LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24302, 17 June 1942, Page 2

LETTES R TO THE EDITOR

The Merchant Service Sir, —More than timely is the appeal on behalf of the the men of the merchant navy. Captain Dalgliesh is an able and reliable person who, I feel sure, will have the support of all who care about that honoured but unsung company of brave men who go down to the sea in ships. So few people realise how these gallant men maintain the lifelines of the Empire, at such sacrifice to themselves. Therefore let us extend to them, as a token of our appreciation, the privileges enjoyed by the other services. ' A Merchantman's Sister. Household Linen Rationing Sir. —Your correspondent "Hand to Mouther" expresses my sentiments entirely. Those people who are asking for an extra supply of coupons for household linen are evidently the people who have used all their 26 M coupons buying clothes "while stocks last," and now find they cannot do the same with household linen by using a different page in their ration books. All I can say is let them do the same as we had to while our husbands were on relief and wait until their six months is up, and then others will stand a chance of getting linen. Another Hand to Mouther. Union of the Churches

Sir, —"Elder," who writes about the above in .Monday's Herald is, I fear, riot so impartial as be would try to appear. He is also wrong in saying no one knows how this question is going in the Presbyterian Church. One has only to read the press reports of presbytery decisions to date to see how many have done credit to their good sense, spiritual acumen and statesmanlike reading of modern movements for closer fellowship and combined service of groups fundamentally alike in order and objective. What could bo better for this Dominion than that the democratic Churches all unite and so give the State a lead in abolishing party strife. Also Elder. Car Registrations Sir, —All persons with a reasonable amount of intelligence know that good supplies of benzine must bo kept in hand for our fighting forces and reserves for future emergencies. They also know that the licence fee is a tax that the motorists pav for the privilege of using the roads and their upkeep. If they are unable to use the roads surely they can decide whether they pay the licence fee. A motorist with respect for his car will never willingly drain his petrol tank, but whether the tank is full or empty will not matter a bit if the battery is flat. Will a car start any easier because it is registered if it is laid up for several months? No! Registered and unregistered it will he equally sluggish and perhaps dead and not much use in a sudden emergency. What we want is advice as to how we can keep our batteries on active service if unable to run the car. If we can do that and cars are wanted for a national emergency then I think everyone can rest assured that cars will be available and surely, in a dire extremity, it will not much matter whether they carry registration stickers or are unlicensed. A Woman Motorist. Work of Nurses Sir, —Replying to Mr. Howitt's question, 1 would say, from my experience of a, very heavy surgical ward, which, presumably, would have first claim upon the available nurse-power, that there is undoubtedly under-staffing and overworking at the Auckland Public Hospital. It is not correct to say that the war is responsible for the disabilities under which nurses are labouring. Nursing ha.s always been the Cinderella of the professions, and the outbreak of war found nurses already carrying the burden of the last straw, with no margin for the extra demands now being made of them. My picture of sick women, able to see visitors only once weekly, gazing wistfully at a pile of mail which sister was too busy to distribute, was drawn merely to convey the atmosphere of haste and si raid in the ward. We waited lone —t<xi long—not, only for our letters, but also for attention to our physical needs, and waited without reproach or complaint, realising that the nurses were fellow-sufferers with us. Mr. Howitt's charge against me. therefore, of "peevish whimpering" is as unjust, as is his "off-with-ber-head" attitude toward "Nurse an Training," who had every right to correct the erroneous impression conveyed by his first letter that there are two nurses to every three patients at the Auckland Hospital. Behind the Screens.