What Our Readers Are Thinking

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 35, 7 September 1949, Page 4

What Our Readers Are Thinking

Though their views on all subjects are freely published here because we believe it our duty to uphold the public’s right to freedom of opinion, our correspondents’ opinions are not necessarily shared by this newspaper. LIQUOR LICENSES

Sir. —Correspondents make certain contentions defending the proposed two new liquor licenses. 1. They say a wholesale license could mean reduced consumer price without increasing drinking facilities. Therefore a licensee is prepared to take out a wholesale license enabling him to sell for less, but he would not sell a larger total quantity than at present. So they expect a businessman to handle the same quantity of liquor for a reduced turnover. Strange economics!

An equivalent turnover at a lower price usually means an increased quantity must be sold. If any misapprehension here, please explain. If a man gets more beer for his. £, are not his drinking facilities increased? If consumer price is the only aim, what is wrong with the Price Tribunal?

2. Accommodation. We agree that accommodation is definitely needed, but what of the merits of an up-to-date boarding establishment, such as found in most towns? This, would immediately relieve hotel accommodation pressure, and to some extent, pressure in private homes. But this does not call for any additional liquor license. 3. One defender states baldly: “The agents operate under difficulties because they are hedged around with restrictions. . . .” Of course

they are! Necessity demanded them. They remain because .the Royal Commission considered these -restrictions necessary in a democratic country. Does “Another Democrat” see in his wholesale license a means of overcoming these necessary legal and democratic restrictions? His statement certainly sugests that objective. ’

Most will agree that the Chamber of Commerce for two new licenses is the road to increased* drinking facilities. If two additional licenses do not mean increased drinking facilities, then what are they for?

Yours etc.,

DEMOCRACY,

Sir, —Perhaps this little verse will appeal to “Democracy”:

The horse and mule live 30 years, And nothing know of wines and beers. The goat and. sheep at 20 die, And never taste of Scotch or rye. The cow drinks water by the ton, At eighteen is mostly done. The dog at fifteen cashes in Without the aid of rum and gin. The cat in milk and water soaks, And then at twelve short years it croaks. The modest, sober, bone-dry hen, Lays eggs for nogs, then dies at ten. All animals are strictly dry, They sinless live and swiftly die. But sinful, ginful, rum-soaked men Survive for three score years and ten, And some of them, a very few, Stay pickled till they’re ninety-two. Yours etc.,. PINK ELEPHANT.

EDUCATION FOR OLD AGE

Sir,—Your leader in last Wednesday’s Beacon will be viewed from as many angles as old age represents. The modern trend seems a concentration on the system of fashioning all minds to" the world of the moment, which will never work, because minds are like faces -fall different. ' . Youthful environment may have a lot, but not all, to do with one’s future existence. Old folk generally compare conditions unfavourably with the days when they were young. My Gran used to predict various tragic ends to my career. Which introduces a son and heir who came home from school and told his dad, “Teacher says we all descended from monkeys.”' “Oh does he? It may be so with a young scalewag like you, but if you dare suggest that I did you know what you will get.” Whether old age is worth living, depends on the liver’s way of accepting aids and meeting hindrances. There is no-need for anyone to be destitute.

Good health we know is the best asset for all ages, but were the sick ever better provided for?

There seems to be a varacious appetite for sensational stunts, which boom until and the next knocks them out. The press (present company always excepted) stages the booms and the knockouts, because the public demands them. Without notoriety, be. it ever so brief, most nine-day wonders would be stillborn. But the real and lasting blessings the folks of the present enjoy become household words, because

they are imperishable. Kindly concern for the old folks has advanced wonderfully in my time. But the journey from youth to age is mainly an individual one which regimentation would be liable to make more arduous than easy. Youth looks eagerly forward to an ideal future. The aged revievf a real past. Yours etc.. . HARRY SERGANT.

HONORARY RANGERS

Sir, —In connection with my recent report in the Beacon on the efficiency" of honorary rangers, my attention has been drawn to the meeting of Taneatua honorary rangers which was addressed by Mr K. E. Francis, Government Ranger. I would like to point out that those rangers were appointed at the urgent request of certain Taneatua residents and not at the instance of the Whakatane County Rod and Gun Club. It is quite passible that Taneatua might not have had official details of the comparative failure of the honorary ranger sys- • tem, at the time when they asked for the appointments. It is common knowledge that Mr# Francis was asked by the TaneatuaV organisation to advise them on their powers as new rangers and their obligations and I' feel they were wise in asking for such directions and Mr Francis was duty - bound to assist them in this manner.

At the same time I do not feel that there is any divergence from the official attitude that the honorary ranger system has proved to be, in the past, unsuccessful. It is obvious that men who are dependent on local sources for farm labour etc., frequently Maori, are bound to find themselves in difficulties when they take up the burden of a ranger’s warrant.

We wish the Taneatua rangers every success and hope they discover a system that will show better results than hpnorary rangers have produced in past years. Yours etc.,

J. D. PJ.YETT.