POINTS OF VIEW

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 58, Issue 4189, 26 May 1939, Page 5

POINTS OF VIEW

OPINIONS OF OUR READERS BOROUGH FINANCES. Sir, —I have always been under the impression, and have always endeavoured to act up to the beneficent principle, that “ fair play is bonnie play.” Judge, then, my surprise—my pained amazement upon, reading in your issue of 17th May the report of the special meeting of Te Awamutu Borough Council convened to deal with the estimates for the forthcoming financial year. Instead oi adhering to the business on the agenda, Cr Rowan seems to have constituted himself the coroner at the inquest on what happened last year, and in doing so has been guilty, despite his disclaimer, of pursuing the un-British practice of stabbing a man in the back—of blaming the absent Mayor for this, that, and everything else that Cr Rowan’s bilious temperament seems to have inspired. “ Last year,” he asserted, “ the works committee over-spent the available money, and that was not fair, to the Council as a whole.”- Well, it is an established fact that the works committee is subsidiary, and not paramount, to the Council. Such being the case, why did not Cr Rowan support Cr Spiers, who on frequent occasions contended that the estimates being exceeded ? It always lay within the jurisdiction of the Council to curb the works committee, but never (according to your reports) has Cr Rowan raised his voice in objection, never uttered a word in support of Cr Spiers’ warning to the Council. Not only this, but when the accounts were presented to be passed for payment, Cr Rowan never raised an objection. Silence must be interpreted as consent, and if the estimates have been exceeded let'Cr Rowan take his share of the blame, and not east reflections on the Mayor, now many thousands of miles overseas. Furthermore, Mr Spinley told the Council that he was in favour of exceeding the estimates in order to obtain the maximum subsidy from the Employment Board “ while the going was good.” That attitude resulted in at least £2OOO being saved on the water works and an unmentioned amount on works executed under the number 13 scheme. Instead of being blamed, Mr Spinley should be praised for his foresight in obtaining these splendid concessions for the ratepayers. For Cr Rowan to assert that “the Mayor had never taken a vote of the Council on more than one important matter " (a statement which is wide of the mark) is condemning himself, who, like every other member of the Council, has a legal right to submit any motion he thinks fit to his fellow councillors, and the Mayor is by law compelled to put that motion to the meeting. It seems as though Cr Rowan last year was a bit of a Rip Van Winkle, and has just awakened; and then, looking for a scapegoat, he suggests that “ the Office staff is short-handed,” “ with all due deference to the engineer,” etc. Moonshine! The town clerk has never complained of overwork. As for the engineer—well, he has done excellent work—given us what Te Awamutu never had before—a permanent job and 20s worth for every £1 spent. My advice to Cr Rowan and his friends is to take an intelligent interest in the proceedings at every meeting of the Council, and cease from blaming the absent Mayor.—l am, etc., CHEVAL

THOSE SAND-BAGS.

Sir, —'When we saw workmen engaged busily earlier in the week at the “ merry-go-round ” near the Post Office we—for I know I am not alone in the matter—really thought the long promised permanent so-called traffic filter was about to be provided; but now it seems that the work being done was only of the sort classed as maintenance. The old, perished super sacks full of sand were just replaced with newer ones. Admittedly the place is not now such an eyesore, but surely the Borough Council or whatever body is responsible, is not going to wait until Mr Spinley comes back ? Judging by what I read of last meeting of the Borough Council, proceedings there mainly consist of what in some circles are described as “passing the buck,” so I suppose we should not expert much practical action from that quarter.—l am, etc., ARGUS.

CLERICAL CONFUSION.

Sir, —With each appeal for world concord the Archbishop of Canterbury appears to be getting himself deeper and deeper into the mire. The Archbishop’s latest urge for prayers for peace carries with it a stigma that begs hopelessly for vindication. His Grace of Canterbury's first reaction to war was to imagine that “the thing that is now astir in Europe is not the work of God, but of the Devil.” Later, however, his Grace gained quite a new revelation (presumably from supernatural sources) and found that war- was "the hand of God” and “building the walls of God’s Kingdom.” If the Archbishop made a mistake like that, who is henceforth going to tell us what the Diety thinks about anything? Another distressing factor is that the Archhishop and his clerical friends have never been loath to place their seal of approbation on national flags and machine guns, and in time of national stress the institution in which the Archbishop holds an exalted position has always been in the foreground of recruiting activities. Every conceivable passage of scripture has been twisted and moul ded to militarist advantage. Little wonder that to-day the clergy are preaching to a beggarly array of vac ant benches. To add to an already hopeless state of confusion, it is of quite recent date, according to the the Church Times,, that the Primate discovered that "prayers for temporal favours are not always answered." This admission seems to lend vivid colour to the wicked suggestion that

even his Grace does not regard prayer as a very safe investment. Moreover, I like the “always” in his statement, although the 1 really important question is, are any prayers answered? The number is quite immaterial. As Voltaire said of the Saint, who after being beheaded walked 100 paces with his head under his arm, one can believe 99 of the steps, it is the first one that offers difficulty. Prayers for rain, or for its discontinuance, according te requirement, remained a favourite occupation with the church until the day arrived when astronomical observations proved conclusively that the weather conditions were dependant wholly upon natural causes. Let os hope that the day may not be far distant when the Archbishop of .Canterbury will come to a realisation of the most obvious fact that the fundamental causes of war are purely economic in character, and that war may be averted solely by human effort. As the Arabian proverb has it, “The exercise of equity »for one day is equal to sixty years spent in prayer.” 1 am ’ et °" DEXO. 21/5/1939.

FLOWERING WEEDS

Sir,—l notice in the report of the Labour Party’s meeting held at Te Awamutu and published in your issue of the 15th inst. that it was decided “the Hon. J. E. Duncan, who was present, should telegraph the Minister for Labour and ask him if it were possible to re-employ the men who had been dismissed recently from the work of eradicating ragwort?” Surely, Sir, it is not intended to keep these men employed during the winter months cutting ragwort? The whole ragwort question is a colossal farce which impoverishes the needy farmer until he is forced off his holding by the insane methods of those who profess to help him; but what can be expected from a Government that will not comply with the laws which it governs? I gained some first-hand information recently from a man with a wife and young family who resides on the slopes of Pirongia Mountain, who stated that his neighbours on either side of him had walked off their sections, and he also intended to do so as soon as he found a suitable place. He explained that it had cost* him thirty-five pounds to clear forty-odd acres, and outlined the stupid methods adopted as regards vacant Government sections adjoining his property. ■ On these vacant sections next to him sodium chlorate was not used; the ragwort was simply cut down in the flowering stage and left to ripe: when the seeds blew over broadcast on to the sections already cleaned up and away beyond on to clean country miles away, rendering the results of costly material and labour futile. I sympathise with the men out of employment mentioned at the Labour Union meeting, and I sincerely hope that the Te Awamutu branch will help them and all others unemployed to find work. That would be a far more worthy deed than forming Workers’ Education Groups, which invariably foster “Communism” and its bitter class hatred. We had a group in our district,, and discontinued it because of the extreme views of the students who were sent out to lecture to us, and the nature of the literature forwarded to the group.—l am, etc., NOT MARX.