CORRESPONDENCE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 26 June 1924, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

[3\ e print below two letters upon questions that are claiming considerable public attention at the present time. Readers should bear in mind that publication of letters to the editor is not to be taken as identifying us in .any way with the views expressed. It is a custom —and. we think, a good custom —for newspapers to provide reasonable space from time to time for correspondents to express their opinions, but we have had experience of correspondents desiring to obtain for expression of their views far too much space. We must insist on letters to the editor being kept to a reasonable length, and correspondents must accept the editor’s decisions, which he will in all cases endeavour to make as impartially as possible. Short letters, and to the point, are far more widely read than those which run to great iength. We also remind correspondents that letters which they would like published must be couched in courteous and respectful language, must be entirely free from personalities, and must not introduce anything of a bitter nature. No two people think alike on every question, nor can any correspondent lay claim fairly to being infallible in all his or her views. Such being the case, correspondents must show respect for those who hold views different from • their own, and they must all treat the paper which thev ask to publish their letters and the staff with proper resDect and consideration. Failure to observe these conditions will mean non-publication of the letters which offend. The greater speed in setting type by linotype makes it essential that correspondents write clearly and on one side of the paper only. Communications must be written in ink and legibly, otherwise they will not be published.—Ed.]

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. (To the Editor.) Sir, —The following taken from the Star recently must have gladdened the heart of many: “A wonderful piece of news has been received from Tokio, Japan, to the effect that the primary schools in that capital city are now open to Christian teaching once a week. It is said that there has been a growing conviction in the minds of many leaders in Japan that I;heir educational system is weak in imparting the moral fibre to their children and youth which they would like to see. This may account for the opening of schools to Christian teaching.” Truly, sir Japan is becoming westernised, both commercially and in ethics, and although she is a nation with a new birth, there is much that is vital for even justly proud and advancing New; Zealand to learn from her. Only last week the Auckland papers reported on the terrible percentage of convictions for mis. demeanous of New Zealand-born children ; yet how many people realise that oyer one hundred thousand children in New Zealand never come in contact with even a Sunday school, and if you get among these young people you will find that the Bible is not even in their home. I have seen young people of sixteen and older who have, on seeing the little people in their district untaught, yearned to take them in hand, only to feel how utterly inadequate is their own knowledge. ‘Yet, sir, even the plain reading of the Bible in the week-day school is denied our young people. No wonder moral fibre is lacking. The subject is to be taken in hand at the school committee meeting this week. I hope the report does not get back to Japan. I cannot understand personally what should hold the Bible hack from school reading, except sectarian feeling.—l am, etc. NEMO.

FUSION OF PARTIES URGED

(To the Editor)

Sir.—Things political are beginning to stir in the country. Par ty leaders are endeavouring to catc-h votes and retain the seats they have; but each one is, like Oliver Twist, after more.. \\ hat is to lie the outcome of next election. - ' Y\e saw Mr Massey after last election iust, able to hang on Lo office. Fusion of the Liberal and Reform Parties wa.s freely spoken of, and is still spoken ot bar to fusion seems to he the leaders of the Reform and Liberal parties. It is the general impression throughout the country that Mr Massey has reached the time when he should ietiie. The strain of war, political, and other troubles have been too great a strain tor a man of his age, and he can retire to-dav with the thanks of his country for Kis sincerity of endeavour. He need not fear the future of the country, for in the hands of Mr Coates J see the possibility of a successful fusion of parties. His handling of the late railway strike added to the good opinion that the general public has of him; and I do not believe the railway servants engineered this strike, it being a political move of the extreme Socialists, who, to my mind, made a political move to discredit the Government and inconvenience the general, public, as well as thousands of the railway servants. Mr Holland’s offer to arbitrate in the strike was one of the brightest gems; the other was calling together Parliament. Why? Merely that Mr Holland should have the chance of having a say in how the Minister should run the Railway Department. Now, as the Reform Party had the good fortune or misfortune to be in office, the course they thought fit to take in settling the strike was obviously theirs and theirs alone; and it is for the public at the next general election to say whether the Minister took the wrong course or not. To my mind it was indeed refreshing to see a Minister with sufficient backbone, and his colleagues with him, to say that we are prepared to stand bv or fall by what we think right, even if we lose votes by it. And by so doing they rose above politics and verged on statesmanship. What of Mr Wiliord in his interview with the press at the time of tbe strike? Rut we must forgive him; he has 700 good railway servants in his constituency, and they are 700 good reasons why he should ride the rail, because there is not the slightest doubt he did, and, to my mind, for ever condemn • himself to political death, and lost all chance he- ever bad of becoming a political leader. Further, there is the fact that his first lieutenant is an ex-railwav servant, and at one time' a Labour candidate. 1 personally would be sorry to see any vacillating rail-sitter in charge of this country during a strike of any of our national services. Von must be either for or against the action taken by the railway servants. You must know when to put your foot down or to keen your mouth shut, and I do not think Mr Wilfoid recognised the necessity of either. One of the questions in point was working 48 hours a week. I would like to ask him if lie were in favour of reducing the dairy cookies hours to Of) a week from the 90 worked by many of them at the present lime. And what for? Mainly to keep alive the people in the fast growing cities. Every house built in a. city is an increased tax on the country. J personally do not think that either of the present leaders will be az the' head of a fused party, if in it at

all, but I am sure that it will come. There is not the slightest doubt that Mr. Massey made mistakes; and probably the greatest was dissipating the splendid cash reserve built up by . Sir Joseph Ward, by purchase of land for cash, instead of keeping at least three-quarters of it as a reserve. There was also the five million soldiers’ loan which cleaned out all the reserves the hanks had, and consequently there was nothing left for the man on the land to increase production with. But in spite of this, to-day the credit of this country stands higher than any other British State or Dominion, and the. name of Mr. Massey stands higher in finan-/ eial circles than any other leader at' the present time in Australasia. If it were possible to get a man who does not make any errors of judgment, we would be indeed fortunate. The best we can hope for is to get the man who makes the fewest, and our greatest business men are not men who have' never made a mistake, hut those who have made the fewst and who have worked hardest and have profited by their mistakes. The greatest difference between the policy of the Reform and Liberal Parties is the State bank, and the coincidence of interest being higher in Australia than New Zealand has a tendency to .drive capital to Australia, and the fact that most of the * banks operating in this country have their headquarters and directorates in London or Australia makes it extremely difficult to stop the flow of capital out of this country. We certainly have a form of land bank in the Advances to Settlers, and also a vast lending institution in the Public Trust, but still there is some need of the Government having a closer grip on the banking interests of this country. I cannot see that in spite of this, that we cannot fuse. Liberals will not vote Reform out to put the Socialists in. which shows that there is not a great deal of difference of thought between the two parties. Boiled down, the position is one of Socialists and antiSociaiists. What is a Socialist-, any way ? 1 take it they, as a gegieral rule, want something for nothing, or perhaps rather something someone else has got- by working for it. You often hear of people who say that Tiches are dishonestly come by, but- you will far more often find poverty dishonestly come by. A man that makes himself a good fellow at the expense of someone else is the meanest man on earth. Many apparently generous people do it at the expense of their own families, making their generosity more 'apparent than real. lam not confusing Socialists with Labour. By Labour I mean a man who believes in‘individual effort, and who -recognises that the efficiency and regularity of his work mean more to himself, greater national prosperity, and reduced cost of living. You will hear a Socialist say that every man is entitled to- the full value of what he produces, and yet they say that Jones must get the same pay as Smith, even if Smith does twice as much as Jones. So Smith loses one quarter of the pay of his product to bring Jones up to his level in pay. Suppose Jones and Smith were bricklayers, and under their Socialistrteaders they were only allowed to lay 750 brides a day, when they could, by organisation and efficiency, lay 1500, they are at once increasing house rent 100 per cent, and by so doing increase the cost- of living. I then take it that the two parties in the field are Nationalists and Socialists—one which wants to build up, and the other which wants to level down. In fact, the Nationalist, when he finishes his work at five o’clock, thinks bow he can do better to-morrow what he did today, and the Socialist merely finishes at five. Ido not sa.y that every man should be satisfied; if so there would, be no raising the standard of efficiency and no raising the general standard of prosperity. If every well organised firm or business paid out every penny it earned in wages, there would be no possibility of extension, no reserve against .slack itimes, and the money so paid out in wages would have to find some channel of investment, as it- cannot lie idle, and it is far better to leave a. small percentage in a well organised business for extension and reserve than to let it go where it would breed stagnation, uncertainty of reward for work, and uncertainty of employment. Enough for the present. Jam in favour of a fusion of the Reform 1 and Liberal-Labour Parties into a party of National endeavour as opposed to National stagnation and Socialistic eyewash.—l am. etc., M. R. MURPHY, Pate a.