Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1025, 16 July 1930, Page 10

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

THE TEST MATCH Sir, * I am sure all fair-minded people will read with disgust of the decision not to recommend the early closing of shops on the day of the Test match. Does ou’- national game mean nothing to tnese employers? Besides business will be negligible after 11 o’clock on the morning of the match. It is only once in ton years that an event of this magnitude occurs in our national sport. BE FAIR. THE CASE FOR WAR Sir, — Those who advocate the abolition of compulsory military training are very near-sighted. They fail to see what must follow such a course. If the system were done away with and all adequate means of defence dropped, it is probable that other countries would be moved to do likewise. War and tne ways of war would eventually fall into disuse. The races would lose that splendid national spirit which has kept them so long at one another’s throats. Of course, trade would prosper with the absence of ill-feeling among the peoples and the human race might show mental improvement; but it is unlikely that there would be any physical benefit, and the population would inevitably increase past the safety point. War is necessary if only to keep down man’s numbers VENUS SOCCER DISTURBANCE Sir, — I am a constant reader of your paper, and I would be glad if you will allow me to air my views as an unbiased spectator of the fracas at Blandford Park on Saturday last. I was amazed at the attitude adopted by the Tramways Football Club in trying to spoil the game by leaving the field just because two players, with years of experience and who should have known better, were ordered off for disputing the referee’s decisions Such tactics are deplorable and uncalled for, and if permitted to continue are only going to bring the game into disrepute. I notice that the referee has been blamed for the fracas which in my opinion, as an ex-referee with six years’ experience, is ridiculous. I issue a warning to the Control Board that if it fails to deal severely with clubs that act in such a fashion, and refrains from supporting its referees who are giving such valuable service (honorary, at that), it will be necessary for* some change

o be made in its personnel, It is impossible to overlook such a breach as that committed by the Tramways Club. If a team is not satisfied with the ability of a referee, it has its remedy. That remedy is not the one used on Saturday. I would like to comment also on the action of a member of the Control Board who asked the referee to allow the expelled players to return. I raise my hat to Mr. Alardle. the referee, for his quick answer in the negative. I think Mr. Mardle is as competent a referee as the code possesses, and I trust that the Control Board will demonstrate that it possesses backbone. I. M. WILSON. Kingsland. At an inquiry held by the judicial committee of the A.FJL last night, one of the players concerned in Saturday’s disturbance was suspended for four playing Saturdays; another was severely cautioned; and the third was exonerated by the referee’s statement.—Ed..The Sun. CHILDREN’S COURTS Sir. — Your correspondent asks some pertinent questions on the workings of the Children’s Court and the increase of juvenile crime since this Welfare Act and amendments came into force. I will tell him that the Children’s Court, and what it leads to, is treated as a joke by the children. But it is no joke to the parents when a child is committed to the State’s care, as then the trouble begins for the parents. There is no legal process for having the child returned to its parents. The child is weaned from all home ties. A maintenance summons may be issued when the father is in work, with the provision that gaol will be the result if payments fall behind. If the father becomes ill or unemployed, that summons becomes a warrant and the father may be arrested at any time and thrown into prison (for the first time, perhaps), becoming a marked man for life. That is the start of many a broken home and thus any otherwise respectable man may become a hardened criminal overnight, and his wife and family a burden on the State. Why do the children treat the court as a joke? Because they know that the worst that can happen to them is to be sent to board out with some other family. If those people become tired of them then they will be boarded out again to someone else, and so on, until possibly the child, when older, commits some crime and finishes up in an industrial school. The system of boarding out is all wrong. A short and sharp punishment is the only deterrent to crime, and a magistrate should say what

form such punishment shod fPS The present unlimited drastis of the t'hild Welfare authorise*•»» at once be taken away ren TUB IIKD SHAIKH