LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15235, 24 February 1913, Page 5

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

SCOTT NATIONAL FUND.

Sir, —Seeing through your paper that Messrs. J. C. Williamson Company, with their usual generosity, have decided to rive a monn-XM' entertainment next Saturday. I would like to suggest that all interested in theatrical matters in Auckland (FullerBrennan Company and ill picture theatres) should 'be asked to combine, as it will be impossible for all those who intend gettiOfc; a seat at His Majesty's accommodated, so that if tho other companies 3u.ro their theatres for the fund r,lso it would mean everyone getting somo chance of partaking in some sort of eivifrtainment cv Saturday. OtjiS. N. HaweKc. MAORIS AS FISIII'RMEN. Sir,—Having read in your columns a good deal lately about _ th'> price of fish, inav I beg a space in your valuable paper to give vent to my ideas from a Maori point of view? There are hundreds of Maoris expert fiishermen not 100 miles from Auckland, who would be only too glad to go in search of fish to gratify the public wants. In order to do this they must have an agent who vill have to look after the public market. Every fisherman must be a shareholder by subscribing £1 or £5, and the profits must go to the shareholders, to be paid every monMi after deducting commissions, working expenses, etc. Tamati R. Poata. NAVAL DEFENCE. Sir,l believo that New Zealand, and Australia also, could not do better than invest any money allotted for naval defence —apart from the Imperial contributionin submarines and airships. Why, for the cost of two or three Dreadnoughts an array of these deadly war vessels could bo acquired that would act as a deterrent to any hostile fleet that could be sent against, us J Many years will have to pass before Britain of the Pacifio can build, or even afford to build, a fleet sufficiently strong to repel an attack from, say, Japan. Japan has such a lead that so long as Dreadnoughts aro acknowledged the chief engines of naval warfare it were vain for us to attempt to rival in numbers the fleet that she could spare for foreign aggression. If, on the other hand, Dreadnoughts are likely to be superseded, and Japan remains fixed in her resolution to go; moro territory for her overflowing population, then a date of grief for Australasia may be nigher at hand than is pleasant to contemplate. The fable of " the fox and the boar " would seem aptly to illustrate the Australasian position in defence matters. A fox asked a boar why he was sharpening his tusks when no enemy was visible. " What!" said the /boar, "would you have me sharpening them when I should be using them?" Taubanga.