AUCKLAND DONS SACKCLOTH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1146, 6 June 1911, Page 5

AUCKLAND DONS SACKCLOTH.

"OUR COMPLACENCY HURT." (By TeleEraph.-Scocial Correspondent.! T Auckland, Juno i. In Saturday 3 "Herald" "Jlercutio" has something to say regarding tho candid criticisms of Mr. Nesmtt, '1 own Clerk of bydney. He states: "It is always interesting to hear what other people have to say about us, especially when they have the courage to tell us what they believe, to be the plain unvarnished truth. Iheir opinions may not always be palatable but, even if they should be of such a.nature as to knock somo of our conceit out of us, they are better than the conventional flattery that so many of our visitors think it tho proper thing to tpeat us to. Wo have been assured so often by 'the stranger within our gates' that we have the finest tramway eervico in the world, that those of us who have never been farther from home than Howick or Whangarei have naturally taken the pleasing unction to our souls, and plumed ourselves on our unique distinction. It is true that', from time to time, our southern cousins have spoken disparagingly of our cars, but we have goodnaturedly attributed their fault-finding to envy and jealousy, in the same way that we treat tho slings and arrows of our poor relation?, but our pride and complacency have now been sorely wounded. Ihe Town Clerk of Sydney has pricked our gay-tinted bubble, and henceforth we must bow our heads in meek humility and speak of ourselves with bated breath and whispering humbleness. "Mr. Nesbitt, the critic in question.'doesnot mince his words. Our cars, he tells •us, are a disgrace to a city with tho prestige and pretensions of Auckland. It passes his comprehension why they are permitted to bo used. They are heavy, lumbering, nnd unclean. Expectoration is permitted without protest', and the necessity for ventilation is completely disregarded. "As for the conductors, Sydney's Town uerk ransacks his vocabulary in vain for epithets strong enough to denounce them, iaken as a whole they are, he tells us, tho most uncivil, discourteous, ill-man-nered, and disobliging body of men that it is possible to imagine. They reply to questions addressed to them in the most contemptuous and insolent manner. They Jo not manifest the slightest interest in oPpalen oßerta,^roo0 R erta,^ro or on aUdCOnVenienCO '.'But Mr. Ntsbltt falls foul of other Hangs in addition to our tram serv ce °«r str <- e n ts <> ro deplorable nnd wo fritter away .£IO,OOO. a year in patching and £ pairing. As for tho f cri . y steamers he ewecpinKly assorts Hint tliey are near 5 all of the most antediluvian type" and are not tn be spoken of in the ««„o breath as tho magnificent fleet of ves"els eniHipnd in the Sydney ferry service All this is extremely painful to our vanity on! of u? 'fV ° to h ■»" rf« n. week elsewhere.- We have cultivated the spirit of submission to such an extent that wo resent nothing however outneMiis it may be.. Anybody can ride rough, plinrl over us with impunity. Wo rear as gently as any sucking dove. Why is this? Is it our climate, or is it because we am like p. flock without a shepherd? lei-. the wi=e men in our mi.l.=f sneak, and point tiie way out of our bondage."