READERS’ OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19915, 18 April 1939, Page 14

READERS’ OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter Intended for publication should he brief and confined to subjects of general public interest. The name and address of correspondents should be enclosed, not necessarily for publication, but as evidence of good faith. llll|j|[|Il||||[|||||llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllill!||llllM

Derby Street Sir, —I would very much like to I support the letter in Friday's issue j regarding the condition of the lower | end of Derby street. This portion i of Derby -street is one of the main outlets for cycle traffic from Whntaupoko via the Derby street! bridge, and is used as such by the 1 majority of the* iWhataupoko resi- I dents. I have been a resident of! Derby street for the .last 10 years i and have never seen this road in such a stale as it is in at present. Periodi- j cally gangs of workmen armed with hoses and shovels exercise the borough roller gently before its re-: tirement for the winter, but since, 1 a sit winter it has not recuperated j sufficiently to crawl up the gentle rise in the road in question, for it i lias been conspicuous by its absence.! On two occasions petitions have been presented to the council drawing! attention to the state of the road. l and one was successful enough to be referred 'to the estimates committee, 'but that was as far as it ( got. Another aspect I would like to point out is Unit large numbers of; school children use this street on their way to ■ and from school and when any wind at all is blowing they; get. choked with dust, besides the danger from cyclists who are forced to use tiic footpaths owing to the state of the road. POTITOLE | Russian Production and Trade Sir, —Whittaker’s 1939 Almanac certainly gives the figures you quoted in reference to 193 G production in Russia j and claims that these figures are sup- 1 plied by the Soviet Board of Statistics, but although all the figures, particularly those pertaining to wheat, appear to be understated I am not dis-

] puling them. However, I do dispuute the 1913 figures and if these iigum are to be found in an old issue of iWhittaker’s Almanac I 'state without i hesitation that they are botli wrong land utterly ridiculous. Take oil tor instance. It was claimed that in 1913 , Russia produced 93,000,000 'tons. I j have not looked up the figures of any other country, 'but I very much doubt I if even the U.S.A., the world’s largest producer, produced 93,000,000 tons in i 1913, but even if 4.hey did it is certain that ignorant backward and 'wasteful Czar is t Russia never did, for in 1928 the U.S.A. produced 11 times . Dhe quantity of oil that Russia did, but. the progress of the U.S.S.R. is so i rapid tot by 1931 it had advanced to I second place in the world for oil production. , , , , ■ Ycur readers will no doubt be inI terested to learn that the piodaction I of steel increased from 4,200,000 lons . to 20,000,000 tons, and cotton by 242 per cent. In 1937, butter showed a 57 per cent .advance over 1933, and cheesi 97 per cent over 1933, while the ini crease alone for meat in 1938 equalled the entire 1933 output. Similar mi creases can. be quoted in almost evciy section ol production. 1 may add that I have taken my figures from five different sources and all tally. Two ol the sources 1 mention are “The Handbook of (the Soviet Union," similar to our New Zealand Year Book, and ! "Planned Economy” the official jotir- ' nal of the “State Planning Commission of the U.S.S.R." and the other three sources are equally authoi ita[ivc, / STUDENT. The Women of New Zealand Sir,—l am engaged in the preparation of the official Centennial Survey | of the work of women in New Zea-

land. The survey, though brief, is to cover the whole period of European settlement, and to deal with as many aspects as possible of the life of women and the part played by them in the development of the country, from the earliest beginnings to the present day. It seems to me possible that there may be many people who have in their possession documents which would help to throw light on the subject, and which they would be willing to lend, who yet do not know that this work is being undertaken. 1 .should be most grateful if you would allow me to appeal through your columns for the loan of any such documents—letters, journals, or reminiscences, or anything else likely to be of interest in the story of New Zealand women. Anything, however brief, would be gratefully acknowledged, carefully guarded, and returned with the least possible delay to the lender. I have been referring more particularly to documents relating to the early days of settlement, when women were engaged almost entirely in making homes; and their work as home-makers is, in fact, to receive particular attention in the Survey. But some account is also to be given of later developments, and I should be glad to bear from secretaries of any women’s organisations, such as institutes, divisions of the Farmers’ Union, the W.C.T.U., or any other societies in which women have played, and are playing, a considerable part. Finally, may I plead urgency? The time allowed me grows short, and if those who may be generous enough to offer help would do so as early as possible, they would add to my indebtedness. (Dr.) HELEN M. SIMPSON.