PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21513, 30 August 1941, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

CURRENT POINTS OF VIEW

GREY STREET TREES

(To the Editor) Sir, —I noticed in a report of the Borough Council meeting that the j borough engineer said that 10 lorry- £ loads of wood had to be removed from the trees in Grey Street this year. It seems to me that it would r be an admirable idea to sell such wood for patriotic purposes.—l am, etc., r CURIOUS E Hamilton, August 29. r

C PATRIOTIC FUNDS f C

(To the Editor) £ Sir, —It is surprising to read that " funds belonging to the public, in : , trust for our soldiers, are to be diverted to investments in a water- i 1 works. | c We are having appeals every day r n to support finances for the boys, yet ; a patriotic society is considering this I means of dealing with the moneys at c its disposal. If it has too much c money then it can disburse it to the \ men in the field. It has no justifica- c tion for investment of funds which it s holds in trust.—l am, etc., j x BRUTUS € Hamilton, August 26. | -v

TOWN HALL OR HOSPITAL? T t

i (To the Editor) | r Sir, —In thanking you for pub- s lishing my views on the serious posi- t tion regarding soldiers’ hospitals, I c would like to have a word to say \ about a letter signed by Mr J. Moody, -v His letter, being immediately after ]■ my own, I was struck with the fact c that he was urging upon the Borough ( Council the need for building a town hall. . If Mr Moody would study the West , School incident he would, I am sure, c write another letter asking the coun- 1 cil to save the material and labour | that a town hall would require, so 1 that it could be used to provide f reasonable facilities for the sons of i New Zealand who are unfortunate r enough to be sent home wounded. \ If Mr Moody will do that, then as c soon as we have won the war, I will s back him up in his argument, that s Hamilton merits a town hall in keep- x ing with the progressive outlook of ( its people.—l am, etc. j ANOTHER EX-SOLDIER L PATIENT. |! Hamilton, August 29. i + i

t WOMEN IN TROUSERS t r

(To the Editor) £ Sir, —In reply to “Conventional’s” c letter of August 26, as two of these t “ so-called moderns,” we would like c to present our point of view. We c both wear slacks a good deal, for i many reasons. For instance, they are c excellent for hiking, and as we go c out of an evening to physical cul- i ture and basketball etc., where one’s g attire js naturally rather brief, we like wearing slacks over these clothes, whereby we can be both warm and comfortable. Also, quite a f number of girls, owing to the stocking shortage, prefer wearing slacks c to going up the street showing bare T legs, which are not always an attrac- 1 tive feature. c In Britain they don’t bother about % such conventions today, and the t average conventional young man of I today seems to take the fact of girls r wearing slacks quite for granted. \ While we naturally enjoy wearing u pretty dresses, slacks are a very use- p ful item in a girl’s wardrobe ans we i think “Conventional” must be rather t narrow-minded not to admit it.—we r are, etc., t SENSIBLE. j, Hamilton, August 29. j

HINDRANCE TO UNITY (To the Editor) Sir, —Your correspondent. Mr T. A. Fleetwood, asserts that unity of action in our Parliament is hindered by the unwillingness of the Opposition to work with the Government. Could anything be more blatantly reversed? The opposition has, for months past, been begging to be allowed to work with the Government. To all of the pleas of the Opposition the Government returns a firm refusal. In no Parliament can there be unity of action unless all parties are represented in the Cabinet and all individual members are left free, regardless of party, to speak and vote as they may please. Into the Cabinet, our present Government will admit no representatives of other parties. The help of the Opposition is sought in our war effort, but not made welcome into that Cabinet which, alone, directs our Dominion’s efforts as a whole. The reason for the adoption of its exclusive attitude by our present Government has nothing to do with war. It is dictated by the Government’s determination to press on with -the socialising of our whole life, war or no war. Mr Fleetwood further contends that our people voted this Government into office to carry out this socialising policy. It would be more true to say that our Socialists first came into power because our people were disgrutled over the measures which the previous Government had been obliged to take to meet worlddepression conditions, for which that Government was in no way responsible; and .then, at the next election, were again returned to office because world-wide easement of depression conditions (and a rather spendthrift policy of squandering the Dominion’s built-up reserves) had enabled our Socialist Government to increase wages and, in general, make money flow more freely—things which a Conservative Government could have done quite as well, though such a Government would not have spent our financial resources as unwisely and prodigally as this Socialist Government has done. New Zealand has never faced squarely and without confusing issues, the question whether or not it wishes to become a Socialistic State. This Government has received no mandate to socialise our whole life. It would not, now, for the settlement of all argument on this point, dare to conduct a referendum on this one question. New Zealand’s answer to the question: “ Do you want all private ownership in New Zealand to cease, in favour of the substitution of State ownership of all our means of production, distribution and exchange—in favour, that is, of a socialistic regime?” would be a resounding, overwhelming “No!” I repeat my main contention that political unity 'is made impossible in the Dominion at present solely because we have a Government determined to force upon an individualistic population, most of the members of which delight in having something which they can call their own and in being allowed as much freedom as possible in the conduct of their business affairs, a socialistic system, which cannot last, even if, in its misuse of its parliamentary majority, the presen Government goes ahead with its imposition upon us of a new order,” the pressure of which is already wellnigh intolerable. Once again I appeal to the Socialists of New Zealand to let national unity come first in these perilous days—to defer their efforts to mould us all into the fashion of the socialist machine until some more convenient season. War-time is no time, in any country, for political experiments, for the imposition of any “ new order,” for the dividing of