COHRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10080, 16 March 1896, Page 3

COHRESPONDENCE.

CENTRAL PARK, FREEMAN'S BAY. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—When the adjustment of interests in Freeman's Bay seemed to bo just about settled between the City Council and the Harbour Board, the Committee of the Board have recommended the adoption of a condition which will alter the whole character of the reservation. To take away from the Park a long narrow strip, cutting off the sea frontage, would deprive the Park of one of its greatest charms. It seems, indeed, a strange proposal to make, as the value of such allotments would be very little; the shallow water there rendering them of very little use for commercial purposes, except at very large expense for dredging. Yet, it appeared as though a section, at any rate, of the Board was willing for such small present advantage as the rent from these allotments would afford, to deprive this town of the enormous benefit such a reservation as a central park would be. It is a difficult thing to express in a concrete form the advantages to be derived from a proposal which is largely sentimental in its character, while £100 a-year rent is easily grasped. Almost anything designed for the moral benefit and advancement even of a great population may bo termed, perhaps contemptuously, "sentimental." But there have been instances where the choico of

present material profit, rather than vague and sentimental advantages, has been made, and proved to be a very bad choice indeed. The world has set the seal of its judgment on the actors in one instance of the kind.

When Esau said to Jacob, " What profit) shall this birthright do tome?" and straightway accepted the pottage,j udicionaly prepared by Jacob, he secured a present advantage; but he lost the glorious heritage, and earned the pitying contempt of all subsequent generations of mankind. Not only has he been condemned by the world, but the Church itself has ever held him up to reprobation. I have been to church many thousands of times, and while I never heard Jacob's conduct held up as a type of moral rectitude, yet it has been upon his foolish brother that the flood of condemnation has been poured in no stinted measure, as one who could not resist the demands of present convenience for the sake of a noble, even though somewhat vague destiny. It is a fortunate circumstance that at this time the chairman of the Harbour Board is a gentleman who has shown by his official action, and if I may refer to it, in his private life, that he appreciates the firstrate importance of providing means of public recreation, and of the enormous part which what we call sport plays, and is to play, in the social life of the coming generations, Mr. Kissling, when Mayor of Parnell last year, secured to the people of that borough an open space near the sea for recreation purposes, and that notwithstanding that there is literally across the road a public domain of hundreds of acres. I look with confidence to him to assist the people of this town to acquire such a reserve for their benefit; remembering that if not done now it may never be done, and that there is no domain at hand, and absolutely no other level ground within a radius of many miles. —I am, etc., J. H. Upton.

THE SHOPS ACT. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— think the time is at hand when small shopkeepers will have to consider their position in regard to tho Shops Act. I think it monstrous that wo should he subject to such tyranny a3 we have to suffer under the present law, particularly when we are told that we will not be permitted after this year to choo3e our own day; that it is useless to appeal; that we are outnumbered forty to one at the ballot-box; that employees simply laugh in employers' faces, knowing how helpless they are; and that the policy is eat, drink, and be merry for to morrow we die. God save Isew Zealand say I; but we aro in a bad way. If things go on as they are going much longer the country will drift into tho same position that New Australia has done. Is there no remedy ? Must we grari ually sink to ruin and despair? Are we English no longer? Where is our boasted freedom? An Englishman's house is no longer his castle since an inspector of labour has more power thau the master. The only remedy that I can see is that wages men bo paid by the hour— am, etc., As Old Colonist.

DEFENCE. Wo have received a number of letters on tho subject of defence, but we can only give a brief abstract of some of them " An Ex-Volunteer," referring to the letter of Mr. John Douglas, says that a hostile body of men could not be landed at the Tamaki as the Bastion Fort would command the Motutapu passage. _ The volunteers, he believes, would bo quite effective in preventing a landing. Mr. C. Hardy, of Dairy Flat, thinks that our forts are insufficiently protected, and that Auckland, with her forts in that position, with her dock and harbour, would be a tempting bait. He thinks we should have, first of all, a skeleton army of officers, drawn from tho Imperial forces, and then fill up the ranks from our own resources. Mr. H. Johnson thinks that, as regards inland defence, the colony should be capabls of placing within forty-eight hours, and at any point likely to be invaded, a guerilla force of skirmishing sharp-shooters of at least 1000 men, armed with the latest pattern rifle and well mounted.

Mr. E. Harrow says that we cannot train our marksmen like the Boers in Africa, as people here do not depend upon their rifle for a living as was formerly the case in Africa. The Boers are not such Rood shots as they were because the large game is mostly extinct. Our volunteers ought to be taught in the country to judgo distance by eyesight and to take cover of every kind.