LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25160, 24 March 1945, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

j Sugar Rationing Sir, —Just at a time when our sugar I ration has been reduced, the following conversation was overheard by myself j. in a country bus last Friday morning. I wondered if I was dreaming. One woman wa. discussing sugar rationing ' with her neighbour when, to my amazement, the other asked if she would go 3 shares with a bag, as she was sending ; for two bags with 2401b in each. Surely 1 this could not be sugar, I thought, i when the lady further remarked that 3 "it was a light brown colour, not as r white as the sugar we get." Where is this black market? ! Inquisitive Housewife. 1 State Housing Sir, —Can any of your readers tell 1 me why it is that when our politicians tell us we must hare a larger population, and there are thousands waiting to come to these shores when the war is over, adult families are still being allocated State,houses while other couples with, children are living in • rooms under terrible conditions and . paying as high a rent as for any State . house? Have the promises of 19.35 been forgotten altogether? We also know that returned servicemen must have homes. May I also say that the unaccepted volunteers at the outbreak of war, especially those who have been manpowered, are also entitled to some consideration instead of being treated as civilians. As one of the latter category, living in one room with my wife and child of 15 months, paying £2 weekly for it, and with no hope of getting a house or building one under the present regulations, I suggest we hand the country back to the Maoris, with appropriate apologies, when at least one could build a whare which we could call home. Disgusted. The Old Windmill Sir, —Why so much hue and cry about the old windmill when today many workers are without homes and many crowded into pokey little rooms? It is a crime to spend a large sum of money (even if it is publicly subscribed') on such an enterprise. Your correspondent A. Cummings states that the windmill is an historic landmark, reminding one of the Maori War. during which his ancestors helped to secure a country to live in. In that case the mill must also be of interest to the Maori people who fought for their country then, just as they are fighting for our country today. I Would suggest that A. Cummings should take a look at the average Maori dwelling of today. i If a landmark is so necessary, instead of the old windmill why not build • a model house showing every modern convenience and labour-saving device? This could, be opened to public inspection when Maori and pakeha alike could < catch a glimpse of what they are entitled to. P. W. Miller. Papakura. Australian Banking Proposals Sir, —The following sentence appears in a recent, letter over the signature of Mr F. M. B. Fisher: "My own impression is that, if a nation or a Government is capable of running a war and can pay for it, without any banks having to find the money, there is- no sound reason why when the war is over I we should be for evermore kept , on a chain which is anchored to an 1 irredeemable debt." j I have seen few statements more closely compacted of more dubious assumptions. But even banks ought to be entitled to correct representations of , fact from their critics, and it is with | such that T am at present concerned. v My first objection on this score is that , "irredeemable debt" is a contradiction I in terms. Nothing properly described as J 'a "debt" is, or can be, "irredeemable." T My second objection is to the implica- t Hon that this war has been paid for. Paul, certainly, has been paid, but not j Peter. T am under an impression (I hope it is mistaken) that New Zealand will * come out of this war with several J hundred millions of debt owing to \ sundry Peters. And then, need we be j surprised if those who now infer that this war is being paid for, at least as s we go along, join in an energetic campaign of repudiation of newly discovered "war debt." ( Mr Fisher is. I believe, an ex-Cabinet Minister, and is also understood to have t had extensive commercial experience, j The fact that a man of his attainments t can pose a matter that has been made a crucial public issue, in such terms as t those quoted, seems to me to heap Ossa c on the Pelion of empirical evidence, p that the theory and practice of finance t are, in a democracy, completely und permanently outside the real ]of in- a telligent political treatment. w Hamilton. Douglas Setmoub. w