PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20260, 31 July 1937, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents, whose letters are welcome, but for whose views we have no responsibility. Correspondents ace requested to write In ink. It Is essential that anonymous writers enclose their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Unless this rule is complied with, their letters will not appear.

MANY FACTORB. (To the Editor.) Sir, —I notice that Mr Savage has stressed the part played by higher wages in effecting recovery, and there are many people who hold that reduction of wages was the chief cause of lntensiflying the depression of recent years. The Director of the International Labour Organisation at Geneva has had the matter examined in eight States, and has prepared graphs showing movements of wages and employment. In his report the Director says: ir a really International test is applied over a number of countries the only possible conclusion is that the amount paid an hour to the worker is no more than one among a great many factors which go to determine the general levol of a nation’s economic activity, and by no means the decisive factor.” —I am, etc., G. RUSSBRIDGE. Hamilton, July 30. AN EXPLANATION. (To the Editor.) Sir, —I think perhaps it is necessary to explain to “Venator” my reason for terminating the debate with him. In a nutshell, I refuse to debate with an opponent who in almost every letter charges me with statements I never made. Further, it is against my principles to reply to one who hides behind a nom-de-pVume. However, when views so inimical to a country’s welfare are advanced one cannot rightly ignore them. I am glad, Sir, that the discussion has stirred up interest, for never in New Zealand's history has it been so necessary clearly to understand the political trend. If you consider contributions from me worthy of a place in the columns of the Times, then “Venator" may rest assured that I have not “retired from the field."—l am, etc., \V. P. KEN AH. Raglan, July 28. MACHINERY AND DAIRY FARMING. (To the Editor.) Sir, —While I am happy to oblige Mr H. Burnley in changing, at his request, my line of approach to the subject of machinery and unemployment, it is necessary to point out to him that mass production methods and standardisation do not lend themselves readily to animal management—as they discovered in Soviet Russia. It Is more in the field of mechanised industry that the startling .results I have enumerated are to be found. No one can deny that the separator, the milking machine and electric power have greatly increased production per labour unit on the dairy farm, but in reply to (a), this has been almost counterbalanced by the spread of weeds and other pests and diseases, whloh have effectively prevented workers from becoming idle; this also answers (c). (b) The farmer, unlike the Industrialist, does not fix the price of his produoe. It is fixed for him by the fleroest competition in an open market. This, combined with the fact that he usually meets his oosts on a protected market, effectively prevents any “concentration of wealth" —whatever that is. * It may be of interest to your oorrespondent, however, to learn that In more recent times—only last summer —a shortage of labour in the harvest fields was feared. Sales of harvesting machinery reached reoord levels, and as a result many of those who were available found that their services were not required. —I am, etc., VENATOR. Hamilton, July 28. BRITISH-ISRAELISM. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Will you allow me to reply briefly to the last letter of Mr Gore? (1) There is no “original MSS." of the Bible—the idea that there is is a common delusion. (2) The Rhemes and Douai version Is a translation from the Latin Vulgate; a translation of a translation. (3) The marginal reading 616 in the English Revised Version was not casually placed there by some irresponsible person. It represents trained critical judgment, and is supported by Irenaeus (2nd Cen.) and by some very high manuscript authority such as the Codex Ephraemi (sth Cen.). (4) I did not mention Mussolini in connection with the numbers 666 or 616. lam not a fool. (5) The Greek Text us Receptus on which the Authorised Version of I he New Testament. was based is of low critical authority, and owes its celebrity to the beauty of the printing. It was published bv Stephan us in .1550. The Victorian revisers also took Ibis text as the basis of their work, but freely adopted readings which were supported bv the beshmanuscripts—hence the marginal reading 616. The Greek text of Slephanus, with these emendations and additions, was edited by Edwin Palmer and published in 1880. (6) The number 666 or 6 16 both point in all probability to Nero. For my own part, I am cerlam that such is the ease, and 1 have given much painstaking attention to the matter. It is needless to say more. So far as the Greek text of the New Testament is concerned, and the authorities on which it rests. Mr Gore lias need to go to school. —1 am, etc., ,T. MORRIS. Claudelands, July 29.

TAXATION. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Could any of your readers state whether the Prime Minister, Just before the last election, issued a mani - festo, or a pamphlet, headed “The Case for Labour"? I should like to get hold of a copy, but for the moment would be glad if anyone owning one could say whether there was a statement in it that “increased and inequitable forms of taxation have reached breaking point.”—l am, etc., WAGER. Te Awamutu, July 29. NATIONB AND WAR. (To the Editor.) Sir, —“Curious” seems to have curiously misinterpreted Mr Savage's remarks about the futility of attempting to settle world di-sputes which produce wars without first attending to the economic foundations. He forgets that dictatorships themselves are the outcome of economic disruption, including a depressed -standard of living for the masses. The desperate search for I non-existent markets is only a symptom of a defective monetary system in every country. Personally I think Mr Savage’s analysis of the international situation, however much we may disagree with certain aspects of Labour legislation in the Dominion, was a pretty shrewd epitome of the position. If Mr Savage in his broadcast address made no reference to the King and Queen personally, he certainly made ample reference to the people's loyalty to the Monarchy, and that it is the ideal and not the person which counts seems to have been fairly well realised since early last December, when the British people faced a “crisis” which did not appear to be a crisis at all. —I am, etc., COMMENTATOR. Hamilton, July 30. A TOWN HALL. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Sooner or later Hamilton must have a town hall, so why not sooner? As “Advance” pointed out, it would be a cultural centre, and no progressive centre can afford to be without that. The position was put clearly oy a southern Journal recently. It said: “The chief objection always urged against the erection of a municipal hall is that it involves a direct loss to the community and consequently an increase in the rates. People talk as if a munipicallty hau to make a profit on everything it undertook. They ask if a town hall would earn interest on Its capital cost, and when the reply inevitably Is that the hiring fees would fall far short of the required figure they dismiss the whole proposition as if it were fantastic. They forget that the provision of a town hall is one of the services expected of a municipality, and that a town without its hall is a wheel without a hub. Whether the building would be used twice a year or two himdred times is not at all to the point, although this seems to have been made the critical issue in the past. What matters is that the people of the city ought to have a rallying place of their own, a plaoe where it is possible to hold more than a sectional gathering. The mere possession of such a oentre gives a town a new sense of importance and a new pride.” —I am, etc., PROGRESS. Hamilton, July 30. POLITICAL PROGRAMMES. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Probably In a passing feeling of dissatisfaction, Mr Warburton has had his fling at political programmes, but he did not, in his letter, venture to show how the political life of the country could be carried on without them. Parties, and men, must state the things for which they stand, and if the statement is illogical, the programme chimerical, then it Is for men with the analytical mind to show its weaknesses, and the columns of the Press are usually open for that purpose. All the great reforms have come from groups that had a definite programme. What of the Manchester school, led by Cobden? It had a programme, and Morley said of Cobden: “His appeal was invariably to reason and never to passion; he did not persuade; his aim was to convince, that better way of giving to opinion an enduring basis." Whaf, I fancy, has caused Mr Warburton so strongly to dislike political programmes is that the advocates have not addressed their appeals to reason, but to pas-sion. They have not tried to convince, but have rested content with trying lo persuade. And, to my way of thinking, the persuasion lias not. directed to any other end tlian the winning of a vote. That may he effective, until what has been called political education spreads. In the years to come I fancy the election of 1933 will prove of exceptional interest to students of the political history of the Dominion. The primary producers were carried away with a plan for guaranteed prices. The only thing that counted was the. material aspect. 'Pile other side, the loss of control of what they had them - selves produced, the creation of State marketing, was ignored. In order to find out how. after some experience of I tie syst em, the producers viewed it, 1 have been to the library during the last, few weeks lo look through the newspapers and read reports of annual dairy company meetings, it has been interesting to read statements like tin's one, from Taranaki: “We have experienced the guaranteed price, which is not a guaranteed price at all. but a straight-out commandeer. My idea of a guaranteed price was that Hie Government should underlake that producers should receive u I less than a certain amount, and the h neflt of any surplus above that price.” These ideas found lit lle advocacy prior to the election. There must be a policy, a programme. but at Hie same time there must lie the power to analyse, lo sift the practical from the impossible. Mr Warburton may be nearer the truth if

he decides Ihat, r s a people, we have a greater gilt for general acceptance than for analysis. Next year there will be further programmes, and they will simply be accepted by the different parties. 11, all comes back to the famous question asked by Goethe: “What are we to do with people who mean well?” And perhaps Mr Warburton knows the question Ihat a great statesman added: • And what with who will have it that if a thing is desirable enuugh II must be possible?"—l am. etc., CIICLSLA. Cambridge, July 30.