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New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24970, 12 August 1944, Page 6

School Girls and Trams Sir,—The protest made by "Left Standing" has my full support. I am also a secondary school girl, and it is very annoying, to put it mildly, to see half-empty trams rattle by at 3.30 p.m. without stopping for us. There is also another thing about which I should like to say a word. Several times this year I have seen, when girls are getting 011 to a tram, that it moves oil before they are all on. The conductor, having seen that all arc down at his end, rings the bell, and the motorman starts off, apparently not noticing the fact that girls are still trying to get on at the front. Sometimes. I admit, he does look over his shoulder, but even then the tram oftgn starts too soon. The result is that, when the tram is in motion, some girls are standing precariously on the platform step, while others are left behind. This happens on the special trams for schoolchildren as well as others, and it is dangerous. I wrote to the manager of the Auckland Transport Board about this matter, and I received the reply that motormen were instructed to see that no passenger was in the act of boarding or alighting from a train when they started; but the practice still continues. When is it going to stop? F. H. Baker. The Home Front Sir, —llr Webb's explanation of the fears of the Wellington watersiders at handling a cargo of shells brings to mind the dark days of May, 1911, when New Zealand soldiers worked at the unloading of ammunition ships, under constant bombing, in Suda Bay, Crete, There were no demands for higher pay there, and no weak-kneed Cabinet Minister to take off his hat. Our fighting men, after having seen the all-in effort made, and still being made by other countries, have little reason to be proud of the war effort of the civilians of their own country. The fantastic descriptions of labour disputes at home, filtering through the newspapers, arouse more than mere resentment. To a man who has for four years and more lived in almost constant danger, under the most harrowing conditions, for the magnificent sum of 7s 6d per day, it is inconceivable that grown men, safely at home, and earning high wages, should refuse to work because patent cereals are not on the breakfast menu. Unfortunately, these stories are only too true, and to the returned soldier conditions in New Zealand in this respect would he ludicrous if they were not such an absolute denial of all he imagined he had been fighting for. If our noble waterside workers, who are apparently the virtual dictators of this country, have not the courage to handle a cargo of inoffensive shells, how would they behave if. as in many parts of the world today, the wnarves were occasionally straddled with a stick of bombs? What disgusts and sickens any right-minded person is the milk and water policy of appeasement atan.v price with which our so-called Government attempts to deal with the troublemakers. lUx'KNTr.v Hktuknkd. Farmers and the Trade Agreement Sir, —Two truths must be laced if we are to decide this matter rightly. Scarcely anvthing could bo more injurious to fanners and the Dominion than a war-created boom in prices with the slump that must follow such a boom and scarcely anything could he more disgraceful to farmers and the Dominion than an attempt to extract higher produce prices from Britain than could have been obtained if she had not been engaged in deadly conflict. On what grounds, then, did we claim the payments agreed upon, and to whom are the pavments due? During (he war we have continued our sales of produce to Britain and America at little more than pre-war prices, but the prices we have paid to Britain and America for their manufactures have been raised substantially, and in some cases, enormously. Thus we are entitled Lo refunds, in respect of unbalanced charges, from both Britain and America and our acceptance of the amounts agreed upon, no matter what form they take, can be justified on the ground that they represent the return of amounts that ought not to have been charged against us, and can be justified on no other ground, and just as the unjustified additions to our import prices have been paid by all classes, so the amounts refunded ought to benefit all classes.

The just distribution of our national income is a matter of immense importance, but it is a matter quite distinct from our claim to a refund from Britain. New Zealand would have had the same claim on Britain and would have received the same refund from Britain if all of us had agreed that our national income was apportioned with perfect fairness. J. Johnstone. Manurewa.