SMOKING IN TRAMCARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18333, 24 February 1923, Page 7

SMOKING IN TRAMCARS.

Sir,l suppose that for sometime.longer ; we shall have v smokers' compartments : in 1 j • the cars, and that both men and women v.

have the right to smoke in them. . ; But ; ,what I object to is that men smoke, occasioanlly in = the non-smoking compart- ; ment, and frequently pass through the % non-smoking . with their pipes alight, ■ and : , .»■ puff the dirty smoke in the faces of the other passengers. A large number of men do not smoke, and ola men who have . never smoked dislike smoke very much. " | They are often the most superior class of . I men. Weak little men are nearly • always I smokers. As boys they had. not enough ;i backbone to resist it, . and thought it ; manly to smoke; while the fins lads did not do so. No one ever saw Bishop Selwyn, or Bishop Patterson, or Arch- , deacon Samuel Williams, with a pipe in his mouth. A Man. •

Sir,— a rule 9 oat of 10 passengers in a tramcar are non-smokers, for the time being at all events, that is to say, in a car holding 52 persons there will be not more that 4 or < 5 smokers. In such case for half the car to be reserved for . smoking is unreasonable. If smoking is deemed a necessity for which there must be provision in tram cars then seats should' be provided outside on the platform, quit® apart from the rest of the carriage. Better still let smoking compartments be done away with altogether. Other and far larger passenger concerns are run, for much longer distances, without any smoking accommodation. Non-Smokes-

Sir,As a frequent and impartial trav- , eller by the tramcars I fail to discover any reason for "Smoker's" complaint. New * Zealand, is supposed to be a free country, and as the ladies pay tlho same fare as men, it follows that they have an equal right to sit wheresoever it pleases them. "Smoker also says something to the effect that it would be a miracle, at which everybody would gape, if a woman offered her seat to a man. Well, without going' further : afield the present , writer can truthfully testify that such a miracle >« has happened more than onoe to himself. The reason on their part might have been consideration for old age, but by - no means for decrepitude. It is needless , t0...... state that the offer was gratefully, and gracefully declined, as it is considered among " individuals claiming , the sublime appelation of man, that even to think, or hint that a lady should give up her.; seat; to a member of the opposite eeot (unless ; to cripples), is high treason against chiv—worse than ; wife-beating mors objectionable than expectorating on the floor of the car. I have a notion that the vast majority of our manhood will echo these sentiments. , . Also a Smoker