POINTS OF VIEW

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3756, 15 May 1936, Page 7

POINTS OF VIEW

OPINIONS OF OUR READERS. THE DOG TAX. Sir, —For the annual fee of 10s (for most of the dozens of dog owners in the borough of Te Awamutu have to pay that sum) they have become used to expecting nothing; and the local authority who pockets the money sees io it that they are not disappointed. Many pounds annually from this source goes into their coffers without even a "Thank you." The excuse for most taxes is that they are needed to provide some form of service for the people who foot the bill, but the dog owner derives no especial benefit at all. The radio license holder is amused or educated for his annual I.cense fee, and the motorist has new roads provided and maintained out of his contribution to the revenue. Surely it is not too much to ask that some part of the dog tax should be devoted to improve the accommodation for stray dogs and to provide modern and painless methods of destruction for injured or unwanted dogs? The dog himself may be well worth his 10s tax, but those who receive the money cannot take any credit for that. It is high time the dog owner received something for his annual payment besides a scrap of paper. I suppose your local dog tax collector will be calling on me as soon as he realises that I possess a dog. I will pay, because my dog is worth 10s per annum; but I do think the Borough Council should give back something for the total fees. May I suggest that your Mayor, who I am told is a lover of dogs, devote a little thought to evolving some fair return for the licenses—l am, etc., C. H. JONES. UNLIGHTED BICYCLES. Sir, —Many comments and letters have been said and written regarding present-day traffic dangers, particularly that of the cyclist on the road at night. It is remarkable the numbers of cyclists who dodge about the highways in the dark with little or no illumination (particularly the “no ”) and escape disaster. Whilst motoring from Auckland between the hours of 6.30 and 9.30 p.m. the other evening I could not help noticing the many, many cyclists who courted danger by using unlighted machines. In the dark, and particularly if the night is wet, one is almost on top of them before seeing them. I do not wish this letter to be a dig at the man who uses the cycle, as I personally have used one on many occasions, and realise its handy and useful capabilities; but I do seriously think that a very strict and rigid statute should be passed in respect to the rear lighting of these vehicles as well as that of motor vehicles. The roads become more and more filled with motors every year, and so the danger increases more and more for the cyclist who is abroad at night on an unlighted machine; and, believe me, there are many.—l am, etc., ■TRAVELLER. IN SEDDON’S DAY. Sir, —The older generation in the community witness Again the period when Seddon dominated Maoriland’s political world through the activities of Savage, Nash and Co. in the same realm. The closure was an unknown quantity. Seddon first introduced his ' Old Age Pensions Bill in ,1896; but it was killed in the committee stage. The following year it was again introduced, and passed through the Lower House, to be again killed. This time by the Upper House. Still again in 1898 the Bill was introduced, receiving the Governor’s assent, at the close of that year. The pension payable was £lB per year—6s lid per week. An amending Act in 1905 increased the full pension to £26 per annum, or 10s per week. In the early days, the value of property allowed to the pensioner before he or she would be disqualified was very small in comparison with to-day’s allowance, In 1900, the number of pensioners in existence was 11,285, and the amount payable £157,000. The number receiving the pension to-day is well over 42,000; and the amount paid in 1900 is very paltry alongside the approximate sum of £2,000,000 payable in this year of grace, 1936. Our exports in 1900 were under ten million pounds; to-day they are fifty million pounds. Seddon was the pioneer of social legislation of a great and varied type. New Zealand’s first Labour Government is ploughing additional furrows. Much of Seddon’s work had to be revised; history will no doubt repeat itself in the case of Savage. Nevertheless, they both are

torch-bearers in the humanitarian sphere of politics. Seddon’s name is still remembered and revered; and the same history will attach to Savage, Nlash and Co. in the years to come,— I am, etc., ALTRUISM,

THIS WAR BUSINESS. Sir,—A despatch from Halifax, Nova Scotia, tells of an interview with a Scottish shipmaster who recently passed through the Suez, and landed at Naples. He declares that among the Italian invaders of Ethiopia there have been many deaths, many cases of mysterious blindness, and that from some unknown fever men who were in sound health in the morning were dead in the afternoon. This shipmaster, John Smith, found the Italians in Naples, afraid to discuss the war. Naples shivered over a gruesome tale of 14 Italian officers speared by two Ethiopians; but the story was not allowed to get into the papers. This reminds us of one of the many keen observations of Mark Twain. He said, discussing war: "A few fair men will argue and reason against war with speech and pen. At first they will be applauded. Then the whole nation, pulpit and all, will take up the war cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the leaders will invent cheap lies, putting 'the blame upon the nation that Is attacked, and the

whole of the people will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutation of them. By this means the nation attacking will convince itself that the war is just.” This seems to fit the Europe of to-day to a nicety; a new Roman empire has been created, the Ethiopians who remain after being peppered with shell and mustard gas, are to be civilised. Mussolini will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. The poor Italian suckers will then seek for fresh worlds to conquer—probably Egypt for a fresh start.—l am, etc., CAESAR.