LETTER TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18706, 12 May 1924, Page 7

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

MAORI ~ DOGS. Sir,—Did the Maoris * have dogs prior to .the advent of the > pakehafcYtlE-.has; been; stoutly affirmed by : the older Maoris that! their■ forefathers had -dogs prior H to the pakeha'a advent," hut I can find no authority on the subject either in con-* ; firmation or contradiction of the statement. - . W.B.M NORTH t MAIN -, HIGHWAY. Sir,— hear that a toll of traffic passing over!; the Great North Road' and the New North Road is to be taken this i week with a view to giving the Highways Board an idea which is the road to be put down in concrete. r This is hardly a air test of vehicles, using the roads, since New North Road has been put in fairly .good order, the Mannkau Road to Avondale''.station has been.relaid,! while Blown Street has been : bituminised. All these tend to divert the traffic from Great North Road; as motorists certainly prefer the former route. f( Great North Road has not had anything in the shape of repairs done to it for the last 15 months, except a • portion lying between Brown Street ana the post office, and has to carry the seven-ton brick lorries of. Messrs. 'Craig .and Winstone, besides ■;• others carrying scoria for the estates being roaded. Further, if Great North . Road is taken it will avoid the death-traps (railway crossings), whereas if it is decided to use the New North Road, this must' bo, or else a new railway bridge. There , is a large quantity of land ? adjacent to the Great , North Road which is being cut up for building purposes. :,; The „ City Council is bringing the trams to Point Chevalier. The distance from the city boundary to Whan Bridge is not so great as from the city boundary via New North Road. .•.;•-.; Faib Play. ': ! MOUNT EDEN AND * THE ' CITY. Sir, Mr. 7 H. E. Vaile suffers from an unfortunate inability to see that there are two aides to the question of amalgamation. It is unfortunate, because there isa good deal to be said on our side. There are undoubtedly districts • which axe too small i to be r able to give effective local government, and they do well to seek amalgamation. There are other districts which, are too large to give effective local government. - They are so conscious of this in England that provision was made; in 1899 that when a portion of the London County area reached certain population it should be set up as a borough with its own Mayor, councillors and administration.' Under this arrangement, a number of boroughs .have been ■; constituted, and tho same procedure takes place round the other big cities ' of Britain. "" Mr. ; Vaile says that if Auckland is to take its place as a big city, it must absorb its neighbours, but why? The particular method of local government ;i does not .affectY. its existence as a city, though-; it may have a considerable effect on the well-being of its inhabitants. Mr. Vaile should not charge us with parochialism. , The chief feature of the whole movement has, been a tendency to rely on declamation rather than argument, and we ~have supplied . what reasoning has hitherto appeared, and hard words are no ■■ substitute > for = good reasons. I.;. propose .5 to continue -the advocacy of bringing main services under central boards. This is not a question between one local body and another, but is a matter which affects the good government of Greater Auckland as a whole.:' - ' • ' i> ■'■ E. H. Potter. . Sir,—The mis-statements made -by the opponents of this proposal are ridiculous, but unfortunately the Gilbertian tales are believed by a few who do not- think for themselves, and }. are '.; satisfied to * let professional canvassers •: tickle ! their ears with I any old story which • suits their : employer's side. The residents must ■ consider on Tuesday if the opposition is run for. the : good of our borough. The 5 canvassing ! by employees of the. council will,- of course, '; be ( boomerang-like?-to the t; borough sup-i ' porters. ; The tale told by all" is 7that; "our rates r will : be ;; higher." ; The 'v' totalt amount paid by each r resident yearly. is I the thing that concerns -him. Herewith ■ are ) the , total; amounts paid by ; a:> house at! ; £40 rating in Mount Eden compared with \ a similar dwelling in Auckland City. As the .largest l portion of <<Mount;' Eden, 1 the rock ; ground, is .-. not connected : with ?! the! sewerage, the residents have V to pay Z a contractor \ : 10s per quarter for his services, « Thi3 ;. is, of i' course, a •, rate; or - its i equivalentMt. Eden: At;3s sd, £6 16s 8d ;* water ' rate (minimum, £1 1 6s 8d; ; sanitary : contractor,; £2 y- less discount Yon £6 16s Bd(3s4d); £10 on £40 dwelling, which equals 5s in the pound. Auckland i City: At 33 10d } £7 13s 4d; 2 per cent. water rate, 16s; water closet charge, '■■ 15s; - £9 '4s 4d, which, on £40 dwelling, equals! -4sY 7Ad ! in : the •; pound. The. Mount Eden ratepayer is now paying; 4|d in the . pound more than the- fortunate ratepayers of ~' the city, and without any claim on to J city's services, etc. The! fact that Mount-Eden still dumps' the borough rubbish in a hole 100 ft. from our main road/ leaving it to be . destroyed by rats,"' is enough to ; ! warrant :any. resident voting; for the amalgamation proposal, so that the rubbish would be destroyed '). in ?, destructor. ; The ; rats' from the festering tip ■ are the direct;cause of the sickness which has just''swept through the. district, j and I can! say that worse is coming, for the tip is in va? disgraceful state, and ! the wet weather will ; soon drive the hordes of- rats from the 1 tips to the surrounding houses. After' the heavy rain lately, the top of. the tip ■. was lifting \ like r!; the surface Vof boiling water, and ';, the stench was unbearable. Every resident, ~ rate \ or! rent payer, must! think for himself jj. examine his own payments for last year, and visit the Mount? Eden tip. Then the ' result of the poll would bo certain., . .- T. McNab. . Sir,— Vaile quotes London as an example for amalgamation, ; but" his • conception of the local government of r' that great city is entirely wrong. , The City of London J. covers an area of 1120 .acres. whicn is 280 acres smaller ' than the borough of Mount Eden. : Its affairs are . managed by the Corporation of the City of London, which has no control or jurisdiction »oyer the surrounding boroughs. Greater London, known! as the metropolitan area, is % divided into 28 boroughs, created ;: by the London Metropolitan * Boroughs Act, # 1899. ; i Each of* these ; boroughs has its own mayor, aldermen and councillors. »f Each ¥ of the smaller !; dis- : i tricts outside the j Metropolitan Area is - ruled by : an ; urban;!; district council or rural - council until the' population becomes large . enough ;; to ! apply : or/ a charter <' to form a borough. , The London County Council is the • central authority .' for the County 5 of London, exclusive of ?! the ■: City of London. . This central body controls education, 'tramways, the licensing and registration of all motor vehicles," and is responsible for maintaining and policing all parks! and other open spaces in .the county, which "covers an '•■■' area of 117 square miles. Tvt v . • ■ - . I ■ have been * closely associated with borough council work in' London fcr 25 years, and there has never been any suggestion, that any of .the metropolitan boroughs should j amalgamate ! with the City of London. In fact, to suggest such a thing would be an to the intelligence of the ratepayers of Greater London, who would' view such a project as j a surrender of their birthright. On the other,hand, I am sure -the; Lord Mayor : of London, who ! controls the city area, would fnot favour such ;•• a movement, -; for obvious reasons. ' The passing of the London Metropolitan Boroughs Act, 1899. - was a "red letter" day in -ithe history of '•- municipal reform and since then all agitation for a better form of local govern- ! ment has ceased. 'Similar powers were given to the provinces to form borough councils by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and the areas * outside i. the cities of Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester; ; Sheffield, etc., are*now? divided : into numerous boroughs. .- If the prime movers '• of this .proposed amalgamation scheme honestly believe : in the .wonderful ! benefits the ratepayers of Mount Eden are to -receive on 'joining; thai city;; why did v they ;< not v move ? in that 'h direction: when they were in-office •*, If they ' had don« so and the scheme, proved a success, they would have made history in Auckland and immortalised their names. Njw Ctaum ' - . . \,\

A MOTORIST'S GRIEVANciI Sir,—l would lika to make a few inquiries. Firstly, why are motor-bums permitted jto stop opposite safety ; zones tot the purposes of 'receiving and \ discharging passengers; to th* great discomfort, grave ■ danger, and delay of other traffic? Secondly, has one any remedy when motorbusea on suburban narrow • reads will not permit one to pass, despite frequent requests to do so?* The writer, nearly, had his car overturned ■ twice recently in trying to pass one of these hogs, ' through having to drive into *! the '!' gutter to get past. The driver of this bus had, on the advice of passengers, zig-zagged - across road for fully half-a-mile in Y the attempt to prevent the writer passes- . .;/;, F.A.H. ' ' RATLWAYMEN'S STRTKE." i ' —It is 4 « be regretted that the vr a TT of the Marxian = Socialist • Party, / Mr. Holland, should see fit to place the TyC blame for the fail.ire of the recent laii- ! B way strike on tlu«tho;ilden of the ! f men Tf, themselves, and endeavour to whitewash" : ~ the action of himself and the leaders of the strike at t,he same time. The truth ci> : the matter is, that the cause of v.-'the V !' " :"-' stride rested on the shoulders of Mr. Hol-Y land. and his party, for had he acted in >; the m-eresta of the low-paid workers, instead of his own selfish ends, during the tune when th■:» bill dealing with the "cut" was before the House there would ; not have been t'ae ] dissatisfaction! -'• existing among the railwaymen to-day. The workers of New Zealand for some vears past have been made to suffer as a" consequence of the policy of direct action, ■ which has been preached into their ears - by the disciples of the German propagandist, Karl Marx. Mr. Holland and his Marxian band have done their best to poison the minds of the workers Of this country with that stuff, but they always see to it that they themselves are in such a position that come .whatlinav, they will receive their regular income even though the workers and their wives and families should experience the hardships which necessarily accompany a strike. It will be found upon investigation that not one New Zealander is to be found among theleaders of the Marxian Socialists here >.:-. who have been proclaiming ,".' from the hilj-tdps how their hearts bleed for the workers. '£ The railway fiasco has very forcibly demonstrated .that these so-called !. leaders with their German methods are able to precipitate a strike whenever they deem it opportune for their own notoriety, - and when the day goes against them they" are always ready to blame the: other fel-.■- !-'Y low for the non-success of .the conflict. Y ' !'' New Zealandeb. ;.' INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. Sir,—Your■ !r correspondent, v P ''W. 8.," Otorohanga, ! asserts that history disproves the claim that Christianity effected noticeable changes in the trend' of human con- !! duct in the past. Seeing > that ■■; practically all. extensive, reforms have : been of . slowY ■ growth is it. possible that an historian, in the short span :of , : his \ earthly.; activity,;'. would be able to ! note, and weigh, the " magnitude - of. such changes? .-■* As \we read the records of the past, making due allow-: ance c for ■> the tendency ■ ; of v historians Y : to ; : paint a rosy picture, we are . forced to the conclusion that an altered condition of living,has ensued since even:the! "Dark Y Ages." Y: Being :! certain that Y nation-wideY improvements in conduct are not produced through people muttering "Kismet," arid,YY-'' standing idly aside to watch evolution sort the tangle as |each day presents its ■ case, it! is ; natural to inquire ' what, has: . brought about the change. Yls it to. say 1 that, because the world to-daV appears to; %j. be ; bored with Christian ideals and.; ideal-. '■, ists, these have not been largely the factors responsible for instituting the change ?>!"; It :is perilously easy to spurn the hand. that has raised us,!up!; and ? . placed' usY ; upon a, pedestal. !. Your v correspondent claims that, tested in the ! laboratory of modern science .■. the propaganda of Christianity has been .proved untrue.; .That is - ■■■ as yet more conjecture. There are 'elementsY in Christianity that Yno. science yet devised i 3 competent ' to, capture, much less test or pass judgment upon. Even -as ' medical science may dissect a human body •■<■■ limb from limb, i bone from bone, muscle from muscle, cell from cell, without discovering: the actual seat of that- great dynamic we" call life, so Christianity may be taken to pieces, Y doctrine by doctrine, -Y; precept by precept, line by line, in, tho\ theatre' of criticism, without?the 'source '■■ of its' true converting : influence being discovered. And, - though - some : sections of the Christian' Church ' may have lost the presence •>* of K.'thatY volatile spirit and - would endeavour to! fasten the ; hampering dead body of '■ an ecclesiastical formula upon the community, Christianity, as a re- ; generating ■ spirit in the life : - of "humanity during the last nineteen centuries cannot, be denied. Jchx Thomas. Kawakawa, May 8, 1924.