LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18299, 16 January 1923, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITO R

THE ZOO. ' ! p. Sir,—" Mother of Five "is quite right > '-'-P , to complain of the closing of the lower *'$ K gate at the Zoo, Surely the City Conn.''-- ' cil should have better sense. The only '; J true entrance to the Zoo is from the ■'$ north road at the Western Springs gate ■''' '''"<■" Why the City Council has gone to the '-";/> s expense it has in repairing Surrey Cres-> i-'-s 1,1 sent and the Old Mill Road is a great ' "''"% ! " 'mystery to me and to many others > .' W '%• Why docs not the «**sril make known ' '--l 0, 'to- the public how much of the money bor-' ' ~t--3 rowed for the Zoo has been spent on -% j it, and also out of what account the 'J repairs to Surrey Crescent have come? I ', •'-■■N 7 ' hope some others will take up the cause *° of the Zoo gate and give their opinions. ':.;;; rf Hawk-Eye. "■■,£ n , V:, : J, J ' NEW ZEALAND ROADS. " | 7 , Sir, —I am over on a visit to New Zea- -11-Sl ." land, and being desirous of seeing as much 'I as possible of your beautiful country in •-. . f n the short time at my lam now ; - :'• •. lv k making a motor tour of the North Island. ',■•• - % it I left Auckland last week, and so far * % .. am very much impressed with the beauty ?;§ / and grandeur of _ New Zealand scenery. ..-:'■" ' r On a tour of this kind one sees nature' ' ■': & in all its moods; mountain, forest, sea, • ;?i y and river in their primeval ■; \n dear; and) • ''".\ h most gratifying of all, the large areas of 'is cultivated land, which are already proving ,'.,U a source of wealth to the fanner and tho , I country.- ..'■'.'■''£ l " It is not, however, of the natural p '• scenery I wish to write, but rather about . ■ ■'-'■ the condition of your roads, particularly • : /i: [{ the Great South Road from Auckland v£ to Rotorua. It is not to be expected that , a young country can provide roads such si ■ as we get in England, but really some oi ''' y your roads are vile beyond description. I - ; ; d have heard the time-honoured joke, that, ■ [. the devil made the roads in-''God's own ._ country, but after my experience of the : '■: / Rangiriris and Mamaku bush, I should im- ■-; r agine they have deteriorated since leav-' .;. .[> r ing his hands. '■'; ji f I have seen quite recently references |.: in your columns that the sections of road ....','£ , alluded to were in fair condition. If that - k ', is so, I wonder what they ar:3 like in ::,•£■ i winter? To me they resemble the dry bed i •:-' of a mountain torrent with ruti, depres- ■.£■:.&. aioni, boulders, and tree trunks scattered ; : " »■ [ here and there indiscriminately. That the ; f ' authorities should allow this important \'';'i £ [ road to get into such a condition for '„-, ;=; stretches of 10 and 12 miles is inconceiv- ' £ "'' i ab'e. and is certainly a diserace to a pro- ... v gressive country'like the Dominion. O-i ' In Saturday's issue I saw a paragraph ' statintr that a motorist had left Auckland at midnight, arriving at _ Rotorua at 10 a.m., crossing the Rangiriri and Mamaku. * bush en route, thus doing the journey of ~-.;■'■■ 150 miles in 10 hours, which, considering •''-,.. ' he travelled at nisht, is a wonderful per- "J ' formance, speaking well four the courage .■: ,<. of the driver, his knowledge of the road, .' ; • "■' and the strength of his car. Anyhow, it ~y_;.; 1 is the first and last time for me to travel \',' ' that way. I would rather go a hundred "*".; i- ! miles round than face it a^ain. During the journey I noticed that the ! roads in the Waikato, and districts south ~"';-> 1 of Hamilton, were in fair,condition, indi- ; V : -:• 1 eating that the authorities in these disJ tricts were doing their duty. - But who is re- ' sponsible for-the upkeep and care of the 1 roads in Rangiriri and Mamaku? .Surely tha Government ought to see that a road con--1 necting such important places as Auckland, Hamilton, and Rotorua is kept in proper *, ' order, and not left as it is— of: death ; -a , traps. '■'_ ',;-'". • ' - "'£.:ll': , A minor point, but an important one, i* ',-! is the provision of sign posts on the road. : .'", These are mostly conspicuous by their ab- ■..;;■•";.■;?, ' • sence, • while suck as there are are almost illegible. Perhaps the New Zealand Auto- .;! mobile Association will take the initiative ij in this matter, by bringing pressure to ''. bear» on the local authorities to -put up '■!;' ;'- road signs at the junctions of the roads, V thus saving unnecessary trouble and an- ■•'■'•*': noyance to users of the road. - ';, ■E. S. PotrELL. ' THE LIQUOR LAWS: —Now that the excitement of the t election is over, may I ask those good -vlicv.'lfpeople who voted prohibition- whether ;•<' they realise that they were breaking the :\ eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not i steal," for although they did not; steal i; ; -,V. themselves, they were asking the Gov- ■■ 't' ernment to commit theft. Take, first the ' case of the vignerons; Many years ago v ::■ the Government induced hundreds of ]] - settlers to plant .vineyards for wine- ,', " ; purposes, imported large quanti- ;i 'V ties of vines and viticultural experts, who • were sent, round the country to instruct ■ / "^ :l the settlers to grow grapes and to make i c f wine. Many thousands of pounds were -- / • expended to start this industry. Under jthese . circumstances, can any honest ~.' person think, it a reasonable proposition : ''■?■'•.. by the stroke of a pen to deprive these ;Vr people of the fruits of their industry? \--f\Ignorant people will say the grapes can •; ■ [%'■ be sold.. In the first place, the grapes I;];; planted were neither table nor raisin A.'.; grapes, and a good crop off one acre V" would flood the Auckland market, and ; prices would not pay for the handling. 'y/fJ Then, again, the vigneron has an expen- V esive plant to buy, and as the wine is not ']"./' marketable until it is three years old, he ;: has to keep three -'.. years' stock in his ■: a' cellar, and it would be impossible for him- : «, to sell this wine during the . six months ' V; ! £. . allowed. Then take the brewers. They • 11 have invested large sums in plan*, etc., .?•/%{ i under the protection of the Government. W:- .. Is it honest to take this away without, ,1- ■ compensation? No one objecto to a man . _,(.■; being a total abstainer or'to persuading . . "'■'£ others to become so. But coercion and ]-.%'* confiscation to a Britisher is anathema. -• •':• : Both from a social and religious point of ' " '.= view, it takes one back to th' 3 dark ages . of the inquisition, when people thought •' ■':'..-] it right to murder a man's body to save .''/-,-. his soul; to the days of Mahomet; and when it was a crime in England to attend !• ' i a religious service other than the LCt national church. From a religiouii point '•; •of view the prohibitionists have not a •.,-?-'; leg to stand on. Christ drank wine Him- '•',', ;tj self, and did not forbid its use, and if _ i anyone should have known the mind of , ; Christ it would have been His disciples, -, and none of them forbade its use, only its .;. ." abuse.. Many people will tell you they , /. ; ; vote prohibition to take temptation away ,; *< from the young. Why, we were miscint to . >--.'„ be tempted. Our first parents had temp- ..;;■;■ ■;■;• tation put in the Garden of Eden. Christ ! : > Himself was tempted. His - mission on :.:'-" earth was partly to teach us how to : .. ; overcome temptation. What sort of a man . would a boy make who was brought up away from 'his fellows and away from the ■■•;] : ordinary temptations of the world, the .: :■■.;■■;= flesh,, and the devil ? The chances are . >| .when he took.-his, place in the world he |, _ ; | would either come "cropper" or Become j =:,;: a mollycoddle who would not have the ~ ~ .;= courage to defend either his woman or ; | his country.' It is Hie conquering in the v A battle of life that makes a man out of a --\\ boy, and it behoves us as a nation to -. 1 instil into the minds of our children the , : ;- : . T | principles taught by Christ to enable tnein • • ,| to conquer, in the fight. From the ,-,s amount of money spent in propaganda. • -.1 one would imagine that drunkenness was ;;> | the greatest crime in the world, but as a ; ■ | matter of fact, there are far worse crimes ~ • and more prevalent. I .consider iNe w ;, |;; ; | Zealand a very sober country. People ~ .-a are apt to judge from individual. cases, ;- -1 and not from a national point of view. I .' ;«| was at the last show. Thousands oi q_| people were there, and I did not see one , : ... - drunken man. A city worker informea . j, , ; -| me thai there were as many unhappy , ; ,1; homes caused by the women s W* ° ■ •!;;;.• | finery as there was by drunken hnsbano- .;t ;; -| Let us hope that there will be a dr«J«« ,\\ i'J alteration in our licensing laws, woM" .., ; | to thank the prohibitionists that this re- >. J form has not taken place years ago. •-■ j' ;-| '■"■'■ W. Heathcote Jackmak. i, A Whakapirau, January 12, 1923. ... mm