LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13767, 4 June 1908, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

CLOTHING FOR"'DISTRESSED MAORIS.

> Sir, Would you permit see through yea*. valuable columns to make tin appeal on hth '.-'.' half of. the Maoris? There is much poverty existing at the present tima in some of th*' Maori settlements in the country district*, - \ and the Women's Christian Tewperaaes) j Union have arranged to receive and rii?trihUt« 1 clothing; therefore, if yon will kindly allow J me. I would ask any .-•{ your render* wfaa ; i may have left-otf clothing of any destripj lion to forward ■■astir- addressed to secretary' • ■ W.0.T.U.. ..ire of Christian Worker Office. ; Strand Arcade, or send postcard, or ring up J telephone 224?. A carri-T will call for pari eels, which mil V- jmmediiUciv forwarded tor ) the Maoris.

R. W. Christie, Hon. See. Vt'.CTAX June 2.

SHOOTING SEASON, Sir,—! have been waiting for sa«e,n.- eJs* to speak.- but m far no one win? to have .risen to the occasion in the interests of] turds and sport. What I wish to point out/ is the advisability of altering the shooting) season. 1 would reeiinnaend shortening it* two months and stmirtg a month carder..; hor several season.-, pas; I have seen young) wild duck.-., teal, ami pigeons -at the end oil June. Now. if j : > apparent that ■to .slwot-l the old birds is not only heartless emaltjri but also watte, the young probably dying of] starvation. I may say that on May iof tilt*! year I saw wild ducks mating or* the' Wairoa River. Now. those bird.-! will h»v*v either eggs or perhaps yomig by the end. ofdune, and still one month of the shooting season to go. _ 1 noticed, too, last week' that the native pigeons were flying ttt"* couples, and frequenting rata trees', which* of course means neat-building. Sam. A. Buowsb. Clevedon.

THE NATIVE RACE.

Sir.—Allow me to touch on the fringe off a. large.Dominion question, vis., the natives.! This question has often cropped up during! ■ the last 50 years, and is >iill far from netil-d.j The first point!to be raised is: Is the native: any better morally than when Cook discover-! Ed these islands, or is ho worse now than! then? For my part I think the latter will! be found correct. Most people believe that* tho natives arc neglected!, both by the Go-) yernment and the Church, and I think this'* is quite true. Still, there is time to urfitof those of us who believe that it is our r?~4 Bponribility to teach the natives godliness,? cleanliness, and a system .of home life !>yl which they can rear their children properly,! and not as at present, reared up like a wil.lt young ox; no home training, nothing hut;' a worse system than in Cook's time. If we; tire to help the Maoris and islanders wo mint/ get to work at their humps and among tho* women folk and inspire a desire to cultivate' home life among them. This is the first step, j and to do it we must send- the right stamp 1 of missionaries, who will live in (heir "entrcs and show wind Christianity is by living" it out daily among them. Koii"KX.\ KBUK,

WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY. Sir,-—You have only to travel to To Awa- : mute., and there you will see die Public! Works Department engaged in widening m country road to a width of one ami a-halfl chains where for'tlws past 30 years a ready] good road a chain wide has existed. T!ii»f thing is simply ridiculous. This will required some explanation from the power* that be.; At the same time the Government are con-J tinnally preaching • " open the roads to tin* back blocks settlers." You would be >»ur-i prised to see tin* small army of inspector*! and men around the To Awamutu township! doing work that will not. be required for aA century. Some of my Opposition frierul*s would do well to inquire into this wasteful! expenditure. Settler's Dor, , To Awamutu. <

SINGLE TAX AND SOCIALISM. Sir, The lion. George Fowlds, in hi.* speech at Grey Lynn, denied being a social-', ist, and said that single-tax and socialism' are the very antithesis of each other, " Single/ tax," he said, "meant a reduction of Govern-< ment regulations and control to a minimum,; whereas socialism would mean an extension-* of the management of industry; and enter-' prise on tho part of the community. Social-! ism and single-tax were as wide as tho poles*! asunder." Very true; yet the difforencoj between them lies not in essence, but itiij degree only. _ jingle-tax means, practically, the confiscation of all private land to tli<>| State. Socialism means the confiscation of i all private land, and also of all other private** property of every kind to the State. Truly, there is an immense difference between tlutf extent of the two systems: yet they are twinj sisters, born of the same father, whoso name* is confiscation, and of the same mother-who/ is yclept spoliation. The poles are far apart,/ but they are both alike frozen. To conceal! ideas or intentions rather than "to express) them, is tho supreme art of language. .";; Tot make black appear to be white is olten the] aim of a lawyer in addressing a jury, and! sometimes also of a lawmaker, in speaking tot an audience. We see again the adroitness, of the honourable orator in his reference to; tho 'Papakura case. "Imprisonment, of strikers is an impossible remedy." It doubtless would imperil the stability of the Government; when an employer refuses to pay ; wages,, not due in equity, although ordained ';■! by the Act, to prison ho goes, but employee* ■ who create debts in the form of fines ordered by, the Court are free from tins degradation. To the one class tho Arbitration Court is a stem, monitor, for the other is has wit terrors. Ciiaki.es Haiidt. . •

OLD AGE PENSIONERS. Sir,—l was .very pleased to see in your' issue of .May 22 that the members of tho North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board intend moving in the matter of having . homo for old age pensioners," only 1 wish* the Auckland Hospital and-Charitable Aid Board would follow, their example. As it innow, at the Costley Homo.; men who have for many year* been Rood unionists) and arenow in reduced circumstances! and having old age pensions, are compelled to rub shoulders' with gaolbirds -and the' riffraff of the district, some of them having not only been.: convicted, but who. have the very worst of records*, having served up to 20 yearn iu ga01..Now, sir, 1 ask you is it fair that men, who have always lived a reputable life should! have to live with characters of that class ; As there does not seem any way of classilying them, should there not be a home for- - the respectable old age pensioners away : from the scum of tho country? These very undesirables are the ones who are always,' finding fault with everything that is dorm for their good, thereby causing continual friction. Old Agk Pkxsio.NEE.

CITY WATER SUPPLY. Sir, —The resolution unanimously carried; recently by the Eden Terrace Road Board* relative to the purity of the city water supply, as the outcome of a letter from a lareiy property owner and keen student of cheinLi-. try in this district, seems to have ruffled the* feathers of the-district health officer. Dr. Purdy credits* Eden Terrace for a period of one year with 25 infectious diseases, which ■■ on a population basis is decidedly favourable* to this district. Fifteen of these disease*' wero contracted in areas outside Eden Terrace, the patients only residing here, hi it working elsewhere. Then why this much,; ado about nothing? As to drainage, Kd-Jrtj Terrace in perfectly drained, the only ." bio on tho map" being the sewerage gully., which can easily bo obliterated by tin? «;»e----ral local bodies responsible at once rectifying the matter. If the doctor wants an ocular demonstration as to what a " blot on -tho map" really is. I would suggest his personal inspection of the city sewer which runs i under tho wharf. As to modern sweepers being beyond the means of the Board, hourcan Dr. Purdy make that statement when our Board is in possesion of a sweeper for the past two years? The doctor makes i: point of the fact übout a. house-to-house visit in this district inaugurated by his Department, but he astutely remains silent on sbo important truth -that none of his inspector i possess a British sanitary, inspector's certificate.

Coming to the. city water supply, I ham forwarded sealed samples to Melbourne a".sl Sydney for analytical examination, and I i-«« satisfied what the result will bo. Many <~'(' Auckland's residents desire to know whar. the city water is like. Let them tic a pieco of ttannol to their taps, let the water nl'.v through for 21 hours, then view the flannel through a microscope, and let the result v >* known in the press. According to the, doctor the city water has been examined from tiuio to time and no trace of sewerage contamination found. No one suggested sewerage, but many assert that the water is not pun.' at the base of supplv. J. Ulysses Beow.ve. Member of Eden Terrace .Road Board.