LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13702, 19 March 1908, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

REFUSING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS

Sir.—For eliciting the truth and gaining real information, there is no method equal to that of question and answer. Prior to the advent? of Mr. S'eddon, none of our Premiers, when on an Auckland platform, refused to answer questions properly put to them. Mr. Seddon refused to answer any, and Sir .Joseph Ward is following his bad example. Xow that Sir Joseph is again in Auckland, perhaps answers to th« following questions can be extracted from him : — 1. If, as he state.-. "Customs tariff had bce<> reduced £405,000," how comes it that, according to the official reports, Custom? taxation was increased last year Ss 6d pet head for every white inhabitant? 2. If, as lie says, railway rates have been reduced to the extent of £850,000, how comes it; that since ho took charge of our railways in 1900 the average charge for carrying each and every ton of goods over our railways was increased year by year, till now it is threepence ocr ton more than it was when he became Minister for Railways? ■i If. as he says, during the last 30 or 12 years taxation in the shape of Customs duties, railway rates, postal and '"telegraph '" , ',~', i uul " W I I ' tax » amounting altogether to £1,550.000, bad been remitted, how is it; •"at the taxation per head is now £' 15s 4d more than it was 12 years ago, and railway i J '''" "^ v n avn 3 2 1 i Pet ton more than I 'it lit r?, ;V.' ; V.* ago ,-, ;UlliSir Jo *l' h llilum"I n,is raised them 3 C per ton? ! (a.■""",.;'"". al l plaiu > qttos- ! \ ■■',{, "ST 11 .'/": not think any Prime Our "„„,,,?., i' "t", '"''"b'-c '<> answer. re, ' L a " d Iwal taxation last Tear Lea' .ho Zu? m ? U * '° ta, , of £ ' 5 3 * 3d lH>r colonies T'f'''° M r - atP of y ">' ''» «»«» per head ad for ',", a was '"creased 3 6 4cl bo still mo to •"'•' current year will navi, ' ! ; > . l1 I ": iK >««*ol.v the effect ol oans and It? ,n , tcresi °" our railway ■""'•, ana •' amounts exnenderl ~,, " \ iT tions to Open Lin,.. " ' J °",. Al,d »- "" ' Samchi. \ aile. COMPLAINTS OF HOKIANOA settlers. oif hi7^i[ n ;n t iV , - K,d ,- to Prlm * Minister "" 'lis M„u (o ,| ))s ,I lbrr . r .|. re ] at i vp , ~ lion aefeJ o" " T h«* h « ***,' l Jan of a million acres of l a ,] within the area of the county, of winch not one-half is available for S2/ ik 80 *« cent, of it'L bofte than second-class grazing country. That is her."7"'?";? "* lin::t xil "- t*ovwnmeul; but thef»of another point to raise, which lies » he fact that at present the whole of the import trade to this county is derived from Auckland and is carried by one of uckr'. m ,°? t i important shipping companies'. One would have thought, that the merchants o Auckland having a monopoly of the trade, and the shipping company having the control ot the carnage of merchandise, would do their utmost to maintain and improve a busmen wmHi is likely to develop very largely. That .his is not ,o is evidenced by 'he act that business people hen- are paying at tho rate of nearly £1000 per annum", or <*> per cent.;, more for .delivery of their goods and produce than thev have been asked to do tor the last two years; the. steamers put on the trade are smaller than heretofore, and cannot carry the cargo offered; in evidence of which half the quantity offered was left on the wharf in December, and today I have been shown telegrams from a number of Auckland merchants stating that " space in steamer is overbooked." and asking whether cargo shall bo held for next boat in ten days' time. The complaints <m this head are so serious that the county chairman felt it his duty call a public meeting to protest. It is sufficiently hard for settlers to battle with the privation of the back blocks arid to keep up a hopeless agitation with the Government in the hope of prevailing on them to open up the Maori! lands for the benefit of all, without having to be deprived of necessary supplies from Auckland at regular intervals, except under the condition that wo form a combine to protect ourselves from our Auckland friends. - Alf. C. Yakboijocgh.

A SUGGESTION. - Without the slightest desire to add to the general complaints or adding to the* Tramway Company's troubles, I cannot retrain from calling attention to a source ob clanger which 1 witness almost daily at the reservoir, where the outgoing Grey Lynn, trams halt whilst the conductor leaves tHS car to shift the points. The tram moves or to tho regular stopping-plage, whilst passengers frequently move on to the roadway in more or less undignified style, accompanied with dust or mud, if nothing worse, whereat* a lad at a nominal wage would not only do away with the necessity of the conductor leaving the car, but render the dangeromr halt unnecessary. Observer. *-,

NEW ZEALAND WINES. |* Sir, —In view of the splendid and appari ently permanent advance in viticulture and the production of wine in the Dominion, -I' would ask if it were too late to arrange bylegislation to place on the voting papers at the forthcoming local, option poll a line, somewhat as follows :—" Should reduction of hotel licenses he carried' in this district, I am in favour of .their place being taken by licenses for the sale of New Zealand wines." The idea, I thank, is worth some study for both the trade, the prohibitionists, and those whose living depends upon the laud. May the tribe of the latter increase. --■;. Paeroa. §1 Edwin Edwards.. • vg,, ■ - ?

WORK AND WAGES. f Sir,ln your issue, of . Friday, February 13, under the above' 1 heading there appears a. letter with which I thoroughly agree,- Thewriter has given us the position in a nutshell. If work is so plentiful and wages so good in the Dominion," how is it that there are so many willing and competent men unemployed at present? I have, no hesitation in saying that I could find a dozen com pet nit ploughmen who would "jump at the chance " of a billet with the wages (£3 per week) referred to by your correspondent, ."Reader of the.Herald," with or without "concessions." My experience is that most of us have to be satisfied with less than half that amount. The country wants more population, but we want more practical farmers with capital, who would open up the unimproved land; and fewer farm labourers among the shiploads of immigrants who come to our shores. PLOUGHMAN. Pukekohe. • •

INTEMPERANCE AND NO-LICENSE. —In your able leading article in Saturday's issue you approved of the admirable work now being done by the Salvation Army at Bell's Island in the direction of reclaiming drunkards, and you advocated the establishment of a reformatory for inebriate women. Your readers, with few exceptions, will heartily agree with all you said. May 1 attempt to raise the discussion a step by suggesting that the whole community should unite in a movement for the removal of the evils of intemperance by a block vote for no-license at the next poll* Some of your readers will condemn this suggestion offhand; others will smile at it contemptuously: many will approve of it. A majority of the electors 61 Auckland City are in favour of no-license, and the reform they advocate is bound to come in the end. Still, why should not the whole community unite to secure mo-license in 1909? Why not go straight to the root of the matter at once and recognise that, prevention is better than euro? The Salvation Army, in company with other agencies, is doing a noble workin attempting to reclaim drunkards; bur. drunkards are being manufactured by the drink traffic faster than all the agencies put: together can hope to cure them. II is quite time we gave prevention a fair trial. The responsibility for drunkenness rests partly with the individual drunkard and partly with the community which licenses the traffic. Since we are responsible as a community, we an- also guilty if by our deliberate vote we decide to continue to license that traffic that manufactures drunkards. We are also shortsighted and foolish if we vote for continuance. Consider the waste of good material when the .sober man or woman become-; the useless and shortlived drunkard: consider the harm, wrong, pain, misery, and loss caused by the drink habit, and 'it is apparent that it would bo a distinct gain to the city to put an end to the tnulic. It is into that under nolicenso some men will not be readily abla to buy intoxicants, and that others will los.i the particular business profits ''hey are at present making: but the desire of some men tor drink and of others for a particular line of business ought not to bo allowed to stand in the way of a reform that would brim; enormous gain to the whole community. Lot us put an end to the manufacture of drunkards as from June, 1909. We can do so if we like. P. S. Sjiailfield. TO CORRESPONDENTS. " DISGUSTED EXCURSIONIST" has omitted to semi his name and address. Mas. T. L. Stevbssok. —Apply to the Govern. meat printer, Wellington.