LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25204, 17 May 1945, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Free Country Sir, —We must be determined not to rest until lands still imprisoned under enemy control were also freed and all people were freed •politically and economically." These are Mr Nash's words. Does he mean that the people of this country will be also freed, free to buy or sell when or where or to whom we like, to start industries in order to give employment without the necessity of having to obtain a licence beforehand, to having a say in the broadcasting service Y Or will the service remain a monopoly as at present and will we still be under the same dictatorship? Nestor.

Workers' Weekly Tickets Sir, —In view of the popularity of the five-day working week among the business firms in Auckland, does it not seem reasonable that bus and ferry companies should issue, in conjunction with the present worker's weekly ticket of I*2 trips, one of ten trips to meet the requirements of this particular category of passenger? In most cases, when a person works a five-day week, the ticket is thrown away with the last two trips unused, and this lessens the concession on these tickets very considerably. I would suggest that a worker's weekly ticket costing 6s for 12 trips should have as its counterpart a ten-trip ticket, costing 5s 3d, and so on. T. F. Morton. Milford.

The Rule oi Law Sir, —1 wonder if the people really understand the full implications of the interference by a ruling political party in the decisions of a judicial authority. We have just seen the decision of the Industrial Manpower Committee set aside by the acting-Minister of Labour and the Minister of Transport. This is not the first instance and such occurrences, are becoming more frequent. If there is to be any appeal from the decisions of the committee, then let a higher authority be created for that purpose. The Government, in creating the committee as a judicial body, made it the law that the committee's decision was final. If a ruling political party can set at nought such decisions, what does it mean? Simply that government by rule of law ceases to exist and there is no protection for the individual. Under government by rule of law the individual knows in advance what the reaction of the State to individual actions will he, and he shapes his conduct accordingly. Under the system to which we are drifting the individual is not able to predict what action the State will take, and this is typical of totalitarianism. J. H. Lucas.

Form of Tyranny Sir, —Under the above rather startling heading I read the other evening a criticism hy Professor Cooper of the new secondary school syllabus. I wonder how much of the good professor's outburst was occasioned by sincere indignation at this latest evidence of what, might he termed regimentation, and how much was due to the thought that the new syllabus provided a serious threat to the position occupied by his own charges, Latin and Greek. 1 do not think 1 am doing the professor any injustice when 1 say that the whole of his objection is contained in his own two final sentences. The course is not ''of a traditional and well proved kind," and it may lead to "mediocrity in the standard of Latin and Greek." True, it is not a traditional course, and it possibly may lead to mediocrity in the study of the classics. Might I suggest that if these unusually gifted students have not the intelligence to pass the very moderate standard in the core subjects set by the school certificate examination, any mediocrity displayed in the subsequent study of Latin and Greek will not be the fault of the new course, and the sooner such students give up all idea of higher education and devote themselves to some humbler calling, the better for themselves, their parents and the community P Giles. '.Wellington,