POINTS OF VIEW

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3827, 30 October 1936, Page 7

POINTS OF VIEW

OPINIONS OF OUR READERS. COUNTY GRADER DRIVERS. Sir, —.While: deeply deploring the necessity, we find it essential to crave sufficient space in your paper to refute, a statement published in your issue dated October 21st. This statement is credited to a councillor and contains a remarkable accusat’on against thei grader drivers employed by the Waipa County Council. According to your report, a discussion took place on the merits of the different types of road grader. During this discussion, it is apparent from your report, one councillor, to bolster up an antiquated contention found it necessary to besmirch our characters and belittle our worth on the labour market. Untrustworthy ahd dishonest, in that at times we must have signed for and received our wages under false- pretences. What a wonderful reference to blazon forth on our behalf, throughout the country, per medium of the press! No other interpretation can be placed on his statement as reported by you. Now, Sir, without any equivocation we. wish to publicly place this statement in its rightful category, that of unwarranted falsehoods. It seems that when - a councillor is instrumental in forwarding the l interest of his riding, his name is proclaimed throughout the lard; but in a case such as at present under discussion, he is safely hidden away in the dark recesses of the Council Chamber, and the press, whether intentional or otherwise, salamis to omit publishing his name It is o«r earnest desire, and we here and now issue ’a. challenge to meet this gentlelman at a full meeting of the Council, to give him'-the opportunity of proving his statement. We believe this is our right, and if this meetin'’ should eventuate and he fails to oualify his words, we trust that he will follow the precedent set by gentlemen the world over, and publicly apologise through the papers that have done him the honour of publishing his unfounded accusation,—lWe are, etc., A. B. ALLEN, • J. H. KEAST, W. O’BRIEN. (Three of the grader drivers.) PROSPERITY’ IN NORWAY. Sir, —Information to hand from abroad is to the effect that the Nor v/egian Labour Government is ex periencing considerable success in its work. Factories are busy, unemploy ment has greatly decreased, new roads are being built, labour dis putes have been settled, homes have been financed, subsidies have been granted the farmers, and travel has been stimulated. Distant views al ways add enchantment. But at least some taxpayers in New Zealand would like to know if taxation has risen to dizzy heights? Has unemployment been checked by building unprofitable railways? Have election pledges been violated? Have the subsidies given to farmers been given with one hand and withdrawn by numerous unseen hands? Have these and a few other “choice benefits” been conferred on the producers under the slogan ol prosperity in the same free and easy style that has characterised so-called success in New Zealand?—l am, etc., UNHAPPY. A HEROIC FIGURE. Sir, —It is wise that the British people as a race should not forget to honour the memory of William ’Lindale. He was the immortal translator of the English Bible, and was martyred at the stake, in Holland, on October 16th, 1536. William Tindale was one of the great master builders of our English language, a learned theologian, a fearless preacher, but his supreme task was that of the translation of the Old and New Testaments. This work left its mark upon our tongue, our literature, and our religion. With this alone in mind, it is fitting that four hundred years later we should keep in glorious memory these legacies left by such a heroic figure. During much of his life, due largely to the tyranny of Wolsey, Lindale had no settled home, but was hunted from place to place, always in danger of arrest, imprisonm'ent and death. The end came on October 6th, 1536, when Tindale was first strangled, and then his body was burned at the stake. According to Foxe, he prayed, “Lord open the King of England’s eyes! ” The prayer was answered and the year after Tindale’s death, the Bible in English was published and circulated with the consent of the King (Henry VIII). As an evidence of Tindale’s great activity, it is stated that in a little more than a year he completed his translation of the New Testament. The influence of the Bible on England is a wonderful story, and the history connected with the life of Tindale is a most stirring episode.—l am, etc., MARTYR. VENERABLE OLD AGE. Sir, —This may interest Courier readers: “Ilyia Dyankoff, 114, of Pleveu, Bulgaria, and his wife, Maria. 109, have been married 82 years, and claim to be the happiest and the oldest married couple in the world. They have lived in the same house for 63 years and have never been out of their native village. They sleep ten hours a night, mt garlic, fish, cheese lentils, cabbage, and potatoes, and drink goat’s milk. They know nothing of radios, telephones, automobiles or aeroplanes. They claim to be as deeply in love with each other as when they first set up housekeeping in 1854. —I am, etc., SCEPTIC.