CORRESPONDENCE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18480, 15 May 1922, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

SWANS OR CHILDREN ? (To the Editor.) Sir, —I read in a recent report of a Borough Council meeting that a good deal of indignation was expressed over the action of some vandal who shot a swan on Virginia Lake, this indignation waxing to such extent that the Council was moved to vote £lO for information relative to the destruction of birds on the lake, a very proper decision, with which no one will quarrel. Here, however, is a little proposition m hich I should like to bring under the notice of councillors. Attending the Durie Hill School are approximately 120 children. All of these children have to walk for a part of the way to and from school along a road which is an arterial highway and along which there travels, some at very high speed, a long succession of motor vehicles. Were there a good footpath flanking the road this would not much matter, but unfortunately the only footpath gets into such condition after heavy rain that these children are compelled either to wend their way through a muddy slush or resort to the road for relief. Now, sir, I don’t know how many swans are on Virginia Lake, but say there are twenty, and that they are worth £lO apiece, total value £2OO. One of our politicians laid it down some time ago that every potential man and woman was worth to the State £2OO, and this was a pre-war price, but let it go at that. The value then of 120 potential men and men will be £24,000. By simple proportion if it’s worth £lO to save £2OO, it’s worth £l2OO to save £24,000, but much less than £l2OO would give these youngsters a decent asphalt path to walk on and save them from jeopardising life and limb in the effort to find a dean spot. As a business proposition it’s sound. I don’t mention the humanitarian point of view because presumably it isn’t worth while. We may take for granted that our borough councillors do their obvious duty and by a personal inspection of the various suburbs now and again, keep themselves acquainted with the needs of the borough. That being so, they must have known for years past of the urgent need of attention to the footpaths on Durie Hill; must have known it before financial conditions became so stringent as to create difficulties. Evidently then the point of view of its being in the interests of the children’s welfare didn’t appeal, .so I just put it as a business proposition.—l am, etc., PARENT.