Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 638, 15 April 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

“THE BIG SIX” Sir,— In your issue of April II you published an account of a meeting held at Oneliunga to discuss transport matters. Might I ask if there were present more than six (not including the Press representatives and the caretaker of the premises!). If what I hear is correct, then the business is an insult to the ratepayers of Onehunga. For about half a dozen people to carry a resolution supporting a loan without giving others an equal opportunity to hear Mr. Allum, and then think for themselves, is preposterous. What do the Mayor and the council think o£ it? J. SMITH. Te Papapa.

SEEKING DIRECTION Sir, — As an Australian keenly interested in tlio Southern Cross, I noticed in puzzlement this morning a newspaper’s announcement that the air-plane-carrier Albatross had cleared Sydney Heads and was going at full speed westward. It is to be hoped that the fine, new war-craft took a different direction, for if she had set off westward at full-speed she soon would have crashed into Parramatta. Personally, I fancy that the navigator of the Albatross would steer first east by north and thence due north, or, going the other way round, east by south, thence south and west and finally north. NORTH HEAD. 13.4.29. PARENTS EXPLOITED Sir, — It has been left to the canny unimaginative Scotsman (vide Dunedin special *o The Sun of the 12th inst.) to remind us of the insufferable injustice meted out to parents who are keen on their children having better opportunities of education than they themselves had. In these enlightned days one is almost ashamed of being a native of a grand little country wherein parents are deliberately and openly exploited that others may fatten on the costs of our children being educated. We in the North could well follow the lead of our higher-spirited brethren of 'the South and let it be unmistakably known —and felt —that we refuse longer to suffer the unnecessary constant changing of school books for the sole benefit of certain firms and individuals. The Dunedin Schools Committee Association has but started what should years ago have been accomplished by all. PLAIN DAD. MAKING FIRE-GUARDS Sir, — Probably very little, if any, damage would have resulted had the Waikumete fire been lit late in the evening, and a careful night watch kept until its force was spent. Many years’ experience on gumfields has shown me that night-burns can, at times, be safely made in a dry season when the wind is calm, and can be trusted to remain so for a day or two. Of course no burning should ever be done by night or day during hot, dry weather, ‘unless it becomes urgently necessary,

as sometimes happens. The law is rightly very strict on the matter. At night the ground and the air are cool, and on a calm night there is also dampness, which greatly diminishes the risk of the fire spreading beyond control. To slash a fire-line some chains long and wide, where it can be done, is a wise precaution. If water, in, handy, wet lines can be spread, or, if there is no water, shallow trenches dug, both are good fire checks. I’ve seen a quarter of a mile of dry cut scrub, along a farm boundary fence, burnt on a calm night during a hot, dry spell. It was kept under control by one man with a garden spraying hose and a bucket of water. I have at times, without much effort, prevented bridges and culverts from being burnt by cutting a bunch of tea-tree, dipping it in water, and threshing out the sparks and flamo in the hottest time of the day. But if fire-guards have to be made at a risky time, make them on a calm night .and as near to rain as possible, but never during the heat of the day. When the fire seems to be burnt out and everything safe, a watch should be kept for anything smouldering, above ground or underground, until rain comes. WILLIAM PERRT, Great Barrier Island. NEW BLOOD Sir.— Tour correspondent, "Transfusion ” would like to. see. a pint or two of new blood in the City Council—advisedly so. lam sure we could do with at least a gallon or two, and in the process it would not be amiss to install a new I ,\ eart — the organ to pump the blood (the Mayor). The mistakes and recklessness of the present council continue unabated and must be stopped. Let us have a clean-up—lock, stock and barrel. I wish our sluggard and trusting citizens would awake to their responsibility and attend the meetings now being held. The facts disclosed by Cr W. H. Murray who is one of the aspirants for the Mayoral chair, reveal an appalling state of affairs. Mr, Murray has got himself disliked by his present colleagues in power because he sad the courage of his convictions and tried to Point out the council's mistakes, and thereby sate the ratepayers’ money for which he deserves the support of all right-thinking citizens. T trust that his future* meetings will be well attended. Now is the time for ratepayers to do their duty! CLEAN ’EM UP. the public library Sir, — As a subscriber to the Public Library tv, fl S *- protest a Sainst the quality of °n the shelves in the circudlfficnit b t anCh ', 11 is extra ordinarilv U to . select readable stuff from the depressing mass of "dated" novel " The system of booking popular new iu° r^v) i, PO t StC ?' <i ma,y 1)6 admirable in its way, but when one has such experifor the S h!S!J e ’ tha £ of wal ting months ior the book on© has engaged one is eit ? er tha t strict rotail? n not observed, or else that the library should show a little enterprise and get more than one copv of that particular book. Of course?*! am aware that there is nothing so ephemeral as contemporary fiction, and l make due allowance for that It stiu remains true that the bulk' of the books on the shelves are old and uninteresting to the general reader For (Continued in next column)

the contents of the reference library I have nothing but praise, but mun comment adversely on their arrangement and condition. The general appearance of the reading room, with its bare floor and jumble of tattered volumes, leaves much to be desired. Th? system of imposing a fine on the student who fails to finish in tim o with a weighty reference tome, not in nearly the same demand as latest fiction, is palpably unjust. In the fat* of the resentment subscribers must feci at some of these things, the courtesy of the staff is wonderful and admirable. MONEY-PENNY. COURTEOUS DRIVERS Sir,— Most of your correspondents have a complaint to make about transport. True, the Auckland system is th* world’s worst (sometimes I long for the privacy and comfort of a rickshaw, but many of our passengers are inclined to overlook the efforts which our bns drivers and tramway motormen are making to meet the deficiency in public service. Everywhere I- have been on the city buses I have been pleasantly impresfec by the courtesy and generosity of tb a drivers, who not only do their job efficiently, but who go out of their va> to meet the requirements of their passengers. Frequently 1 have beer brought to the city in time for won. solely because of the bus waiting extra ten seconds at the stop wniie sprinted the last 50vds. . Little services like this, although not holding up the syste mean so much to passengers, go great deal to alleviate the suffering agonised suburban travellers onJ*“ is unquestionably an inadequate tra port system. gRATEFOT-