IN THE MIRROR

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 3, Issue 9, 2 March 1925, Page 2

IN THE MIRROR

Dear Lady in the Mirror, — " 'You are old, Father William,' the young man said," and though probably my years are considerably less than those of the sprightly veteran, I have a feeling that one of my pedal extremities is tending gravewards! I have booked a front seat in the chimney-corner for the coming winter. It's all very, very sad, for I have aged so rapidlyl have quite an Ayesha feeling. Only a few days ago I was comparatively juvenile, and life still held out hopes. To-day I am in my early dotage and pass my scanty leisure in meditating on the Tomb and in regretting the follies of my evaporated youth. The Labour Party has, metaphorically, turned my hair white in a single night. Surely, after the last election, one had a right to feel safe. Whatever the faults or virtues of those ultra-democratic strivers after Utopia, for the moment we felt that the march of progress had been slowed down a bit and that we could rest awhile before again rushing madly onward to the Millenium. I, for one, heaved a sigh of relief and believed that I and the Empire would now jog along comfortably as in the good old days before one had to be either a bloodsucking plutocrat, or an oppress-

A recent photograph of General Sir Charles Fergusson. Baronet of Kilkerran, K.C.8., K.C.M.G., C.B. M.V.0.. D. 5.0., D.L., J. 8., LL.B., our Governor-General, tvhose genial personality has already made him' popular

eel martyr of the capitalist system. But no! Finding themselves for the moment without any definite occupation, no worlds to make or mar, what should our earnest Socialists do but attack your one-time cheerful Knave! Indirectly, it is true: a much more exalted personage was the direct object of their gibe. The majority of their statements are hardly worthy of comment: the slums of Glasgow are as horrible as they, even in their most exalted moments of lurid eloquence, can describe. However, the landlords are not members of the bloated aristocracy but comparatively recently enriched members of the so-called working class. The old saying "its the poor that help the poor" is undoubtedly truebut it is also undeniably true that it is the once-poor that oppress the poor. On the other hand, the object of their attack, the Prince of Wales, is a model landlord, and that portion of the Duchy of Cornwall that lies, by a curious anomaly on. the south bank of the Thames, and from which he derives a large part of his income, can be quoted as an example of good housing. Again, no reasonable man would believe that the Prince was anxious to undertake the arduous toil that another Colonial tour will involve. These Socialistic absurdities, however, are not what has upset me so much. What does worry me is their gibe at "this so-called young man." Being somewhat older than H.R.H., it rankles. I will now remain Tory and not be "too old at forty."

'Penny Shopping Glares I HPHE fact that there is a minimum " fare of two-pence for adults travelling on the tramway systems of New Zealand's cities is grossly unfair and weighs specially against the women. For example the woman comes into the city from a distant suburb to shop. She commences her shopping round at a convenient centre; having discharged her business there she wishes to visit a different shop or institution which, although comparatively near, yet entails a hardship to reach by walking when burdened with parcels and accompanied with children. She perforce enters a tram and is mulcted for a two-penny fare for herself plus half-fares for her children for a journey which in all probability is only a few hundred yards. Similarly busy citymen have occasion many times during the day to call at different city officestime is money and the civic transport service is utilized to cover the insignificant distance to be traversed; yet he is "rooked" for the full onesection charge for this privilege. The charge is iniquitous and cannot be justified. Special city shopping tickets should be issued. It is high time that pressure be brought to bear to have this state of affairs remedied. I have always been surprised that the daily press, who are supposedly responsible to the public for protecting their interests, have not long before this raised no uncertain voice to abolish this blatant piece of extortion. The times of highway (or as it is "tramway") robbery have vanished long ago in civilized countries. Traffic Travails TN the matter of the private buses the action of the Civic Administration in precipitating the present traffic war by their extraordinary petty action in turning the buses

off their stand in front of the Central Post Office merited a very severe vote of censure from the ratepayers. Retribution followed,

and now the Council wail over the diminished earnings of the tramways as a result of the bus proprietors hitting out from the should-

er in the good old English style. Did the Council think they were dealing with an alien race? It is extraordinary how long periods in office turn one-time capable administrators into beaureaucrats. The present tearful appeal of the council to the ratepayers to support their own trams is hardly dignified and certainly benefits nobody. There are thousands of Auckland citizens who have reason to call down blessings on the heads of the enterprising bus-owners who have taken large commercial risks in opening up services to outlying suburbs —services that might well have proved financially unsuccessful, in which case the bus-owners would have had no popular urban services to help bear the loss, as the tramways have. Yet on the main routes the city should protect its own services. The Mayor would be well advised to take a leaf out of the Postmaster-General's book and reduce the tram fares. This will no doubt result in a large increase in passengers carried, which should more than compensate for the reduction in fares and produce a surplus above present figures. It will at the same time have the effect of driving off the buses from those thoroughfares on which they are not required—on which at present they can only thrive in view of the high tram fares charged. 'Reprehensible Journalism 'T'HAT two Ministers of the Crown should find it necessary within the space of a few days to correct erroneous statements attributed to them by the Press is hardly a matter of which New Zealand journalism can be proud. Both Sir Maui Pomare and the Honourable A. D. McLeod have had recently to point out that statements which have appeared in our dailies were distortions of the facts, and while Mr. McLeod's refer-

ence to “cattle-sick lands” was not a matter which would reflect on the high esteem in which he is personally held by the community, the case of Sir Maui Pomare is entirely different. To him was attributed a statement that, if it had been accurate, would not only have convicted him of a cynical regard for the public welfare .almost criminally cynical in a Minister holding so vital a portfolio, but also of most remarkable unreliability. Sir Maui Pomare flatly contradicted the report that had appeared regarding his alleged statements on the matter of grants in connection with infantile paralysis research, not only in the Press, but to a Mirror represervative, within an hour of its publication, in the most emphatic manner possible. He reiterated that the Health Department would do all that was possible to obtain the necessary grant. In fact, so emphatic was the Minister’s denial to our representative (a mere male, by the way) that I cannot quote it verbaf! >"- So deliberate was the attack, and so persistent was the journal in reiterating the accuracy of the statemrnt after a complete denial nad bcen made that it appeared to indicate that the occasion had been welcomed as providing a weapon for a vicious assault on a member of the Government whose services merit just and honourable treatment. It is a matter for regret that no apology was forthcoming. It is. of course, not the first oc-

casion in which the power of the Press has been used to make political capital out of the country's needs—a recent case was during the Sir Joseph Ward-MacMillan election at Tauranga last year, when from rival accounts of the hustlings reports of speeches and incidents were apparently distorted out of all approach to the truth, but such action very often turns out to have a boomerang effect, as the late Lord Northcliffe and the present controller of England's scare Press, were made to know not so long ago. Plain John Citizen is not the supine fool newspaper proprietors apparently think he is. John is capable of forming his own opinion, and an inherited sense of fair play makes that opinion usually a just and honest onefounded on facts and not on the distortions that are published for his edification. Another matter on which, in the interests of womanhood, it appears that the strongest censure is merited is the way in which some daily papers have treated the infantile paralysis epidemic. Instead of attempting to reassure mothers and the public by issuing advice on matters of hygiene, ordinary precautions, etc., they have apparently deliberately used the occasion to fill their columns with scare lines which have had a terrible effect on many mothers, some of whom have been driven to a state of nervous prostration by this insane and well-nigh criminal abuse of the duty of the Press. —Knave 0' Hearts.