PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21191, 14 August 1940, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents whose letters are welcome, but for whose views we have no responsibility. Correspondents are requested to write i:i 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.

SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

(To the Editor) Sir, —South-east Europe, honeycombed with small States, is the the centre of unrest and political intrigue. The relationship that exists between these minor States and the great Powers may be of interest to your readers. Hungary is pro-Nazi, anti-Russian, anti-British and anti-Jewish. It may be added that Hungary is hostile to the League of Nations. She looks upon it merely as an instrument for maintaining the status quo. She is also anti-Communist, because of the horrors she suffered under Bela Kum. Conditions generally are not conducive to fifth column activities. Yugoslavia, however, has a universal sympathy for the British Empire. Army large, morale good, fighting tradition superb. Bulgaria’s rulers and army- are pro-German, her peasants pro-Russian. She has not felt the effects of the war so far. She is a happy hunting ground for fifth column intrigues. Greece is with the British Empire to the very letter. She has no anti-Jewish movement and nothing to fear from thfe foe from within, namely fifth column activities.—l am, etc., HARRY WOODRUFFE, Auckland, August 12.

BLACK-OUTS

(To the Editor) Sir, —When we look back upon the activities of the past twelve months we wonder what has gone wrong with humanity. We have seen small Powers enveloped by great Powers, war and tyranny are rife and we cannot see much further ahead than the next few hours. Much that the democracies have stood for has gone west and the world is full of black-outs. In the early part of the century many gods were in the ascendency. Science, reason, socialism, etc., were the props that were to save humanity and bring us Utopia. The lights of these ideas have now gone out, and what have we left? Black-outs. That there is hope for us all is the fact that even men of materialistic thought suggest that the only thing to save humanity is religion. In the midst of enemy countries, a small State still holds the light of truth, and another small State, Portugal, has given expression to the practical application of Christian teaching and is an example to the world. There is still gleaming the “Light of the World” and in that “Light’.’ -there is hope.—l am, etc., TORCH BEARER, Hamilton, August 13.

WAGES, PRICES, INFLATION

(To the Editor) Sir, —In your issue of August 9 under the above caption, The New Zealand Welfare League recites the evils of inflation and appeals to workers not to ask for increased wages to meet increased living costs. “What is the remedy?” asks the league. If the league is really desirous of an effective remedy it will have to withdraw its support from “orthodox” finance. Surely it is apparent to all that heavy taxation to meet internal war expenditure is the height of folly. Everybody knows that taxation must go into prices, thus reducing the value of wages. We are told that high taxation is necessary to avoid inflation, yet the financial policy being pursued is having just that effect. The final result is widespread social unrest and a demand for increased wages, another turn in the “upward spiral.” The remedy is not to do without things, as the league suggests. Quite obviously the average married worker has not anything to spare at the best of times, and a cut in wages by taxation and rising prices means serious hardship. The real remedy is to issue debt and interest-free, at least 90 per cent of the money required for internal war expenditure. If such a course were adopted there could be no increase in prices because there would be no interest or repayment charges to enter into prices of commodities. The results nationally would be most beneficial as there would be harmony in industry in place of suspicion and disunity. The writer commends the remedy to the careful consideration of the New Zealand Welfare League. •-I am, etc., R. G. YOUNG, Gordonton, August 12.

IS IT COINCIDENCE?

(To the Editor) Sir, —Long before the birth- of Christ, God selected a race of people around which to focus His plans for humanity. This race, Israel, so familiar to Bible readers. God promised to its progenitors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that it would endure as long as the stars, moon and sun, and was, furthermore, to develop into a company of nations and a great people. Therefore it still exists. Later on in history Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel (10 tribes), Judah (two tribes). Through disobedience and idolatry they were both eventually banished from their homelands in and aiound Palestine. Is it coincidence that at about the time expected by Bible students a nation which has been founded by settlements of apparently different peoples, Piets, Scots. Celts, Angles, Danes, Jutes, Norsemen, Saxons, Normans, etc., began to make remarkable progress, and is now a commonwealth of nations with an offshoot a great republic ? Is it coincidence that its growth and preservation have been a succession of seeming miracles ? Wolfe’s and Clive’s conquests of Canada and India, the Armada’s defeat, Trafalgar, Waterloo, the Marne, Amiens

and in a lesser degree Dunkirk, victories in the face of great odds? Will it be coincidence if Hitler’s blitzkreig is frustrated, perhaps by the forces of Nature or something else unforseen ? In the last and greatest world tributation this people is advised to withdraw to its own territories. Is it coincidence that we have had to vacate Norway, Belgium and France? It is predicted that this selected people would be opposed by all other world nations. Another coincidence is that this is happening to us. After the fall of the Gentile kingdoms which probably occurred at the end of the last war, three evil forces were to arise to challenge this people, one of which, identified as having control of Ethiopia and Libya (it is remarkable that these ancient Biblical names for Abyssinia and Tripoli have only recently been resumed), was for a time to occupy Egypt and Palestine. Is it coincidence that Italy is at present attacking these two areas ? This happening is thought to be a prelude to Armageddon, that mythical final battle that has always seemed centuries ahead. It is now more than feasible that the occupation of the Middle East, with its oilfields, by one of the dictators would set the stage for the scene where “Thieves fall out.” If and when these things come to pass we can rule out coincidence and treat them as facts. If the British race is God’s elected people, descendents of ancient Israel, we have the consoling knowledge that though perhaps we will deservedly suffer considerably, we will survive as a nation, not for our sakes, for we cannot claim to yet deserve it, but for His name’s sake, for He said it would be so. We can lighten our punishment by penitently asking His help.—l am, etc., THUMBS UP, Hamilton, August 13.