LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22509, 28 August 1936, Page 15

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

HARBOUR BRIDGE Sir, —To those who are clamouring for a harbour bridge, I would suggest that their efforts should first be directed to having the main roads reconstructed so that they can bo negotiated in all weathers. The bridge at Dairy Flats — which is within a comparatively few miles of the city—is an example of the main highway becoming impassable when rain above the avei'age occurs, - tli ereby restricting the irso of the proI posed bridge, undoubtedly premature . as it is. With the existing ferry and vehicular transport the harbour can bo crossed at all times, excessive rain or j uo rain. Road User. s NEW ZEALAND HISTORY Sir, —In your issue of Tuesday a letter ' I roni Mr. John Haselden on the above ' subject appears, and as a casual visitor I agree with him that a greater 5 study of past interesting events would be serviceable to the future residents . of this country. One tiling I must mention about Auckland is, the little interest it seems to take in paying due appreciation to its originator, Governor Hobson. 1 may say as far as I ' can see your commemorative achieveincut of his fine vision has been to 3 name a back street after him; while ' the waterfront drive, part of which 1 he trod, you named from a creek, and your city fathers accept and approve. j 1 Such is appreciation. Gai.gorm. ! LONDON CHAMBER REPORT Sir, —"C.L.P." says that about two years ago he read a London Chamber of Commerce report and that it contained a complete mis-statement of 1 fact. He then says that my quotation from its report that "Nothing short of complete reform of the money system 3 can avert disaster" is stripped from its ~ qualifying contexts and so not worth . the paper it is printed on. It would be , interesting to know what context could ' qualify a simple direct statement like I that. If "C.L.P." instead of evading the point would say directly of this, j as he says of the other statement in . the report, that it is a complete mis--1 statement of fact, your readers could then decide which to accept, the opinion of "C.L.P." or that of the London Chamber of Commerce. E.C.C. i • CREDIT MANIFESTO Sir, —On my return to Auckland my 1 attention has been drawn to Mr. Holds- • worth's communication to your paper with reference to debt free money. Mr. - Holdsworth set out statements made 1 to him at the time of signing and says - that what he signed was a paper bear--1 ing the names of some well-known Auckland men. 1 have inspected the - original letter, and the position is - that what both Mr. Holdsworth and ' Msgr. Holdsworth signed was the ' original typed letter headed in capitals, "An Open Letter," and was • signed by both these gentlemen 011 the : front page. It is surprising to hear a ' business man of Mr. Holdsworth's long experience state that he signed a docti- ' ment without knowing its contents. It is a fair inference that he was equally > casual in giving his understanding to what was said to him. The letter was not published at the instigation of the signatories. It is regrettable that any . misunderstanding should arise between , people working in the public interest. Brian Dunningham. THE FARM MORTGAGE Sir, —In your issue of August 19 appears a report of the monthly meeting of the Auckland provincial branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, which includes the following statement:—A protest against any action by the Government in the direction of reducing farm mortgages to the level of the guaranteed price was made in the following resolution: "That mortgage reduction to the level of tho present guaranteed price, which is economically unfair to the farmer, in that it ties him to a depressed price lower than the awards to other sections, must be disastrous to the farmers and to the country, since it will amount to a confiscation of capital from both farmers and mortgagees. We reaffirm that the 1 only fair solution is a raising of farm produce prices to a level which will restore farm equities and enable farm commitments to be met." As a member of tho Farmers' Union, 1 must say I was completely astounded at the above, and lost 110 time in getting in touch with as many of our local members as possible, including our president and secretary, and, in each case, the views expressed were the extreme opposite to those of tho resolution. 1 challenge the executive to show where any country branch gave them authority to address such a resolution either to the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance. Personally, I think that, had tho past Government taken this step, there would not have been such hardship and privation, and possibly no need for the pegging of exchange, and cutting old age pensions, etc. The dairy farmers are kept pretty busy at this season, and our meetings suffer accordingly, but we certainly cannot let our Auckland executive get away with this. Waihou. Andrew ,J. Lowry. THE NAVY LEAGUE Sir, —1 shall be glad if you will permit me space to correct the misapprehension existing in "Ex-Naval Man's" mind, as expressed in his letter in Monday's issue, and possibly others who may have the same idea. The Navy League is far from being a social organisation, its main activities being of a vastly different nature, but naturally tho social activities which it does carry out for the benefit of its funds, and the popularising of its cause, are usually well reported, hence the possible mistaken idea of its work. The Navy League has always helped deserving ex-naval men and their families when in distress. Since the Great War, we helped financially wliifc funds were available, we repatriated several families where the husband had died or was unable to get work, also we have done our best to find work for those who have applied to us, with a fair measure of success, and shall continue to do so. Our ladies' committee is continually helping the wives and children of needy ex-servicemen with clothing, and food if necessary. They visit the sick, they tend the graves of those who have gone, and last Christmas supplied 14 families with hampers, gave a Christmas party to all the wives and children of rat-, iugs belonging to H.M.S. Diomede on service in the Red Sea, besides 1 sending cases of cakes and books to the ship's company. If the public in general recognised as deeply as the ! Navy League does, their debt of gratitude to, and our dependence on, the < men of the Royal Navy, there would j be little difficulty in finding employ- 1 ment for them when t-hey leave tho 1 service. Our very serious work, that of | endeavouring to educate public opinion 1 to the vital necessity of sea power to I the Km pi re, and particularly to this < Dominion, carries 011 continually, and f during the past year has been 111- 1 tensified to a great extent. The Navy s f/cague should be the strongest organ- i isation in New Zealand, and we cor- c diallv invite all interested to help in c its onerous task. s C. H. T. Palmer. t President, Auckland Navy League.

NURSES' HOURS OP DUTY

; Sir, —In reference to a letter in your - column of Monday by Mr. .J. W. WilI lianison. He quoted the hours worked I by tho staff at the Auckland Mental i Hospital as over oO hours per week. 1 It is true they are over and a long " I way over, as the actual hours worked • j are over 71). There are many who ( j would like to know when (ho Govern- ■ ] ment is going to reduce the hours of , j'those over-worked staffs, knowing the. ■ j Labour Government's corner-stone is an ■ j eight-hour day for all workers. The I Labour Government long since laid : that stone, but never before had a ' chance to build on it. We have given them the opportunity now; let them do their job. Failing to introduce an eight-hour day, they will have broken I a life-long pledge. Just a Worker. r : THE FARMER'S POSITION 1 Sir, —The fanatic supporters of the s Government are telling us not to - criticise the guaranteed price until we - hear the Government's mortgage proj posals. Will these proposals add one ■ penny a pound to tho butter-fat price? [ If so my interest payments will be rc- - duccd by nearly a half, which, to say i the least of it, is a bit hard on the 3 widow of the man who first developed i inv farm. Personally I would not ob--1 ject to the guaranteed price as a price . but as a result of all the Government's promises it is very disappointing. Where is the generous interpretation of the average:-' How is the farmer to get the promised annual holiday or keep his wile or children out of the shed any ) more than hitherto? With regard to - the wage I think it is not too bad - either way. 1 would rather have 42s f 6d clear- on a farm than live in town 1 on £l. I wish the Government could f guarantee ability as well as wages! 1 Stkvk. * ' DEFENCE NEEDS I Sir, —With reference to the letter of ' "Ex-Terrier" in Monday's issue, it is ' gratifying to read that on the same 1 day, in "Wellington, the executive of j the Associated Chambers of Commerce passed a resolution supporting a more vigorous defence policy, and pointing 1 out that New Zealand depends for her defence'upon organised and trained man-power. The business community light throughout the Dominion is beginning again to support territorial training. As "Ex-Terrier" points out ' the greatest stumbling blocks to de- ■ fence training 111 this country are the • various Government departments and local bodies. There is one board in s Auckland employing hundreds of young > men, and yet not a single one is per- ■ mitted to carry out. defence training l because it slightly disorganises civil em- > ployment. The situation of the Empire > to-day is so grave that the next few 1 years may see the end of our British ! society, unless we prepare to defend - I it, yet these gentlemen cavil at a s little civil inconvenience as the price ! of security. To such depths has a sense 1 of service, to the State fallen during ; the last decade of pacifism. Defence, Not Defiance. I TRADE WITH AMERICA 1 Sir, —"Apricity" is unable to interpret my description as beneficial regarding" New Zealand. 1 imagined I had made myself quite clear upon this point by itemising the respective benefits as obtained by the use of New Zealand labour and materials, and also the customs duty, which is four times greater than that realised from British importations. Surely tljis is sufficient ■ evidence to warrant the use of the ; words "beneficial trade." 1 maintain that importations, whatever they hap- . pen to be. which use our labour and material, must naturally prove advantageous to our country. "Apricity" makes some mention of one-way trade markets being expensive and elusive. I do not think that this item has any bearing on views expressed in my letter. as I personally advocate reciprocity with as many countries as possible; in fact 1 hope to witness the time when multilateral trade will be in full force. "Apricity" also states that our exports are increasing, while our imports are falling short to and from Great Britain. Does the writer imagine that, in consideration of our respective populations, we could ever attain an evenly balanced trade, and docs he realise that the re-exportation of our products by Great Britain to other countries is very substantial? Tho largest in this respect is America. However, the salient fact to be remembered, as far as current trade is concerned, is that, contrary to popular belief, trade between the United States and New Zealand is practically at an even balance. This is readily apparent from tho fact that, disregarding indirect shipments entirely, the direct trade is approximately only one-third off balance. Progressive New Zeat-ander. THE TOLL OF THE ROAD Sir, —Allow me space to put forward some cases contributing to accidents. Wo are all familiar with the sign "Don't cut corners." Now why this sign ? The speed motorist leaves his own side of the road, and cuts the j corner, because in many cases it is the j only part of the road where the ! cant is anywhere near the standard, j The correct shape of a road 011 the i corner is a continuous rise, from the water table to the extreme outer edge, of about three feet. The usual shape 011 the corner is standard cant for about half the road width, then a few feet almost flat, then in many cases a reverse slope to the outer edge. The motorist should reduce speed to conform to the road condition, and safety under such conditions, but had the maintaining authority kept the surface and cant of the road up to standard, the motorist is not likely to risk his car and his neck, no matter how skilful a driver he may be, in leaving bis own side of tho road. There is no great skill required in avoiding accidents 011 a properly maintained corner, but road sense and car sense is required. As to limiting the age. many men, even between the ages of 70 or 80, will drive with safety, when much younger men obsessed with speed mania will take risks ending in disaster. Another fruitful source of accident is running planks 011 bridges. Tho only good purpose of running planks is to prolong the life of old bridges by reducing vibration, bridges which should be written off and renewed. Maintaining authorities have been notified that running planks on standard bridges are no longer required, except where the bridge may not be capable of carrying tho loads, but in such cases the planked portion must be at least Oft. in width. But nevertheless many perfectly sound bridges still have the double lino of running planks, endangering the lives and property of motorists. 1 would suggest that maintenance subsidy be increased, and proper maintenance rigidly enforced, even if elaborate re-alignment had to be curtailed a little. Raising the standard of alignment induces increased speeds, but quite recently a motorist was fined for driving at an excessive speed, not because he was endangering the public, but because he was destroying tho road surface. On the one hand we have an inducement to speed, on the other hand wo are fined for speeding. Where are we? Motorist.