LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13967, 28 September 1918, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

HOMES FOR SOLDIERS.

Sir,— important aspect of the demobilisation problem is the housing of the returned soldiers. Already a large number of returned „soldiers and men who have been discharged from camp cannot find houses at a reasonable rent; they are men who have broken up their homes and stored their furniture. Surely the Government is not going to drive our brave boys who have risked their lives into the hands of exploiting landlords. In my opinion the Government should boild homes for them. It has large areas of land now lying idle. Within five minutes walk of the Penrose railway station the Government has about 50 acres on which it has spent a considerable amount of money in roading. It also has about 40 acres within 10 minutes walk of the Ellerslio railway station, only growing noxious weeds. None of this land is paying rates to the local bodies. Now is the opportune time for the Government to use this land for returned soldiers' homes. The question should be taken up by the members of Parliament and the Returned Soldiers' Association at once. Ellerelie. Geo. Wilkinson. SCHOOLS AND IMMORALITY. Sir,—Some interest has been roused by the report of the meeting of St. Mary's Homes. It is not possible to publish all the facts in possession of the speakers, but I personally would be glad to meet Mr. Carter an<3 other schoolmasters and give them the information they desire. And, of course, Mr. Carter will ask the bishop for the evidence he has offered to give privately. One such fact I will give. A little girl of 13' years nfs to-day undergone the operation of Caesarian section in Auckland. A criminal prosecution failed, because another about the same age as the girl was involved, as well as the person charged, and there was no reliable evidence, i Janet E. Hancock. St x _ Mary's Homes, Otahuhu.

Sir,—l think it is due to Bishop Averill that those of us who are aware of the existence of the dangers of which he spoke should come forward and support him. My experience as a parent and a country school committeeman confirms him. The question is not that all teachere are faulty, but that some are. The bishop has done fully in directing the public mind to the fact, and he'would be very unwise to accept the teachers' challenge to give details openly. The duty of running these evils to earth rests with the boards of education", who alone possess the legal power. It was their duty before the bishop spoke, and it is equally their duty now. Mr. Harrison says organised school games have revolutionised the sexual danger. My knowledge is of schools where games are neither organised nor supervised. The whole teaching staff goes off to ito lunch, leaving boys and girls of all ages to play, talk', and behave as their inclination suggests, the principal occupation at times being the organised worrying of small boys by big. I have not found education boards willing to investigate complaints. If all the complaints made by. committees were _ investigated impartially and fully and if defaulting teachers were always treated as we would treat a defaulter in private employment we would soon have less fear of what Bishop Averill alleges. The first secular elements of a school syllabus should be to promote manliness, comradeship, courtesy) and good health. Has any of the board members ever done anything by direct investigation to ascertain if either of these items is receiving attention at the country schools? Has the Headmasters' Association ever done anything? If not, it is.useless to assail Bishop Ayenll's statements, because the deeper evil of which he gave warning is but the natural sequel. I do not think it is the fault of parents that children are sometimes bad.' In support of that view I give two reasons:- (1) That we parents ourselves are merely what the schoolteacher made us; (2) that we do not have the opportunity to train our children, because the most impressionable hours of their lives i are spent, not at home,' but at the school i My own children rise for breakfast, leave : for school soon after eight o'clock, and reach home again often not before five o clock, for the whole class is frequently I kept in late—t«a, lessons, bedtime. Where is my chance to weed out the evil seeds sown at. the school? With what harmful thoughts in their minds do my 'children each night go to sleep? My purpose in this letter has been not so much to assert the existence .of evil, but to say that conditions do certainly exist that make evil unnecessarily possible, and to urge greater .activity on the part of those whose duty it. is to search out evil unceasingly and destroy, it;- Bishop Averill has done his great share. Let each of us parents do ( Our little and clamour for the searchlight on our school life for the rest of time. HONESTT.