PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21418, 12 May 1941, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

i CAUSE FOR CONFIDENCE I (To the Editor.) Sir.—The most satisfying evidence of the power of England and its af- ! feet upon Germany is obvious in HenHitler’s speech. He emphasised the ; fact that he wanted to destroy Mr ; Churchill. From this evidence we i can deduce, my dear Watson, that Mr Churchill’s policy of attacking military objectives rather than large citj ies has been the correct one. Hence. ' we should strengthen our confidence in England’s Prime Minister, i Furthermore, Mr Churchill has ( stated that he expects Herr Hitler ' to spread himself across other coun- | tries. To the disconsolate we repeat, if you have confidence in Mr Churchill, then why growl whatever happens!—l am, etc., THUMBS UP. Hamilton, May 9 RESERVE BANK CREDIT (To the Editor.) Sir, —It is a pity Mr Young is so easily peeved, and it is rather funny that he complains of “ abuse against organised sections of the community who have no knowledge, etc.” Presumably he is the only one who has “ knowledge.” I thought we were discussing Reserve Bank credit, but Mr Young has now gone off at a “ tangent,” and writes a long letter about the coal strikes. Of course some fanatics believe that the use of the Reserve Bank is a panacea for all our troubles, even to mumps and measles.—l am, etc., W. P. KENAH. Raglan, May 8.

FORTY-HOUR WEEK (To the Editor.) Sir,—There are a number of pessimists in Hamilton moaning about the 40-hour week. There is nothing to stop them working their employees the 44 hours; all they have to do is to find an extra four or five shillings for overtime. Notice also that-the persons loudest in their complaints are the very ones who have never paid more than the minimum wage, and do not know what a bonus means. This type of employer is the first to rush off a sob stuff appeal if any of their staff are called up, either for overseas or Territorial service. These men would be indignant if you told them they were disloyal, yet one pessimist has threatened to close up his business altogether if any more of his staff are called up.—l am, etc., BRITISHER. Hamilton, May 8. WHAT THE WAR IS ABOUT (To the Editor.) Sir, —Permit me a brief reply to Mr Martin’s letter in your issue of May 1. He asks me if I think democracy’s new world order which we hear so much about will allow continuity of freedom of religious thought, action and speech. The answer is yes, up to a point. I am well acquainted with the purpose of the Ecumenical Council’s decisions, which have still to be fully set in motion. By the last mail I received a report of the remarkable pronouncement set forth by the two archbishops, the Roman Catholic cardinal, and the president of the Free Church Council, by which a call is made to all churches to get together and work as one in the common interests of all, in an endeavour to establish between them a new bond. But like all such movements it is doomed to failure, for it is leading to a state of totalitarianism, which denies the right of individual thought, both religious and secular. While democracy has a place in world affairs there is to be found liberty, freedom to worship in one’s own way, and action to do as one pleases, so long as the common laws laid down are not violated. Herein lies the difference between totalitarianism with its compulsion to serve under pain of death, and democracy with its freedom and liberty to act as one’s conscience dictates. Mr Martin’s reference to Revelation 13:16 has to do with the state this world will be in during the reign of anti-Christ just before Christ takes over the reins of Government and ushers in the real, true and lasting “ New World Order ” for which mankind is waiting.—l am, etc., C. E. KNIGHT. Auckland, May 6.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS (To the Editor.) Sir, —The closing of nominations on Monday for the local body elections throughout New Zealand once again forces us to take stock of ourselves and of our sense of values. Some time ago I was more than surprised at the decision to proceed with the statutory elections, for it seemed to me that at a time such as we are passing through at present such needless expense and waste of time could have been dispensed with. however, it was decided that the rate- | payers should be given the opportuni ity of asserting their rights with re- ! gard to representation in the admin- ! istration of municipal affairs and the ! nominees for the administrative posi- ! tions have come forward, j Now that we find that the election is something that just must be. it is ! pleasing to see so many public-spir-I ited men and women offering their j services to their town. They are i certainly to be commended for that, j but it is to be hoped seeking | election they will suit their campaigns jto the circumstances of the day. By this I mean that it would be desirable | for them to avoid as far as possible i the electioneering meetings which ! serve little more purpose than that ! ‘of stirring up strife. In a time of | war unity should be the aim rather j than bickering and squabbling, and j it seems that by working toward this j end al) candidates would be making a ; patriotic gesture. In other centres the paucity of the attendances at electioneering meet- ; ings has shown that the minds of the ■ public are too full of other things for | them to worry about the speeches the candidates have to make. In normal times such things might have their place, but I submit that today they have not. Surely a candidate can | rely on the public to sum up his , worth without his having to call | them out to halls in various parts |of the town. In any case, even at | nights, the time of both the ratepay- ' ers and the candidates could be betj ter spent than in a hall listening to I addresses which in the long run will j have little or no effect one way or the other in the progress of the town.— i I am, etc., MORE WORK, LESS PLAY, j Hamilton May 7.

CURRENT POINTS OF VIEW

i NATURAL BIRTH RATE

(To the Editor.') Sir, —I have watched your paper with great interest and congratulate “Another Pather of Three cn his understanding letter. I wonder just how many people read “ Young Father of Three’s ” letter in the same light, as I did? It could be taken more than one way. Just what did he' mean by “ his honest opinion? ” Does he realise that the homes and orphanages here are full of poor little illegitimate children? So I (and many others) hope that there wiil be a final reply by him. I am as yet a young mother of one and I do not agree with “ Nota Bene ” about child birth being painless. It may have appeared painless after an anaesthetic had been administered to her. Naturally, she would feel no pain, because she knows nothing. “ Young Father of Three ” expects rather much. Nevertheless, I will consider myself well done by if I can produce six—which to my mind is an ideal family.—l am, etc., STATA GIN Taupiri, May 9. GARDEN PLACE TRAFFIC (To the Editor.) Sir, —I want to make a suggestion to these new councillors who will be called cn to do justice to the rate,payers of Hamilton; that is, to do the same as the Auckland City Council is doing with the old railway station. That is a first-class parking place, and they are charging sixpence a car a day or 2s 6d a week. They are doing well out of it. Our new councillors could do the same with Garden Place, which the old council has made a parking place. If the new council does as Auckland has done and charges 2s 6d a week a car that would bring in something like £671 a year. Then the council would be able to do something with the footpaths in East Street, and in other streets. I think it would be doing justice to all the ratepayers. Here is another thing I would like to bring to the new council’s mind. Could not something be done with regard to cars that .are going into this parking place? They go in from Victoria Street when going up and also coming down, right in front of the post office. Then a little further up the street cars are coming out of the packing place into Victoria Street again. What with the going in and the crossing to the post office and the coming out of the parking place into Victoria Street, the public is in the danger zone all along. Why not make these cars go out of the back of Garden Place? There will be accidents in this locality if something is not done.—l am, etc., J. MOODY. Hamilton, May 9.

FAMILY ALLOWANCES (To the Editor.) Sir, —I have read with interest the letters on the topic of the natural birth rate and' feel that if the present family allowance of 4s for each child after the first, payable to those in receipt of not more than £5 a week were amended as follows, then the population troubles we now have to face would be quickly brought to an end:— (1) The present figure of £5 to be abolished and payment made irrespective of the amount of wages earned. If, however, a maximum must be set, then this should be inclined a little more on the high side than on the low side as at present, and I w r ould suggest the figure be not less than £7 10s, including any amounts earned by a wife. I venture to say that those in receipt of £5 or less a week today are in the very great minority as there are very few maximum award rates below this figure. (2) The payment of 4s be increased to a more correct figure on the lines of 15s suggested by “ Another Father of Three.” (3) The payment of the allowance be made from the date of the birth of the first child and not the second as at present. The present system of paying the maximum award rate to single men, married men and married men with children is a correct one from the employers’ point of view but from a national viewpoint it is a very shortsighted and wrong method indeed. —I am, etc., PER CAPITA. Hamilton, May 7. BEHIND GERMAN PLANS t (To the Editor.) j Sir,—A recent correspondent to your paper inquired who Haushofer is. Although my answer to that query is not detailed, yet it will serve to demonstrate the mentality, or rather philosophy, of Hitler’s tutor, friend and advisor. General Karl Haushofer is head of the Geopolitical Institute in Munich. The Third Reich is virtually a reali- | sation of the theories outlined in Dr. | Hanshofer’s books on strategy, economics and politics. Many recent I and historic events such as the dei struction of Poland and Czechosloj vakia, Palestinian disorders, the inI vasion of Norway and the Low CounI tries are to be found outlined in ! Haushofer’s writings. ! Here are a few extracts from a I pamphlet written by a German, i Thomas Griessemer, and published in New York, concerning the writings of I Haushofer:— ! “ Haushofer. not Hitler, has conj ceived the plan of world domination 1 by Germany, and the details of the | plan had been completely worked out 'by Haushofer long before Hitler | seized power. I Hausncfer describes Britain and 1 the United States as imperialistic , Powers which now control the wealth j of the world and exploit it for their own enrichment, and can never be made voluntarily to give up even a j particle of their ill-gotten gains. Con--1 sequently. Germany must step in and, ] for the sake of all humankind, make ( the Anglo-Saxons relinquish their stranglehold on world trade even if they are destroyed in the process. ( Then only can the German reign of ! peace and justice be instituted, i “ When the European industrial and military forces are finally mobilised under German direction, the conquest of the American continents is to begin.”—l am, etc., A.E.I. Hamilton, May 7.

COSTLESS CREDIT (To the Editor) Sir, —The recent contributions by Messrs R. G. Young and A. J. Gallichan clearly show that they, in common with other advocates of costless credit, have one object in mind, namely, a scheme to enable the small and would-be capitalists to secure an advantage over the monopoly capitalists. Their theories are in the interests of one small and decreasing section of society and not in the interests of society as a whole. It is not the working class which uses credit. The banks are designed foi the benefit of the people who make the banking system work for them, and to think that these people will disgorge is sheer hypocrisy. At a meeting about nine months ago I heard Mr Young asked if ho had made any study of Marxist economics. His answer was in the negative, and he thus showed his impertinence in attempting to uphold any particular economic theory before having first of all studied all othei theories. It is not logical for any individual to offer a theory as a solution until such individual has studied everything in existence relative to the matter. It also seems quite apparent that Mr Gallichan knows nothing of the economic theories ol Marx. If so neither he nor Mi Young would attempt to solve the problem by costless credit. That the system of production and distribution for profit is the basis oi our economic troubles is no longer doubted by those who have dug into

the problem beyond the soft top soil. It js down in the hard clay that wc find tiie starting point for our analysis, but it takes perseverance and sweat to get into this tough subsoil and few are prepared to go so deep. In an attempt to prove my statement that the profit-making system is the cause of the trouble, let us consider a small world in which there are 5000 people and that the whole of the raw materials and the whole of the means of production and distribution are under the control of one individual. We will as- | sume that half of these 5000 are | males and half females, that half ol i each sex are of working age and thal j half of the adult females are married ; women who spend their time with I household duties. Then we have | 2500 juveniles, 625 married women i who spend their time with household i duties and 1875 available for emi ployment. Let us further assume that | the working capital of the individual j in control is £IO,OOO. He employs ' these 1875 workers and agrees to pay ' wages equivalent to an average ol ! £5 a week each, provided they can j produce a profitable amount of goods j —say £20,000 a week, j The workers commence; the raw ( materials are produced and taken tc | the factories where these materials I are manufactured into consumable j goods. At the end of the week the • workers are paid for their labour a j total of £9375. But the people can’t ; eat money, so they are forced to go j to the capitalist to purchase the ; necessities of life. Before the nexl ; week is over they have spent all j their wages and the monopolist still j has his £IO,OOO plus £10,625 worth

of goods. At the end of the second week he ha? still EHhOOfl in cash and £21,250 worth of accumulated good? for which there is no market. What is he to do? He has all these goods to supply his own needs, so there is no need for further employment of labour for some time. In other words we have what is known as a “glut” or “over-production” and consequently a “depression.” Although this is not a Marxist analysis of the system it is a simple explanation of capitalism at work, and although it is a crude example which leaves much still to be explained it suffices to illustrate the working of our present economic system. Costless credit, money re-

forms or any other medicine won't make this sick animal well Only a system of production and distribution for use instead of for profit—in other words socialism—can overcome the trouble.—l am, etc., W. A. HAYWARD. Frankton, April 28