LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18661, 18 March 1924, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM. - " -..Sir,—Replying' to -"Stone," I_ am not a practical man, but I want to stop money being sent out' of this province, when we have some of the best granite in the Dominion within some forty miles of Auck- [ land. If the local stone is not used, then I will be extremely sorry that I ever became . a ,>:/••" '- ." Heakty .Subscriber.' -.■■ Sir,-—Mrs. Cheeseman,' with a woman's intuition, "touches the spot." I have miUions of tons of Coromandel granite, and I have intimated to the authorities that I am open to deliver it on wharf Auckland or to let them go into the quarry only 400 ft. from the sea and work it at lowest possible cost to them. I am open to make any fair arrangement so that the im'perishable granite may be used in the memorial to our dead fellowcolonists. R. R. Hunt. ••'.•".. TE PUIA SPRINGS. Sir,— have an* excellent representa- , tive in many ways in Mr. K. S. Wil- | liams, but j- he is sadly remiss in not j pressing the Government to erect a new j and up-to-date ■ accommodation house at | TePuia Springs. A good many people i would go there, who cannot afford to go J to Ruatorea. It is now a good many J years since the old one was burned down, : and his neglect in this matter will cost ! him a good many votes at the next elecj tion. Ax Elector WAIMAUKU ■' ■'. ':' Sir,—ln Saturday's Herald Mercutio asks what evil deed has Waimauku 1 been guilty of that its name should be eliminated from the map? Waimauku has made the grievous mistake of becoming popular, and, by 5 the generous reports of its activities, receiving recognition in the Hsrald. It seems that a certain outside element is jealous of our progress, and is doing its best to change the good old name. Surely ; the old Waimauku. pioneers would "turn"' at the suggested nomenclature 7. of —ville, though perhaps some of the newer residents would welcome Mercutio's "suggestion of "Lime Juice and Soda." A Mere Woman." Sir, —It may interest ''Mercutio " and others to know that the proposed change of name with reference to Waimauku in no way emanates from the Progressive League. A few < of the settlers, who are of opinion the ; name; should •;■ be changed, sent to the league asking it to take the matter up. The league's reply was that it was a question for the whole district and that the proper course was to call a public meeting at which arguments for and against could be heard, new name suggested, and a decision reached whether a poll of the district should be taken. " Mercutio "also asked why the change was desired. The information given to the league was that at the present moment, :";-. fertilisers, .-.■. wire, t mail -. ■ and' other articles are lying at Waimamaku, which were directed and ; consigned y, to Waimauku. These errors are continually taking place, in spite of complaints. There is no objection -to' Waimauku y itself as a name for the township. --It is ; simply that the postal and "■ railway officials are, at times, unable to discern any difference between the written wOrds, Waimauku and Waimamaku. V Brandy and Soda. MATRICULATION. Sir, —It is understood that the Secondary Schools Association, ; undeterred by the recent adverse vote of the Senate, is again going to attempt to induce the Senate to abolish the matriculation examination. To abolish the matriculation when every other British university retains an entrance examination is simply to lower the status of our degrees without any compensating advantage. It is to be hoped that when the matter comes before the university > authorities they will -remember*-that 'those who graduated in forme;- times have an equitable claim; that the ' degrees they Worked , for shall not bo degraded to suit an educational fad, B.A. HEALTH MATTERS. Sir,— that Aucklanders are talking iseriously about cleansing their city may I mention some matters that, should be put right. First of all I suggest that some cleaner and more up-to-date method should be used in removing garbage from. houses. Surely covered vans could ; be pro? cured with a seat outside for the driver; Another nuisance I would direct attention to, which must help to produce flies and: other pests, to say nothing of unpleasant odours, is the keeping of fowls'* in small holdings. No fowls should be kept within a chain of any house or boundary. It is cruel to see the poor things cooped up in all weathers with no run and no, fresh grass. Concrete: yards and whitewashed perches will not keep fowls healthy. They ; require space and fresh air, Recent Resident. / a ——— A TRAMWAY NUISANCE. Sir,' —The state of the tramlines in front of St. Columba's -Church, Surrey Crescent, Grey Lynn, is disgraceful. The services in the church have to be stopped whenever a tram passes. The congregation cannot hear the ;. vicar|s voice and the vicar waits until 'the , dreadful. din sur> sides. There never seems to be a tram in sight • when I am in a hurry, but at church time the trams seem* to rattle past in an endless procession and .with a nerve-racking bang and crash and roar. this part of Grey Lynn any representative on ; the City: Council? I am sure the i Mayor ';.' has never visited this par I of the city, for no God-fearing and neighbour-loving } man who >; could prevent this outrage on ; his creatures would allow it to continue for a day. • Did I call thorn tramlines? They are a tangled mass of wobbly stones and shrieking scrap-iron. . Norman E. Burton. THE CONDUCT OF SURVEYS. " Sir,—-The ; complaint by Mr. A. H. Bridge, president of the New Zealand Institute ' of Surveyors, that the new survey regulations are considerably more exacting as regards : land transfer surveys nan the previous regulations,: is supported by "it," in .-I the Herald of the 13th inst. To prove his case "R" quotes what he calls three 1 new? requirements: —(1) lhc rule which. requires i field-books to be sent in with the plan. | He, says that the effect of this is that the surveyor has to keep two books. I would Tike-'to. draw "It.'s" attention to Regulation 107 of the previous survey regulations. The last part reads: "Traverse tables, signed by the surveyor, are to,; be sited with, field-bock and plan." So • number cue is no new rule. (2) The rule which requires that- a survey must be started ivom two standards, and the bearing checked oti to a third not in the 'same line as the other two. There is no land transfer survey regulation saying that you cannot check your bearing on to a third standard in the same lino as the other two. • (3) That they temperature must be '.taken. By the; previous regulations in all town surveys the correction; for temperature was required and many surveys allowed for temperature in country work as well. So perhaps the new regulations will bring aft surveys into line. "R." says that in the measurement of ; a hasp line re-.: cently the correction for temperature .' made' only .08 of a link difference in 5001 links, and that the correction should be ignored. "In a three-mile base line this would give an error of 3-84 links and base lines require to be chained with a great : deal more refinement than thatThe excuse that there have • been very; few claims, on the Land ; Transfer .Assurance Fund under the old regulations is. no reason for doing bad work. Even if, there were no assurance fund the work should be of a ditgh ? standard, so as to. save disputes Avhen boundaries' have to be redefined. Hence ' the regulations. r ,i, ■-' .■■■ ■ .■■■ A-S. - ' '-* '-."■' ' ■'". ' -.-■ ■ ■ .'•'«•• * ,';- ■'-.. /•■ ■;:-

•—: ; ; -- ' U. ' - « - H ,l MATERNAL MORTALITY, f' - ' ■ _ Sir,—ln my letter upon the: above siabr '/ ject 1 stated that an extension" of the- . Plunket organisation .would naturally lead ■, to the formation of a Motherhood League. ■ . The functions of such a league could not include the supervision of maternity hos- , • pitals, which must obviously remain the - . duty of the Qovernmenl. I regret that ■■. my remarks upon this subject have* been misunderstood, but I did not suggest that such supervision could be undertaken by ■the Plunket Society. The suggestion in your editorial of Monday to associate with I the •■■ Karitane , Hospitals model maternity wards and a corps of Plunket roidwi opens up a big question which would need ' much serious consideration. In any. case ; such' a matter does not come within- the jurisdiction of a branch president, ;- Maude Parses. Sir, —Your sub-leader on " Save the Mothers" is timely. There surely is no need for any overlapping of the St. Helens State nurses. These— together : with the trained surgical nurses who will, no doubt, as a result of the Royal Commission into maternity matters resume their full course of training— be quite: sufficient to carry on the sen-ice of midwifery' without any new organisation coming into the field. You state that " many/ mothers rely upon private hospitals or nurses at present free from adequate supervision." Are we to take it that a new organisation will be carried , tin under rules different from those that are supposed to guide our present private hospitals and nurses? A stricter supervision of all maternity hospitals — State and private— is bound to be a result of the late commission. This, with the enforcement of the Midwives Act of 1908 and the carrying out of its provisions strictly to the letter, will leave no doubt in the mind of the public as to adequate ■•■ provision havjng been made for the safety of mothers in maternity hospitals.; To these 'same rules and regulations any new organisation must necessarilv conform. - . ■*~';..>•:.; ..::■.- ..E.Nicox.;',.._.: ■ ' .•.-.,'.' - ' -v ■■■■■■'. •' ■■ ; ■ ■ ''■■'' -'. NEW RAILWAY OUTLET. Sir,— discussing the new railway outlet, the Otahuhu Borough, Council lias made reference to huge cuttings r.nfl heavy grades That will be met with at Dunn's Hill, close to Westfield freezing works. . Upon making inquiries, I am informed that the hill in question has been avoided during survey. Therefore :no cuttings will be required at the position mentioned. On the contrary, there will be slight fillings necessary to level up a small swampy portion through which the. proposed line has been surveyed. The suggested ; deviation would not only cause additional heavy expenditure, in purchase of lands, laving down and forming, etc., but would/ also cause consider- ' able delay in the route already decided upon. *T uphold th© remarks made by too managers of Westfield industries, which' appeared in the Herald of March 12, that should heavy freights i to ; and from the works have to go to Mangere, before it reaches the deviation, this? would cause > endless delay and congestion. I consider the line as surveyed from Auckland to Westfield will serve the purpose for which it is intended, viz. ', to relieve : the haulage and expenditure on the lines at present in use.. - S. Hamlin. " Member Mount Wellington Road '/Board. ..' : ■ - MOSQUITOES AND FLIES. ;Sir,~-Many letters have appeared in your columns with suggestions for the elimination of flies .and mosquitoes. - As long as we allow stables on our main streets, or anywhere in the city, we shall have swarms of fli«is and as long as we have to endure the present system vof - garbage collection so long shall .we have old" tins and ( accumulations of rubbish, in many backyards. The housewife is afraid to put out anything not burnable for. fear of the growl of the "lord of the dustcart." I fear me that "the order of the greasy palm" is much in evidence. They;; growl if a few wet tea-leaves get into thedustbin or garbage tin and the wife'. of a /working man cannot afford to give tips to have the n>n-combUstibjje rubbish taken unsay. If the- dust- ; man .can* only take stuff - that will ■ . burn in '' our lisp-to-date destructor, what happens to the thousands of fish, jam and fruit tins, etc..? They accumulate in the backyards, collect water and warmed by the sun, provide the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes'. We pay sanitation rates and' we should - have . an , adequate service. There* should be ho question of what the 'dustcart shall or shall not take. f.vlfi should take ail ..possible " rubbish, combustible or arid give the people a chance to get rid of their,old tins all the time. There are no mosquitoes" around Lake St. John; too many enemies There are no com; ; plaints from the .houses closeMo the: lake... , No, the 1 hot-ben 'for mosquitoes is is the crowded, city. . .. Put All, Take All. . THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Sir,— unfortunate incident at the Runanga „ School naturally attracts public attention and we must all commend His Excellency for discharging an unpleasant duty in ; reminding the authorities concerned of. their shortcoming : in _an important respect. The explanation given .t by the,good sisters concerned is undoubtedly given in' good faith, but it ■ lays bare' the fact .that indifference to their duty in impressing upon their young charges loyalty to the Crown has been a feature of their school system. Such, I take it, is the natural conclusion, one may draw, when it is admitted that the children of the school are ignorant of even how to sing the National Anther.., perhaps never heard ,of it. This I* not us it should be anddespite' ail that is /,/ often said to the contraryis rot characteristic of our Catholic schools or communities. The great proportion of out Catholics in New Zealand are of Irish birth or and the children arid grandchildren of loyal men and. women— who have done their duty nobly in helping to build up this fine young country. // Many were connected with the /Royal Irish and other Imperial regiments— therefore were an important factor" in our Empire building. . These men ■ are 1 ever ready to respond* to the call to -fluty when the Empire needs them—as witness the late great war. For then' Catholic . . blood and treasure poured forth liberally in defence of our common British ideal?. The Catholic community yields the palm to no other section when a standard of comparison' in that respect is sought to be set up. Catholic.