LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 989, 2 December 1910, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

CARE OF SOLDIERS' GRAVES. Sir,—Whilst I agreo with most of Mr. loungs remarks on this subject, I cannot help thinkjng that his comments on .Sir Joseph Ward's reply in Parliament to Mr. Myers are rather unfair. If the responsibility of answering the question had rested with myself, I would have felt quito safe in answering as follows:—"If the graves of any soldiers who were killed ' in the Maori War of 1860 to 1809 can bo pointed out in tho Symonds Street ceme--1 tcry, the Government will place a monument twice the. size of the monument over tho grave of tho late Mr. Seddon ■ over each of them." The poor fellows 1 who were killed in action were all rolled in their blankets and buried on or near ■ the spot where they fell. I am speaking of the rank and iile only. The officers who were killed at Eangariri and other places of action in tho Waikato district did not exceed half a dozen or so, and ■ they or some of them, were buried in ■ tho Symonds Street cemetery. Their ■ graves could at any time bo put in order by a fatigue party of the Permanent Artillery or of bluejackets from anv of tho vessels of war visiting Auckland To the latter, at least, it would bo a labour of- love. iRI\ U f kI i a c n ro Wa f a i* r £ iso ? town from 1815 to 1869, and no doubt there are quite tlio number of soldiers mentioned by Mr Myers who died from natural causes during that period buried in the Symonds Street cemetery. These, no doubt, are the graves to which Mr. Myers referred, and they could, perhaps, be also renovated by a fatigue party.—l am, etc., 1 THE GHOST OP A SLAIN SOLDIER. Wellington, November j.9, 1910. J THE BRITISH SITUATION. Sir,—The harsh criticism and summary 5 conclusions of your leader of to-day's j date are just what one might expect from 3 an arch Tory, but we confess to a littlo surprise to receive them from you with your persistent claim to the term'"Libi € S \ J ou /e-echo the Tory patty's cry 3 about tho American dollars, but surelv *> you must know that it is all. a bit of 3 party hypocrisy, and deceives no one at 3 Home. Is it new? And has l not .the same Tory party been eager to . receive tho support of that same Irish . party on occasion and when "tainted" by 5 ; the same American dollars? Aid think 3 you they would be averse to receive the j same support to-morrow if it only came their way? And those Irish M.P.'s you mention have enjoyed their share of that . same American gold for almost the whole of their political life. You stigmatise tuo ia-mous Limehouse" speech. It may be news to you that men on the spot, whose .judgment counts for something , have characterised that same speech in 3 other terms. Sir .W. E. Nicoll had r nothing .but praise for it. And few I think will endorse your judgment of, the [ Mile, End speech. So far as wo know . it there is nothing in it to warrant your . strictures. What you condemn is to me . just a clever and justifiable exposure of r ? • ,•? p . aTt r hypocrisy. Then you . bring Mr. Asquith, too, under your condemnation, and I think with equal want • of reason. What you gratuitously term ' touting for votes" is to me common t sense and equity. With tho safeguards l mentioned—a separate fund and no com- ) pulsion— why should not the Osborne [ judgment be reversed? AVhat is thcro to t cavil at? Your defence of the Lords' lu- , dicrous attempts at panic reform is, you . will excuse me saying, thin, and will de- ! coivo no one. Tell me this: Will tho , >**<£ bo prepared to equalise tho strength ; t>l the two parties in their Chamber, and to allow the dominant party in the House , ot Commons to carry through its policy measures? You write about the abolishing of bicameral government; but purely you must know that, under present conditions, when tho Tory party is in ' power there is practically but one Cham- : bor. .Just there is tho rub! Then your . imputation of corrupt motive is, I think . unworthy and certainly pure assump- . tion.— l am, etc., . - I .. ." ■ T. A. WILLIAMS. November 24. J OUR LIBERAL COVERNMENT. s Sir,—A cry'arises, long and continu- ■ ously, from -the back-blocks from the I hard-working, struggling settlers, as to ! where the liberality of the present Gov- ; crnment comes in. Tlio truth is, the • present Government is liberal only to ■ the towns. Tho towns have shown us, i especially Wellington, how liberal they are. A large sum of money has been absorbed in public buildings for Wellington, while the settlers* are isolated six,months in the year by bad roads. Ihe people of Wellington had tho option of spending tho money on -the ' back-blocks or selfishly as they, have done on buildings that arc not required. We are the producers, the class who make tho wealth. We have, since this Liberal Government, dominated by the towns, is in power, a 'remedy, viz., do as tho townspeople have done—unite. ! The townspeople claim a fixed wage, arranged by a Conciliation Board, dom- ■ inated by the same class who now run this country. Wo must also form a ' union, fix our prices of produce, export what 'is not wanted locally. Also ' do all our own' importing, insurance, and exporting; make our own wearing material and clothes; form a union, all stick together, and do all our own business. Let the towns who now run this country trade among themselves j let our - Labour Unions know where the money comes from. If this were done, | we, the at present working bullocks, L would soon run tho country when production and wealth would increase so ! fast that the labour and town classes who now rule the producors would learn a little. A country run. by those wlib t havo, by long and patient toil, converting the waste lands of this Dominion j into wealth-producing capabilities, would be run on up-to-date lines. Fair [ play, which is bonny play, would bo given to all classes. There is no encouragement for the families on the land. They are treated as if they wore i of no.consideration at all; left to wado through mud to their horses' girths all winter. The main arterial Toads ar>) only sludge channels. Take as an instance tho road from Kawhia to tho Main Trunk line. This road is a monument of the incapacity of past administration and of good money wasted. Kawhia should, havo had a railway to the Waikato before being opened to settlement. This >is a caso where deep water exists right out to sea. There is a vast area of valuable land inland with no railway, and in winter no roads. Where does the Liberal-Labour Government come in? Liberal only to the towns. Wako up, ye working bullocks; form a co-operative business union from Stewart Island to tho Three Kings. The cities havo dominated and crushed us long enough. It is oiiv time now—lot us give them a lesson, and force them to go on to tlio land to mako a living. If we do bur own trade, tho towns' trade- won't be worth much. We spend our money in our co-operativo business places, pubs, etc., take in nil trades, profit to. bo divided amongst us, instead of, as now, upholding towns that prefer new buildings to giving \is the means of outlet wo cannot do without. —1 am, etc., i WORKING BULLOCK.

DISFICURINC THE CITY. Sir,—l think it is high time Wellington woko from its slumbers and protested at the very disgraceful way ' our' City Fathers is disfiguring this city ■ of ours. I refer, sir; to tho two largo ' quarries now being dug out of the Tina- ' kori Road hills at tho back of tho most j picturesque part of our city. If we allow this sort of thing to continue i Wellington will very shortly become tho , ugliest and most disfigured city in the ] Dominion, if she is not already so. Tho ( council have a peculiar way—a way of their own—of how to beautify their t town, for they plant a number of trees { in a reserve,_ and then ■ immediately j quarry to obtain a few yards I of rotten rack. We have, or did have, tl a Dublic-BDJrited body- who endeavoured t

to. do a; little towards beautifying this, city by planting trees, etc., in this locality, and their efforts are in striking contrast to those of the council's near by. Lot any person look at that disfigured portion of Koseneath near the tram terminus (a blot.for all time), and at that reserve at tho top of Ellicc Street, and he must be impressed with tho fact that our City Fathers are doing exactly the opposite of what is expected of thorn. If a stop is not put at onoo to the quarrying on the Tinakori hills there will bo some slips at a future date that will make what is to be the background of our new Parliament Build-' ings an eyesore. Our present council may not be responsible for what already exists, but if they, with their worthy Mayor, had tho interests of tho city at heart * they would not allow the quarrying to continue, after spending so much of the ratenayers' money to beautify tho locality? If the council continue to carry on this v"ery unsatisfactory job, I think those residents in Thorndon should not forget the fact at the next election. Before closing, I should like to state that many visitors arriving by boat havo remarked about the way tho hills are being disfigured; therefore, I think, sir, you should have something to say about this matter before it is too late. etc., HARBOUR VIEW. MR. T. M. WILFORD'S LOGIC. .Sir, —I wish to call attention- to a silly, or, perhaps, I ought to say, illogical, remark reported in your Wednesday's issue as having been made by Mr. Wilford whon the Rugby case (Crown v. Wilson) was being tried on Tuesday last. The Chief Justice having made a remark on the increasing number of deaths from football, Mr. Wilford replied: "More people die in their beds than anywhere else." Now, if _Mr. Wilford intended to m3ke any point by this foolish remark, it was that going to bed was more fatal than playing football... Most likely Mr. Wilford had in his mind the story told in some story-books of the fisherman who admitted that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had each perished in a storm at sea, and when asked why he continued.to follqw the same dangerous occupation, seeing that all his ancestors had lost their lives in it, he replied by asking his questioner how his father died, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. The answer in each case was: "Quietly in his bed." "Well, then," said tho fisherman, "why do you persist in going to bed, when, by your own admission, all your ancestors died-there? , "' Now some foolish people think that, tho fisherman had .the best, of this altercation, but the cases are not parallel. In the case of the fisherman, the going to sea was tho cause of the death of his .forebears, whilo in the case of tho questioner's forebears going to.bedwasnot the cause of. their deaths. This reminds me of another similar story which I have heard repeated with great gusto, on several occasions: A young fellow fresh from college was disputing with an old farmer, and, wishing to impress the farmer with his superior knowledge, said to him: "Do you know, sir, that I havo studied at two universities?" The old farmer. replied: ""Well, I once had a calf that sucked two cows, and the conclusion I came to was that ho was the bigger calf for it." Tho old farmer did not see that he was strengthening tho collegian's position, instead of weakening it: For if a calf, through drawing its nourishment from two cows, became a bigger calf in consequence, therefore- a student who drew his instruction from two universities should becomo a wiser student thereby. • I think that, anyone who cannot seo tho fallacy in Mr. Wilford's remark and in each of the two stories quoted above must be Tatherslow intho uptake. —I am, etc., ANALOG"?^' UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS. Sir, —It is a pity that tho examiners will not set their questions .in conformity with tho syllabus. The paper which has. been set at the* present examination on Property (Part I) contains no fewer than three questions on subjects which are prescribed for Property (Part II), and aro excluded from Property (Part I). One question • relates to intestate succession, another to wills, and the third to settlements. Now, what chance does it give a candidate when three out of the twelve questions put are beyond the scope of the paper? It simply means that he has to get his pass percentage of marks on nine instead of twelve questions. He is placed at a great disadvantage, and severely handicapped, besides having to submit to the inference of ignoranco of the matter of tho improper questions. Judging from Question 11, asking tho candidate to draw a clause in a settlement reserving to the settler the fullest powers of appointment among his children and their issue, I should say that a correct answer would go a long way _to a pass. Yet. tho question is outside the scope of tho paper, and ex hypothesi the candidate could not answer it. Similar remarks apply to Questions 7 and 8. It is to be hoped that the University authorities will look into this matter.—l am, etc " - ■ ' 'A.B.