Citizens Say —

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

THE TUNNEL Sir, In your sub-leader in last evening’s issue you write of * “critics like Mr. W. D. Lysnar, who airily questions the need of deviations that will save thousands of pounds annually in haulage.” Mr. "Lysnar may criticise airily. I ask you to show us first the estimated cost of the tunnel and the new stations on the line, also the estimated running expenses, and against that the estimated revenue that will be earned. - Further, I would ask you to show how the Westfield-Otahuhu deviation is going to compete with trams and buses. It will be most interesting to know how the people who come from the suburbs by this new deviation will get •to town from the new station, located, as it is, nearer Parnell Bridge than the city—in other words a twopenny tram section away from Customs Street tram stop. JOHN S. FLETCHER. TELEPHONE BOOTHS Sir, I notice that the telephone boxes which are being erected outside the post office in Queen Street are being constructed of wood. Why is this? I understand that the' City Council refuses to allow the erection of wooden structures in the city proper. Even if the boxes are to be coated with metal that does not prevent the possibility of fire. Your paper stated that the new boxes would be ready in a fortnight. That was a month ago. There seems to be no possibility of them being finished for at least another fortnight. Would it not have been better to build the b«xes in conformity with the Post Office building. Surely that would have been more artistic than making them look as though they did not belong to it. WIIY ?„ HARBOUR BRIDGE Sir. — “N. Sh. Ore.” in reply to my letter belittling the proposed bridge, asks "Is air traffic possible?" and then proceeds to prove to his own satisfaction that it is. However, the advocates of the harbour bridge are mainly concerned with the problem of a quick means of transit to the North Shore, to enable the public to reach it speedily and in comfort—also for the transport of heavy goods by lorry farther north, thus saving waste of time in ferrying vehicles or transferring goods. I did not suggest that each passenger should own his own aircraft. The point is that the carrying capacity of a plane, size for size, as against a land conveyance is too absurd to be comparable—to say nothing about the space required to take off and to land

Why, how many hundred yards were required to enable Kingsford Smith’s plane to land? As “N. Sh. Ore” intends to go in for something that will carry as many passengers as the average bus, I. think that he will require something even larger than the Southern Cross. Anyway, the elements have, during the last few days, rather obscured the air track with a thick blanket of fog. Would “X. Sh. Ore” feel as happy on his airship under these conditions, when even the ferryboats locate each other in a touching manner? But with the bridge erected all would be well. Even if there is a fog, lights can be placed and one will know that your ship of the desert cannot land you, say, at St. Heliers Bay. when your real objective is the Auckland Wharf. I am glad that “X. Sh. Ore,” on account of my youthful innocence, lets me off with a caution. Alas—alas, both those qualities are now absent, so the pardon is in vain. GRAND SLAM. “MELITA” AND DR. BUXTON Sir, — I must thank Dr. Buxton for his courteous reply to my letter, and to suggest that if all. correspondence on this question were on such lines there would be a great possibility of its question being settled in a satisfactory manner. In answer to his statement that the percentage attending Catholic Schools is about three per cent., this may be correct as far as city schools are concerned. But in one country school that I know and which has roughly 200 pupilS, at least 25 to my knowledge are non-Catholic children. Further, I was informed by a parish priest some tim© ago that at least 40 per cent, of the children attending his school were non-Catholics. For the sake of brevity in my last letter I referred to the conscience clause, but was only asking Dr Buxton to point out that the question of the religious difference of a percentage of his school pupils was satisfactorily settled in a proper manner, and which he has done in a splendid manner. The Bible-in-Schools League and the Catholic hierarchy are in agreement that the Bible should be taught in tne public schools, but seem to differ on th© question of exemptions. May I suggest the following way of overcoming the difficulty: That the clause which allows for any parent claiming exemption be deleted and the following inserted, “That whenever any denomination for its own reasons does no * children to receive the religious lessons as set out, the application of such church for exemption be granted and made to apply over the whole of New Zealand.” In regard to those who are not in any way interested in Christian teaching of anv kind, they should be left to settle their own objections and should not be assisted by either Catholic or Protestant, Who ar© both agreed that children should have a Christian education. MELITA