LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 13

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

||i||f; PRICE OF BREAD. 1 "" Sir —The people will have to take oi! W : tie gloves and fight this question. All P' ; \rv well to quote salt at £16, when it '-'"'nan'be bought right now for £9 10s ; B pdtatoes for £17, when £7 is more lik* i wl the price to-day. A week or so igo one I B boai took 30CO sacks to Sydney. Another i -* 'imposition placed upon a long-suffering I' people was the cutting out of the half- "\ ; '< : loaves, which leads to a great deal of S: '. unnecessary waste. I hope the people i ■ will dimply refuse to stand this gross in- * j I justice, and that is putting it mildly. mtv . Acti.Humbtjo, I'-.. i THE OVERDUE SCHOONER. r \ sir,—There have been several letters in 1- , -#e paper about the non-arrival of the I ! T-ifanui,- and certainly it begins to look ] • is if something has happened to the r . 'vessel, although not necessarily to' the 1 .- : crew. It is at any rate necessary, for I ;vl the sake of humanity, to have a search I W for those who left on the Awanui, but it | > would be admittedly a great hardship for I itesmers like the Taluno and Flora, laden I ,- with perishable articles, to deviate from !t their route. It would seem to be the dut\ ■/ of the New Zealand Government to sen* f: 8 vessel to Niue to see not only if th.\ -,' crew of the Awanui has landed there, bu !« jlso to see how the residents of Niue an I •: faring. I might suggest, also, that the i fiji cargo, instead of being shipped to II; Fiji by the Talune, could bo shipped b\ |;ihe Makura, leaving on the 20th inst., or iie Niagara April 1, so that the Taluno could go to Xiue without interfering ir (he slightest degree with the time-table f js far as Tonga and Samoa are concerned. Tbadjr.

| WAR MEMORIAL. ,| While approving, the desirability of establishing a war memorial, I must take flfaception to the proposal of the Harbout Board to hand over the site of the lat incklaad dock This, together with othei portions of the foreshore, was pledged as ;security for moneys borrowed by the Harbour Board, and I maintain that toe beard ■ hag no right to alienate the securities without. adequate compensation. The proposal has been called "magnanimous," noble," "generous." Well, any person can be all three at eomebodv else's ex- > Sense, but is it right or proper that while ie Harbour Bo?.rd continues to borrow money and increase the charges on goods and shipping they should make a free gift of such a valuable revenue-producing property? Thos. Henderson.'

, Sir,—Just two years ago the Harbour -:.. Board rather curtly informed the Town- >.... planning League that the league's proposal that the old dock site be reserved 'fcyta .an open public space, could not be ';;.?. entertained. The Harbour Board, we 'K: were then told, was a purely business - body, which needed revenue, and could % not afford to give an inch of its lands to Vy-the pubac Indeed, some people argued : j>„ it would be immoral, in view of harbour #■• obligations, to do so. Further, a public I*; meeting at St James' Hall to promote a ?f park scheme, was broken up by yowi men who, no doubt, had been inspired hy H the enormity of asking the board to do if; anything for the city. But all is now 1; ■ changed, and I congratulate the board on H 'its complete change of spirit. The board v has recognised the principle that it does g owe a duty to tho -city to beautify the I iiacli front, which its reclamation operaf tions have so largely helped to destroy. f.f The board's offer to ma".;e a gift of the !■ site to the city as an open reserve shoidd | be accepted. Even should the board's | cond tion for a war memorial be not |*: accepted in its present form by the public, t I have no doubt the board will adhere to f . its welcome change of policy, and* the I land will always now be an open space. | The argument that the land was needed | to provide revenue is now gone. The it recent epidemic has shown the felly of | crowding buildings together. Moreover, I with the prospect of sovere congestion of § the ferry traffic,, room is urgently c.needed a here. - There will be a marked difference t of opinion, of course, as to the site and m form of a war memorial, and I think the IWaLD is right in asking the public to ejress itself on the matter. There it ' 'mty of time, and the matter should not rushed. In the meantime, the board's inversion is most gratifying, because it reveals the members in the new and "attractive light of wise town-planners. * • C. J. Pars. „ President, Auckland Town-planning League

' Sir,—The Auckland Harbour Board Is to be congratulated upon its generous offer of the dock site to the city. I note, lower, the* the condition attached to ! ■ it may hit rather bard on the municipal ' ' finance. Would it not have been more isemly to trust the Municipal Council to* put up a monument commensurate to the ■, means' of the city? If,-however, the council decides to erect a memorial worth

-39,000, I sincerely hope they will not ; decide upon any design without throwing I open to competition throughout all . Now Zealand and Australia, making It worth while for most talented %:B people _ to compete; also that the competition will be judged by experts, say two architects, two well-known artists, and one engineer. The sketch placed be« fore the council by the Harbour Board is , a' very clever piece of photography, but ||| Jacks very mu-n in artistic qualities. For ray part, having seen much of the Italian : cities, I woud prefer a beautiful founI tain with allegorical statuary, rather than fl' duplicate of Trafalgar Square, without the National Gallery behind it. If the i - council throws the thing open to competition let them make no stipulation as ,-.; 'the form of the memor'al. They may tien obtain a variety of designs, among . IS[hich some original idea may be found. ' ,l '■■■■ Phtdus. ITALY AND THE JUGOSLAVS. \ Sir,—May I have a little space on the 1 {Wet of the Heeald's article of March _ 1 '. .Hi' on the rival claims of the Italians and' 7 «s Jugoslavs. I maintain that Italy, in f: her recent dealings with the Jugoslavs, ™ most dishonourably broken her |H?B«§:Word. I am glad that you mentione4jii| 9 Italo-Jugoslav agreement of Wr*S» Pact of Rome." How has Ml 'Wthat agreement? In that com- : pact Italy bound herself to recognise the State, and to accept the , Jjational and racial principle as a basis of r ftttlement. Now the Jingo section of the Kalians want to behave exactly in the , i&ffle. way as the Huns, and they are demanding the right to rob the Jugoslavs of a Jugoslav country, inhabited entirely : q«yßlavs, just to satisfy their owti greedy ajabitionß. The excuse th y give is that Britain and France, by the seer, i treaty of Lbndon, 19i5, promised Italy that she jleild have DaJmatia if she would come 'pS the war on their side. Did not tho allies also promise the Servians and Jugofreedom and independence? Wnen via, after throwing back three Austro- -. German invasions, was facing destruction •M enemy offered her liberty if she would pie peace, but the Servians, to their .< Honour, refused to make terms to save 'iemselves, and so they saw their country : Qwtroyed and their peopfo starved and jMrdered rather than break their pledge ; to the Allies and to Italy. I have enough :f,,faith in the British and French sense ti ftpt and justice to believe that the Allies I ? *»J realise the situation in time to prevent i «nous consequences. If thev do not, then $! I*Boß will be a long wav off in Europe for : ■■* *Wsg time to come, for 13,000.000 . Jugoslavs, including the people of Dal- • aatia, will fight to the death to the last rather than submit to such shameful justice as thev must endure if the Allies import Italy's'demands. A.P.

. . ENTER THoRNYOROFT; EXIT lII' HORSE. § JCjtoP&ratively speaking, the torse has '-'• W/Jj » very insignificant part in the Great ; ■' ril.l- War. , This, of courto. in just an in--1 Shh Tr n i? , , the tr6nd of the timeß - Thorny ' slate i Vehicles have proved themselves second WwLJi o**0 ** nnt!er 'he gruelling conditions of da? i? wartflle - Indeed, as the British sol--1 SS.L/} as Proved his superiority over the IS 80 the British-made Thornycroft has '•' tivl-j' »? uperior t0 foreisn-made -rehicles. ■; m T«f* wet models are made, ranging from 81 i 4 ".,h-P-. with carrying capacities of 2, «win» *" and 6 tons. *«* « prove the ./ KLf* over the old-fashioned horse trans- .... i b.Js?™ to-day for full information to , ?- Wrick and Co., Wanganui and Wolfing-