LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13157, 21 April 1906, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE MAYORALTY. . •Sir,—lt seems Wv are to have a contest for tho Mayoralty after ail: but the new aspirant for municipal honours can hardly expect t< be taken seriously There is no's the slightest ground fur *uppo*ing that h» has any qualirkationj for tic office, and tho only probable reason thai can be assign**! for his coming forward is his desire toad' vertis*. himself. II« may consider the advertisement cheap at the price, even if hi* deposit, should he forfeited. It seem* a. pity that the amount required as deposit i«» not made more considerable, so as to afford » , more effective promotion j ; ga;n«t thin abuse of our representative institutions. It is to be hoped, at any rate, that the expenses of the election, to which the citv his been wantonly put. will in this ease Iff. reduce*! by the amount of the deposit, such as it is. Littler the circumstances, many voters will no doubt be inclined to regard the content with apathy, thinking the result to. certain to be worth their troubling themselves about t> ; but I would stronglv urge everv elector who has the good of the ,-ity at 'heart trt " recognise his duly i\ recording his vote for" the present Mayor, not only as a protest agamst the action of his npo.ment, but, also as an acknowledgment of she serviced which Mr. Myers ha- rendered to the citr. ■ tIIKHKIUi: .1. I\KXI>fcKDINE PRICK tie ECUS. Sir,—Will you kindly allow me to point out. the unfairness of the Croeers' Produce Commute*-. Thoi quote (in Monday's rir.it.vLi>) th.i market or'-. of fresh eggs'at Is 3d, ami by .Saturday's HkkaLU the fresh eggs, fetched Is tid at auction, and t want to know where the (J rovers' Committee got their market price from. Tin* l*>st way out of the difficulty i. For all egg-producers to send then eggs t< Wellington get Is lOd pvr dozen for them, end then tho rotors Association can fix their market pi tea at what they can get egg! for. The price which goods oi produce fetch at public! auction is generally below the \aluc, ami yet the Grocers* Committee want to fix the. market, price! at id per doz.-n below the auction price. 1 leave i; to you, sit, and tho public to judge if tin's is fair to struggling poultry-keepers. A Strugclinu Fabmbb. THE EXHIBITION ODE. ■Sir,—ln the Hkisalp Supplement of April 4, you publish the full text of the above ode. In the second verse of the third statists, Mr. .1 C. Anderson, the composer, says; — Pioneers found the land Torn by buttle loving bund; Pioneers have but done What by Nature was hezuii. brothers! less by this our shame. Ye were dying: when we came! Either Mr. Anderson possesses exclusive anthropological, ethnographical, or historical evidence of the numerical strength of tho Maori in the various ages of his historydata which the scientific world is anxious to obtain, and pay for— with tho usual arrogance, of our race he makes assertions which even poetical license does not permit. Speaking as one with a love for exactitude and un intense interest in. and lifelong knowledge of, the Maori, tho information that " Pioneers have but done what by Nature was begun," came as a distinct surprise! It is just with loose empirical hlatancv like this, wo endeavour to placate the still small voice smug hypocrisy cannot altogether smother. And when ho further says: "Brothers, less by this our shame," ho admits that there is a. shame—to bo stoned for; that this shame is a tangible reality, for which documentary proof can bo produced, to substantiate it in every detail! But instead of frankly admitting the sin in its entirety, and proposing remedial measures, he attempts to minimise it?s enormity with the incredible excuse: You were dying when we came." Truly Now Zealand's poetical afflatus is of an exceedingly thin quality if this wordy scramble of disjointed sentiments hast been' selected as the best for an ode to celebrate the first marking of high flood on the Kilometer of New Zealand's twentieth century prosperity. W B. To Kuiti. PBISON REFORM. Sir, Under the above heading the Rev. E. C, Budd writes to your columns apparently with the object of warning tho public against taking too much notice of certain ( contributions of mine which you have kindlypublished in the Herald, and which dealt with the subject of criminology. He admit* that I have given much time and thought to my subject, but declares that I have verylittle practical knowledge. It is news to me, sir, to hear that Mr. Budd is in a position to estimate what the rang© of my knowledge is. In a Senate document which has just come to hand from the United States is this paragraph : " Exhaustive study of single typical criminals which represent a large number will give definite knowledge as to just how men become criminals', and to what extent their surroundings influence > them as compared with their inward natures-. This would make possible a rational application of remedies for these evils." Such studies obviously would , have to bo made' by practical men. May I be excused for adding that the author of this document, the leadS American exponent of criminology, has received such, studies of mine, and has several times asked me to contribute more. Mr. Budd quotes two statements of mine, and asks which of them is oorreot. I stated iii the Diocesan Synod that our NewZealand prisons wore schools of crime, and I wrote in your columns that "as penal establishments nothing can be said against our New Zealand gaols." I will leave the statements as they stand; a very little consideration will show Mr. Budd that they are not contradictories. If Mi. Budd has any genuine criticism to offer I shall bo only too pleased to reply to it, but I must confess myself to be somewhat rudely startled when told by him that I have very little practical knowledge of what I am writing, especially when my work has been acknowledged by snob men as Professor Lombroso, Professor Mac Donald, and Mr. Z. R. Brock- ' way (founder of the Klmira system). J. L. A. Kayix. St. Mary's Vicarage, Pokeno, April 18.

THE PROSECUTION OF THIRTY VACCINATION" DEFAULTERS.

Sir,—No oiio can read the reports of tho Public Health Department without perceiving that the official objection—despito all specious assurances to the contrary—was, and is, to make vaccination compulsory. This is the issue, tho crux of the whole question. Tho Department has resolved that if Englishmen cannot be "logically convinced" they shall bo legally coerced! But Englishmen are not made, that way. The attempt "to carry the law at tho point of the bayonet, as it were," to cjuote Dr. Mason's words, will awaken this colony as nothing else will or can to ask the tjtKMStion whether any Government has a right to compel a parent to submit hi.i child to the inoculation of a viru.» which is itself the product of disease, and is productive of disease, the Royal Commission being witness. Every natural parental instinct declares: "It has not the right!" Dr. Mason attests that "while any aectioa of a community is logically convinced that tho introduction of any particular enactment was wrong', it would be idle on the part of the Executive to bring it into force!" In New Zealand a great majority " section" is so convinced, as the refusal of Parliament to make vaccination compulsory and tie lament of Sir Joseph Ward that only one child in every 10 born in 1904 had lieen vaccinated abundantly proves. For why this immense default? Because of the instinctive horror of poisoning the pure blood of an infant, with what Itnmanuel Kami rightly ~ called "brutal miasma." and because they believe with Professor F. W. Newman that "against the body of a healthy man Parliament has no right of assault whatever under" • pretext of public health; nor any the more against, the body of a healthy infant. To forbid perfect health is a tyrannical wicked- i ness, just as much as to forbid chastity or '.»•-.. sobriety. No lawgiver can have the right."' The law is an unendurable usurpation, and creates the right of resistance!" *

Edwin Cox.