference. How much longer can this Dominion continue to lead "a champagne life on a beer income"? Sooner or later there will be a reaction to the experimental legislation and heavy public expenditure that will be unable to escape the first economic storm that blows up. Is |it any wonder that since 1932 this Dominion has lost in departures over arrivals 12,000 people? With our falling birth-rate and the present imperfect condition of our social and economic structure luxury in all things still remains an enticing obsession. ,We drift along with no thoughts of the day of reckoning, and the nauseous dose of realities that frivolous hurry and bustle of pleasure together with industrial strife ultimately leads to.— I am, etc., NEW ZEALANDER. EARTHQUAKE SEVERITY (To the Editor.) Sir—My attention has been drawn to your account, in last Saturday's "Post," of my address on the subject of "Earthquakes in New Zealand" before the Science Congress, from which the impression may be taken that New Zealand is a far more dangerous place to live in than Japan. This is definitely the case. The situation in New Zealand is certainly more serious than many are willing to admit. But what I endeavoured to emphasise was that the statistical evidence over the last century shows that in Japan the serious earthquakes tend •to be catastrophic, while those in New Zealand are mostly of a much less destructive type. The situation is thus not one of alarm or despair, but of hope—and of challenge. With fuller research into the characteristics of earthquakes in New Zealand and a more thorough and universal application of sound methods of building construction, the probability is high that we may be able to reduce almost to insignificance any loss of life and damage to property that may follow in the future from severe earthquakes in any part of this country.—l am, etc., L. BASTINGS. POINTS FROM LETTERS "Fair Play" (Trenthata) protests against regular users of the Hutt Valley railway being inconvenienced to meet the needs of casual race-day travellers. "Wednesday's 5.17 p.m. train from the city was held at Melling to allow race traffic a clear run through, with the result that we arrived at Trentham not at 6.8 p.m., but 6.26 p.m., exactly 18 minutes delay. This occurs every Trentham race meeting, and I maintain the Department should look after those who patronise the Department regularly and not as a 'convenience'.

(To the Editor.)