LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18496, 5 September 1923, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TRAWLING IN THE GULF,

Sir,— am now getting too old to waste my time jn a controversy with the Thames net fishermen, or Auckland hook and line men, but I would, point out to the Thames men that this very cold, long winter may have so reduced the temperature of the water that it is too cold for the- creation of the small forms of life" which should provide i;he food supply of the fish that are gone out into warmer and deeper sea water,, that does not get spread out overjniles of shallow mud flz.ts, where the mud bottom itself is Brought down near freezing point while the tide is out on a cold night. I have explained all these things year.? ago, but while the ''net find line " men Hire blinded by their own selfish ideas, thay will honestly believe that the improved methods of catching the fish is causing the scarcity of fish in the gulf. It is oasily understood th.E,t the outer waters of the gulf are ..very much warmer in winter than the waters on the Thames Gulf, that are mixed with a continuous stream of icy cold water ~ from wo large rivers carrying the melted snow from the mountains, and kept cool with imost a'aaily downpour, of hailstones. '.[lie Thames fishermen . may not have noticed this, but 1 am sure the unfortunate cows on the Hauraki Plains have felt it. The questions that consumers of fish may well ask are: (1) Would the Thames men work the outer, waters of the gulf if the trawlers were forced outside ? (2) Could they, with their " hsnd gear," work the deeper waters as well as steam trawlers are doing ? This seems to me a, matter of selfish interests being used toy a set of men. who, for want of knowing' better, would abolish up-to-date methods and machinery and go back to the d&rk ages. If the outer waters of the gulf cannot be worked efficiently by the ]:ine and hand-n';t ;men, it is very clear that the consumers of fish will suffer, and the general prosperity of the community he retarded. If > trawlers catch more fish they also circulate more money in wages, •besides the wages on the vessels or the fish trade. If this industry is not interfered with by the State, it will soon be fhe.merns of turning the losses of many other businesses into a profit, and thereby add to the wealth and prosperity of the whole people. Another silly idea is for the State to prohibit the exportation of fish. I could understand the State putting an export duty on fish to raise revenue, so as to .make "concessions" to other taxpayers but to think that to prohibit the export, or put an export duty on fish will increase the supply, so as to lower the local prices, is more than "illy nonsense. A. Sanfojid. Devonport, September 1. •

HELENSVILLE STATION. ' Sir,—Will you kindly allow me space to reply to a letter from Mr. James Stewart, which appeared in your issue of Saturday, September 1, ro Helensville railway station. In the firs? place the Town Hoard had nothing to do with calling a meeting. A deputation -waited on the chairman of the Helensville Town Board and asked him to. convene a public meeting Co discuss the proposal for a . central passenger platform for Helensville. The chairman- at once consented, and a 'date was fixed —April 23, at 8 p.m. Mr. W. Rimmer and myself then attended a meeting of the Helensville Chamber •of Commerce, and the matter of a central station was discussed, and it was decided that a deputation, consisting of the chairman of the Helensville Town Board, Mr. Bernard, Mr. John Grey, ; and myself, should wait on: She- Auckland, traffic manager and the district engineer and get their views on the matter. This, was prior to the public •meeting. After hearing those two gentlemen, 1 for one came away satisfied they were favourable to a central passenger platform. Mr. Stewart, knowing the _ result of - the interview, smarted a petition, on the morning prior to the public meeting, with the idea of forestalling the meeting. At the meeting a motion was moved in favour of a central station ; an amendment was moved and lost. Mr. Stewart moved another amendment in accordance with what he has written, and 69 voted for it, bat the original motion was not put, and the' meeting broke up.. : Mr.' Stewart.states (that ; the meeting was. largely attended; others state that 300 Were present. That 'being so, there were 231, in the hall who did not vote, which shows all the greater .reason that the original motion should have been put. As a matter of fact some of the speakers stated to those who sighed the, petition that morning that they could not consistently vote as they had stultified themselves by. signing in the morning a, petition, not knowing what they were iiisning, and they refused to vote on any proposal. Mr. Stewart next re f ers to Mr. McLeod's petition, " the ;• signatures to which have been 1 obtained - from almost the four corners of the Auckland Province." I know nothing of such .a petition. .At a. meeting of Mairetahi ratepayers, held in the. Agricultural Hall,. Helensville, it-was proposed that a petition should be prepared and signed, asking the Minister for Railways to .have a central station . erected at IfJelensville. Petitions were got r out, and were signed by a majority of the Helensville . town, and the whole of Parkburst, Parakai, Te Pua., and other surrounding districts of Helensville. So careful were I,hose procuring the signatures that they would not allow, visitors at Parakai [Springs : to sign, and I hold they, would have been quite justified in signing as they use the'' railway and station at Helensirille.' SI ; was. then asked if I would proceed to Wellington and .present the .petition to the Minister for Railways.- I agreed to do so, arid I am pleased to <;ay I took a "petition containing 573 genuine names. That I reside at Mount Albert is quite true, .but I. use the rail to Helensville 'about once a week. _ I am also ii' ratepayer in Mairetahi riding, and . a ••■••.ratepayer, of ; Helensville . Town Board, and I consider the best qualification is pay up your rates. •.•'" : \ James McLeod. ■ St. Luke's Roiid, Mount Albert,- . I , September 3, 1923. : /•

. WATCHMAKERS' APPRENTICES. ■; Sir,—As remarks have been passed by Mr. : Albert Sp.'mcer, president of the Auckland Provincial Employers' . Association, on the apprentice question, I should; l:lke to shed some light on the maitei from the point of view of a practical watchmaker. . Oil' late years, no apprentices have been ! learning this profession, and the reasons -lire not so much that the practical watchmakers "do not want to teach, apprentice!i.; as that it is almost a financial . .impossibility, for a . practical watchmaker to take an apprentice under the .conditions' at. present existing.' : The business of watch repairing is now in the , hands tjjf shopkeepers, who own large establishments, and many of them are not. watchmakers, and have no. knowledge, practical ipr otherwise, of i the busi ness of watch repairing. These shop-, keepers get wat'h repairs from the public bv advertising that- thev are .watchmakers. The watches 'are then eiven out to be repaired b;ir chamber workers, working in offices of their own, or any old hole ox corner they can find. The seldom pay the chamber worker a sufficient price to allow liim to put his best work into the watches, and also a very large percentage of the chamber workers- do clbean smd nasty: work. Consequently, if, a skilled tradesman wants, to secure the work, he has to come down to the level iri work and price of the unskilled and cheap man.' his ouita a number of skilled men have declined to do,' and a o'Wtl few of them: have given up the struggle and have gone to other occupations.. • A watchmaker's ' apprentice, if he is gainer to be taught the trade properly, is a dead loss to his employer for the .first two years , of- his apprenticeship. Can it he wandered at that '; practical watchmakers. under present conditions, do not cure to take ok apprentices ? • The only way -to brine this profession hack to ? the , once honourable position it occupied' is to ;ive'all practical and qualifi°d men "registered* as dentists and plumbers are. and to prevent people from advertising thalv thev are watchmakers when they are not. Tf this wore done, it would be worth while teaching apprenices, and the ; public would also be protected. . U. J, < . Wtlmam Wit son, ' Matchmaker, Hamilton* -

; W.A.TERSIDEB9' HOSPITAL WP^K- : Sir, —I wondor do oar city folk know of the 1 beautiful work being done 'by the . watersiders at our big public hospital ? I had heard about it incidentally, but .last Sunday, had the pleasure- of setting for myself this noble bit of work being done. From ward to ward, from bed to bed, moved the "horny-handed sons of toil," and those horny hands carried loads of . sweets to every patient— just a doledout fragment, but • chocolates, peppermints, butterscotch, etc. To those who had no personal friends to 7 visit them, :it was a mute witness of a Sayiour's love, through hearts that beat in tuna with the Infinite. To those who had friends, 'it came as a sweet and glad surprise. No one was forgotten or overlooked, and tender grateful glances followed the generous givers, I asked : " How; are these comforts paid for • "Oh, we tax ourselves," waa the cheerful reply. " And do yon get money enough," Well, if some of our ' cobbers ' would drink less beer and give more" help, we could do still greater work,' 1 was the candid answer. In an age when so many think of self only, this beautiful work stands out. unique and lovely. For seven years it has gone on. Will watersiders and seamen unite to carry it on " until the day dawn and the' shadows flee away 1 ?" In truest admiration. Bessie Lee Cowie. THE PAN-PACIFIC CONFERENCE. . Sir,—The Pan-Pacific Conference has come' to an end. I must say I was not satisfied with the results. Theoretic science, is necessary, but we must live, and applied science is an aid to economic progress. I would like to have seen more practical , progress for , fighting enemies, checks to progress. Dr. Tillyard discussed natural enemies for woolly aphis on apple trees. But natural enemies, fire often unreliable. It is better to feed the | plant (for we must take* it that diseases or -parasites will not affect fully healthy plants). I think this can be done from experiments I' have made and am making, but there are so many causes that might operates to confuse the issue- that . more time is ' needed to be sure. In regard to aphis on turnips and such things,; as are reputed to have spoiled the turnips this season, I am convinced tbcv could have been rendered innocuous by wholesale treatment of the plants by " feeding." Blight on potatoes and rust on beans seem amenable, on the lines that the only satisfactory way to, deal with injurious bacteria or fungi is by "feeding." "Feeding " the plant ana the bacteria at the same time destroying the bacteria by obesity and hardening the .." plant against the fungi. And, of course, the weather. So far we cannot modify weather, but we can make provision for it, and it is on the question of seasonal forecasts I would like to see the professors get,, busy. ~ .The. trees last autumn - pre- . saged a wet season, and the thunderstorm we had last May gave an indication of a poor growing season. But this wants more study, and the various . phenomena | classifying and perhaps reducing to instrumental forecasting. Sam. A. Browne. ... Clovo.don, .. September 1, .. 1923. ;,- . ..

ACCOUNTANTS' EXAMINATION;' ■ - Six,—ln your report of the annua! meeting _ of the New Zealand Accountants' Society, it. is stated that two speakers said the standard of examination is not unnecessarily high. . 1 am a ;; fairly quick worker myself, and I. .; hive . before me a copy of the questions and answers, and I find it takes me all ray time to even copy out the whole of the answers comfortably, in .that tune, so what sort of a chance has the slow worker got when the problems have to be worked .out, not copied out?' ,I.have before me also a copy of the Australian book-keeping papers of : last year. i They are by no means so stiff, but candidates are allowed -34 hours as against i our - 3 hours. m Our . men >. should ; be allowed 4 hours to do: justice to themselves* or at any rate 3£ .' hours. Why should a man be put back for' a year because he cannot dc in' = threes hours 'what he can do thoroughly'-'M-'four? 'This is supposed ,to be an examination, not a race against time He knows the work just as well, but everybody cannot work at, the . same rate.. In daily practice an accountant will keep, one waiting for. a week or ten -days for an answer to a problem of a simpler nature than any one of those in last year's book-keeping, the whole of which , a; candidate was supposed' to have worked out in r.hriie hours! But of what practical use are examinations? None,: I "say, be-' cause they don't '■ fulfil their purpose. * :If examinations were to. serve their original purpose of finding out a man's knowledge of his subject—well and good, but they don't,. arid • the harmful of crah) : ming are too well known to need any comment. It does not create ~ tasting knowledge; it is only ' spurious.' and /she examination system is a racing test of speed over trick hurdles and .ditches which is not fair to the candidate or the profession. : It is like 'taking a'ticket in Tattersals under -1 present conditions, ■. so the sooner the time limit is reasonably increased • to give every candidate ; a fair chance of showing that .he does ' or does not know his subject, the better. 5 : " Fiat JuSTITIA."