LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2397, 1 March 1915, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

ENEMY SUBJECTS IN THE DOMINION. Sir, —May I have a , small spaoo in your paper? I was glad to see that one man in Wellington had the courage of his convictions; I refer to the bowling green episode. It is not possible when one is at war with a nation to be guided by any false sentiment. We are engaged in a life and death struggle, and we who stay at homo must not weaken by any doubts or halfmeasures the hands of our men who have gone to light. We want to stand shoulder to shoulder and uphold each lighter for us, with 110 shadow of a doubt, in these scientific days, when one hears so much about brain waves, etc., we all cannot be too careful about voicing the thought that thero may bo two sides to tho question. Wo havo got far past that stage, and must decide whose side we are on, and stand firm for that with all our might. Wliat chance has a doubting army? It is already half-beaten wlien doubts assail. Thank God that is not tho position of our army, but wo can holp by standing as firmly as they have. 'Thanking you for your courtesy,—l am, etc., AN ENGLISHWOMAN. SOLDIERS AND LIQUOR. Sir,—lt is with mingled feelings of amusement and contempt that one reads this morning in your columns of .the curious combination of "pledges" and "half-pledges" in relation to the consumption of alcoholic drink, which it is proposed to endeavour to obtain from soldiers of tho Expeditionary Force at present in.New Zealand. The attempt to deprive officers and men of the right to drink whatever they require is wrong, and is destined always to prove an utter failure. Moreover, the. present system engenders a spirit of wil-. fulness and disobedience which is to be deplored among any highly-trained force whose strength in large measures de|>ends upon its discipline.

The mere fact of anyone formally, pledging himself to refrain from any action is an admission of weakness, and lack of will power, which I trust is not a common attribute among the members of our forces. The absurdity of the whole, position is the fact that directly these men •' reach other shores, they will be able to obtain liquor freely, under conditions controlled by the military authorities. I- submit, that the difficulty could be solved by adopting the following recommendations:— (1) Tho establishment of a wet canteen under military control, where li!tuor of known quality would be retailed at moderate prices. (2) Publicans who break the law by serving men already under the influence of liquor to he severely punished. their licenses endorsed, and their houses forthwith placed permanently "out of bounds."

I am convinced that if these, or similar rational measures ■ were taken without further delay or ridiculous temporising, the present trouble would become almost negligible. As it is we display an unpardonable mistrust in our defenders, and, by depriving them of the rights and privileges of citizens and British soldiers, render their brief sojourn in camp the more uncomfortable.', Let the authorities treat our soldiers, who are prepared to risk their lives in the defence of the Empire, with the consideration and latitude due to men, and have done, for once, with tho fanatical prejudice of the Prohibition Party.—l am, etc., H.A.R. February 23, 19i5. SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY. EXPERIENCE'IN AUCKLAND. gir,—ln The Dominion of February 13 there appeared an account of an. interview with Mr. R. Hannah regarding the half-holiday question in general and more particularly in its bearing on the tradei in. Karangahape Road, Auckland. Mr. Hannah, has evidently been grievously misinformed in some particulars, and I think it is only fair tnat I, who am engaged in business in' the road in question, should bo allowed to remove some of the misapprehension which seems to exist. Mr. Hannah has a joint letter signed by 70 shopkeepers of Karangahape Road in which it is stated that business has fallen off' on account of tho Saturday half-holiday. Now, sir, as thero are some 200 shopkeepers in the road, presumably the other 130. did not sign this document because they are quite satisfied with the Saturday half-holiday, and do not hold "it responsible for. the decline in trade. The statement that there are 14 empty shops in the road is not quite oorrect; there are perhaps eight or nine. Mr. Hannah's informant must have counted each window as a separate 1 shop. But assuming that there are some eight or nine shops empty, surely there ere plenty of causes without dragging in the Saturday half-holiday as a scapegoat? I might add that just prior to the Saturday naif-holiday coming into force that there were seveli empty niiops in Karangahape Road, a list of which I took myself at the time. Since the coming of the Saturday halfholiday there have been happenings, some of them guilty of. far more than disturbing the trado of a few of the shops in Karangahape Road, namely (1) The smallpox scare; (2) the strike; (3) alterations to' Karangahape Road, a job that took four months in tho wet season and prevented pedestrians crossing the road except at a few places; (4) the . aftermath of .the. _ Exhibition, which was a very slack period; (5) the financing of the Patriotic and Belgian Funds; (6) the withdrawal of the earning power of some 15,000 members of the Expeditionary Force, which at the low estimate of 30s. per week makes a yearly loss of £1,700,000 (those members of the Force do not now send to New, Zealand for their boots, shirts, etc.); (7) overshadowing everything else tho great w?r, - the most stupendous struggle in the history of the world; (8) the drought. . Surely even Mr. Hannah will admit that trade has been so much upset by these causes that tho as to whethor the assistant has his halfholiday on Wednesday by himself or at the week-end. with his fellow-worker seems rather paltry in comparison. The statement that the closing of the shops on Saturday has had the effect of distributing trade over the othor days of the week is quite correct, ajid this result is so palpably advantageous to the shopkeepers that comment is superfluous. Hie statement that workingmen do not go out shopping on Friday evenings can be best refuted , by an ocular demonstration. Our experience is that we have more buyers on Friday nights than on Saturdays, but fewer promenaders. The principal objectors to tho Saturday closing in Auckland are those who at present romain open on that day, namely, pork butchers, fruiterers, hotelkeepers, bakers, confectioners, ' and tobacconists. At a meeting of the Wednesday advocates last week, out of a possible 700 shopkoopors only 40 attended, thus indicating the fact _ tliat_ the change is only desired by a. noisy minority. Another point worthy of note is the fact that the chairman, secretary, and treasurer of that meeting aro men who keep their shops open till eight or nine every a typical trio of reactionaries. A proposition was carried at this meeting offering to grant the wholc-dav Wednesday holiday if the assistant would vote against Saturday. If tho assistants were foolish enough to let Saturday slip from their grasp, how long does anv intelligent person suppose they would retain the all-Wednesday holiday? For one week, perhaps. In conclusion 1 venture to assert that th« majority of the ; AucMnnd nho]> keener® are content with the nreseat ar-

rangement, and would not dream of i foisting upon the Saturday half-holiday | the blame for tho present slackness, which should lie at the door of the Emperor of Germany.—l am, etc., F. LEO PBJ.ME, Furnisher. Karangahape Roai, Auckland. WELLINGTON COLLEGE ENDOWMENT. Sir,— 'Tis hard to'say if greater want of skill Appear in writing, or in writing ill. But of tho two, less daugorous is tho oilonce To tiro our patienoo, thaxt mislead our sense. 1 —Pope. Essay on Criticism. In your sub-leader of to-day's date you are pleased to take the circumstances of to-day, and in their light to criticise tho action of tho Board of Governors of tho Wellington College some forty-two years ago in granting a leaso of a five-acro block at a rental of £125, increasing after twenty-one years to £187 10s. a\ year, the term being forty-two years. At tho timo the iease was granted the population of the city of Wellington was 10,496, and the population of the province of Wellington was 28,290. • To-day tho figures are 67,708 and 208,411 respectively. In 1873, £300 was. a high price for a town a.cre south of Courtenay Place. An open swamp covered the greater part of Kent, and Cambridge Terraces and the Basin Reserve. The land in question was not built upon; the lower end of Tory Street was practically the limit of the city, and very few of the streets were macadamised to tho full width.

Is it just to the board of the day (none of whom now survive) to say: "It is to be hoped that the mistakes of the past will not again be repeated?" Was it a mistake to take the opportunity of granting as long a lease as possible of idle land to encourage the putting up of the best class of building? ' Have you forgotten that for many years College Street was one of the best residential. streets in To Aro? Do you realise that a wooden building which to-day is sought after, to-morrow, because of its age, and the change in its neighbourhood, can only' be let to those who are content to put up with the discomforts of antiquity? Did you, when writing 1 the article, realise that tho board during the. forty-two years of the lease could exercise no control over the inhabitants of the houses? Do you'realise that the shorter the term and tho' greater tho restrictions imposed by a would-be landlord the less clianoe there is of his getting a tenant on a building lease?

Had you taken the opportunity and drawn conclusions respecting tlie iniauities of leasehold tenures of comparatively short duration von would have done better than in casting aspersions upon a Board of Governors who, after all, did what they considered best in the interest of the trust they were managing.—I am, etc., A DE B. BRANDON. Wellington, February 16, 115. [Our correspondent, in his eagerness to, defend the College Governors but emphasises the point we made, i.e., that the Board of Governors _ should (with other public bodies) strive to become model landlords. It is obvious that the terms of the leases which public bodies grant are a vital factor in encouraging or discouraging tenants, particularly in the matter of buildings and maintenance of same.] THE CHORAL SOCIETY AND MR. PACE. Sir,—l am in absolute agreement with every word of Mr. W. G. Bethnne's outspoken and able appeal to the Royal Wellington Choral Society. May I add one word ? The treatment meted out to Mr. Pago by a large section of the musical public in Wellington, and especially by some of the ofr fleers of the Choral.Society, can only be called scandalous. As I know only too well he has been insulted and treated not only as an outsider and an interloper, but even common courtesy has been wanting in the dealings that some of the officials of the society have had with him. I resigned many months ago, in consequence. , I regret extremely to have to say so, but I say it advisedly, when I state that this treatment is due in large measure to the religious views that Mr. Page holds, as a member cf the Roman Catholic communion. That such a state of things should exist in a socalled tolerant society, such as'ours, is a shocking instance of what religious intolerance may come to. Let me add at once that I know that the Rev. Dr. Gibb has nothing to do with such an attitude—much to his honour.

To anyone who know® Mr. Page as I do, both as'a friend and; a musician, the treatment he has received here has been an absolute shook. Every obstacle that could be raised has been thrown in the path of his musical career. To a man of his 1 charming personality and incomparable artistry, such a state of public feeling must cause intense pain. The truth, of the matter is that he is so fine an executant and so brilliant a musician that some of the lesser fry are frightened of his talents and afraid that their incompetence will be *hown no bv hia ability.—l am, etc., W. K. FYFFE, M.D. Trentham. : 1