LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16664, 8 April 1916, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE AND SHIRKERS. Sib, —Along witn a great multitude, I went last Tuesday evening to hear iVlr Allen in tiio Lawrence Public HalL His able and noble utterances, i am sure, commanded tile admiration of the audience. ±Ie will still give volunteering another chance, and put .oif the day ol conscription. He used an argument with those wuo aro hanging bacii - an argument which, I am afraid, will- have no weignt with tho shirkers, lie said to the shirkers, "Imagine what your sons and daughters will thiOK oi you, when. 20 years after this, they learn that you funked. Think how your son will hang his head, and your daughter blush, when they find out their father's baseness, and hear you called, in the playground, by your true name." Will such an argument move the shirker? Never! What does he or she care for the opinion of posterity If they are heedless of the scorn of all good, people to-day, if they are too thick-skinned to care for the appeals made from platform and pulpit, and by tho press, if their country's distress is nothihg to them, what will they caro for the feelings their children may have in the faroff future ? Such an argument as Mr Allen's weighs with brave and noble men and women, but it has no weight with the splfish and the base. Besides, is it not the case that the children take after the parents, and that the unpatriotic father will have, in all probability,-an unpatriotic son. The shirking father will beget shirkers, in all likelihood. And, instead of the children of suoh parents being ashamed of their father's cowardice, they will be quite pleased with it, and say in their hearts, "Dad saved his skin; dad secured a good billet; dad was quite right." Suoh creatures will have only one opinion of patriotic and unselfish men— they will think them "jolly fools." By our present policy of sending all the brave men away to the war, and sparing the shirkers, we are tending to increase the proportion of cowards in the population, and we are working for the deterioration of our race. After hearing, Mr Allen, I am more convinced than ever that we ought to havo conscription—that we ought to have had it long ago.—l am, etc.. Tuapeka. I SCHOOL BOOKS. Sib,—A question which might very well bo considered at the householders' meetings on the 17th inst. is that of the school books now in use in the primary schools of Otago. Complaints have been made by teachers, parents, and retail booksellers on various grounds, but I write from the parents' etandpoint. This year changes have been made in the books used in the several standards by many of the schools, and generally parents have had to spend a good deal of money on new books. Why should this be so? Who chooses the books to be uSed— the Education Board, the inspectors, or tho school teachers? Is the choico made from a selection of the publications of worldknown publishers, or is a local firiii the only publisher considered? This year complaints have been more frequent than usual from retailers and heads of families about the oxcessive cost of books. Why does not the Government step in and take the whole matter of the publication of school books into its hands? Then there would be no cry about exploitation and unfair trading.— I am, etc., School Committeeman.

Lemons were used by the Romans to keep moths from their garments, and in the time of Pliny they were considered an excellent poison. They are natives of Asia. A special boot repairers' company is being formed by the British Army authorities. Its duties will be to repair the boots of the' soldiers at the front Owing to the increasing difficulty in obtaining domestic servants, the New South Wales Legislature has entered upon a general project to give inexperienced young girls from overseas a few months' practical training in housework before they go to household employment. Mr Holman. the Premier of New South Wales, announced a few days ago that the Government had purchased Eoarba, a largo Bondi residence, for the purpose of training these girls. "Immigration is largely suspended on account of tho war," said Mr Holman, "but a certain amount in the shape of tho introduction of domestic servants still goes on, and the diminished activities of the Immigration Department axe concentrated upon this particular phase now. This institution, in addition to being a training school for domestic workers, will accommodate immigrant women who aro in noed of temporary accommodation, either immediately upon arrival or when awaiting reemployment." The object of the scheme is to bring out and train girls much younger than those usually recruited for domestic duties.