Dear Sir

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 95, 5 July 1946, Page 4

Dear Sir

Letters to the Editor must be clearly written on one side of the paper only and where a nom-de-plume is used the name of • the writer must be included for reference purposes. The Editor reserves the right to amend or withhold any letter or letters. MORE BROKEN GLASS Sir,— May I trespass on your valuable space to heartily endo'rse in its entirety the worthy letter upon the above subject by your subscriber “Integrity.” As a local resident of many yearsstanding I have been pained to see the deterioration in the general behaviour and conduct of some of the younger members of our Maori race. Now Sir, the primary cause of all this trouble is without doubt the fact that our Maori Brothers can and does obtain supplies of liquor for consumption off licensed premises. Our Legislators in their wisdom have decreed that no Maori may do this; but what do we see? Nothing but a deliberate flouting of this law by all concerned. The remedy easy. A representative body of our leading citizens such as the Chamber of Commerce — who must know the offenders, or else "proof can easily be obtained — to appear at the next meeting of the Bay of Plenty Licensing Committee, and make strong representation that the licensee be not granted a renewal of his license.

Or else, to be like the surgeon and to strike deeper at the cancerous growth that is amongst us, the same body to bring, by divers means, pressure to bear upon our local police force who by not strictly enforcing *the law would almost appear —by the consummate ease with which our Maori Brothers obtains his liquor supplies—to connive in the breach thereof.

This ■ has a tendency I submit to lower the prestige and dignity of that fine body of men who hitherto in Whakatane at least, have always worthily upheld all the finer traditions of the N.Z. Police Force.

All the foregoing, I assure you, is -• not occasioned by a figment of the imagination, for any citizen even with poor eyesight may see for himself any day, but particularly on ■the weekends, our Maori Brother • leaving certain hostelries with his parcel of beer tucked under his arm, not surreptitiously mark you,. but with all the aplomb in the world. Or perhaps a walk down one of •the side streets and a glance in a • •backyard may reveal the little Maori car or truck backed in and the men loading either a keg or a case of beer. Sir, I strongly emphasise the state of affairs must stop and it behoves ius all as public citizens to see that it does. Yours etc.,' \ * PUBLIC OPINION. OHOPE EROSION Sir, —In your issue of the ‘Beacon’ of Friday last, there is reported a’ discussion by the County, Council on the subject of sea erosion at Ohope. Your heavy type headlines tend to give an exaggerated idea of the existing threat to foreshore frontages generally, and moreover they contain a mis-statement of fact with regard to this writer’s part in the correspondence before the council. So far as my property is concerned; as no protective work is needed none has been considered; neither was my frontage nor any other individual frontage mentioned in my letter to the County Council. All that was asked for was, that in the -interests of everyone, some action should be taken to prevent the removal by the public of the protective shell and shingle bank, which accumulated at high tide mark and checked erosion for the time being, especially along the more western frontages. In the council’s discussions, it was stated that much of the trouble was due to the residents cutting down the height of the sandhills. That is not so. The process that is going on, is a progressive undercutting by the sea, at the foot of the loose face; and the quick collapse that follows, is uniform whether the bank . be high or low. Certainly any inter(Continued in previous column)