LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2508, 8 July 1915, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

" CIVILIAN ACENT, Sir, —I read with great interest Mr. W. T. Penny's letter, in your columnsoil • tho above, subject, Having heen on service in South Africa during the Boer War, and having some knowledge of the good work done by'the Agent for Now Zealand in Capo Town, I gladly bear testimony thereto, and I would join in I'urging the authorities to reconsider their decision not to make an- appointment. There are ninny littlo incidents that crop up in a soldier's service, when lie finds the military authorities are too busy, to give him the required information; whereas if the troops know; that an Agent, is on the spot they would apply to him for tho information or help, if needed. Lean mention the names of several men who derived great assistance and help from the Agent's office, in Capo Town, myself amongst the number, and it was at that time that I first heard of Mr. Penny. -A-| civilian, agent at the base would, I am certain, be a great benefit, not only to the raon on service, but, as Mr. Penny states,. to their relatives here. I trust many of those who also benefited from the Agency will let it be known. Thanking ' you in anticipation for space for this,—l am, etc., ■ , : A. CIORGI. :Palmerston North. MANUFACTURE OF SHELLS. '• Sir,—l notice in a contemporary of yours a, statement to the effect that a Blenheim firm succeeded in manufacturing what appeared to be a' satisfactor.f 18-pounder shell. Tile facts* are these: I knew exactly .what the manufacture, of a shell would incur, having been in that business for some time in England. I interviewed the Defence authorities, who supplied a-4.5 howitzer shrapnel shell (351b.) for me to -duplicate. After making the special tools necessary I made the shell,, loaded it,' and sent it to Wellington.—l am, etc., GEORGE BIRCH. Blenheim: RACING IN WAR TIME, Sir,—When will the Government and the better/feeling of the people in this country put an end to racing, so' long as the war'lasts?' Tsee by London-papers of. May 20 all racing ended, in England 'that week, except a few meetings at Newmarket. •' Surely liow we have 'seen our brave men being wounded by, hundreds, and many dying: every day, we must now realise the war, and all the unfitness of many things, especially "racing."—l am, etc., REALISED .AT LAST.; . Palmerston North, July 6, 1915. NATIONAL ROADS. Sir,—Taumarunui •5s .planning a heart-to-heart talk with our legislators. The Auckland "Herald" has voiced the .wants of the leading city in tho King Country, with a chorus of approval. Tlio Auckland. Chamber of Commerce has declined the invitation to join the concert-, from fear lest, Wellington should reap a greater reward than the Queen City of tho north. The object ,of the agitation is to induce .the Government to assiimo the maintenance of tho through 'road from Port Nicholson to the 1 waters of the Waiteraata. It is urged that local bodies liavo more than they can do to provide for local reading requirements, and that a Dominion thoroughfare, with an ever-incroas-ing .volume'of traffio, should be paid for by, the Dominion. If there was no limit to . the financial -ability _of the Government, there might be diffidence in sounding a warning note. . But when the present fair-minded Minister _ of Public Works,states that districts without; railways must he patient, because so many districts are 'without proper roads, it,. is pertinent to askvif / tho granting 'of ,Taumarunui's request is fair to the back-blocks, or, oven host -for, .Taumarunui-itself. The real issue is:, Can we afford to build and maintain two great, national highways side by side throughout_the land? The iron road fills - the main need. Wat Taumarunui .desires, -like -many more distributing centres, are , good lateral" roads bringing its hinterland, by solid highways, into close touch, with the iron road. It feels that to' spend, local revenue in maintaining a road parallel to the. railway, is to 'hinder its primary work of development. But to cast that burden on the Government will mean the diversion of grafts from their more needed lateral.roads. Every Government has. yearly retold the same old story of demands for help greater than be supplied. If .it he. charged 'with the upkeep of a, through road, the constant and powerful pressure for its improvement is more than' likely to be, satis-' ,'fied. at' the cost of more needod work. It is doubtful whether that would benefit Taumarunui, and most certainly it would not the vast, area of our land which is unserved by 'railroad, and' whose sole winter avenues of traffic are mud 'canals!' Motor 'tourists have waxed sarcastic over' the faulty links in the Auckland-Wellington road, and have' failed to understand why a local authority, even, after. the promis'e of a Government _ subsidy, did not at once proceed to improve the portion under its; care. Tho fact is that tho local 'authorities 1 have first to deal with work that will confer the greatest advantage on their _ respective communities. Tne country is not that far developed that it can provide gratis what may be a 'convenience to a motor tourist, but which to . the settlers who are called upon to pay will bo a little-used luxury. The advent of the railway tended, to localise the traffio on adjacent Toads. Tho advent of motor traction fosters a'.growihg competitor to the railway. Tho folk ,who use the railways hav.e not .only ,to pay for tho benefit they , receive, but 'the' desire for extension has to'_comb second to the need for developing roads. Where' then should a tourist road come in?—l am, etc., H. It. FRENCH. iWaipukurau. MR. ADAMS'S DRINK BILL. Sir, —It would not be fair to your readers to occupy much space upon this subject. Only one or two points, need be emphasised. Mr. Adams lias relied upon some return compiled by tho Customs Department, and I took tho figures from tho New Zealand Year Book. He does not disprove the ■ accuracy of the Year' Book figures, but he observes: "Differences, if any, between them are probably clerical errors.'' Thus, with charity, to himself, ho covereth a multitude of sins. Is it not reasonable that the return—a hurried compilation for Mr. Adams—is wrong, and: the Year Book—a studied and revised compilation—is correct?, After an elaborate argument to justify his fixing the price of spirits and wines at tho samo price to the consumer (which ;no one would do who knows anything about tho cost of these commodities), Mr. Adams shows how small- the profits are in- tho liquor business, and concludes with this observation, which is tho sovorest criticism up.on himself and his work: "It is.impossible to do' more than estimate the actual retail cost of liquor to the consumer." Yet Mr. Adams, while admitting tlio impossibility of doing moro than estimating, builds up an oxtraor-1 dinary hypothesis upon an estimate with spirits and wines at the same, price, and has the assurance to assert that the drink bill is positively so much per head of tho population! Surely that is the limit of assurance. The geese in Mr. Adams's little problem did actually lay so many eggs, but Mr. Adams would like us to believe, applying,this point to the drink bill ho prepared, "that it is impossible to do more than estimate the ntimbsr ef lbs gsoss did lay'" iPertaislx P,ot fpch. wlteata pan

upon a computation that is a more estimate.

Mr. Adams goes further. Ho wants your readers to believe that his estimated drink bill is a sound proposi> tion, for lio shows that on his estimate thero was an increased consumption of 370,000 gallons in 1914 over that of 1913, and that thero was a declino in the drink bill of these years by one and one-fifth of a penny! Mr. Adams now explains that "it is impossible'to do more-than estimate the actual cost of liquor to the consumer." Why did Mr. Adams not Bay in the first placo that liis figures woro "only estimates and nothing more" ?

By, a. brief comparison, Mr. Adams's estimates arc made ridiculous absurdities. We in New Zealand are said to consume 10 1-5 gallons of liquor per head of the population, and the people of Great Britain 28} gallons per head. The cost to the people at Home is £3 12s. 5d.; yet Mr. Adams would like your readers to believe that nearly one-third the quantity in Now: Zealand costs more, namely, £3135. lOd. per head. Taking the cost of liquor at Home to approximate that in England, plus 25 per cent, profit and carriage, the New Zealandor spends in liquor about 30s. per annum—not £3 13s. lOd.—the estimate made by Mr. Adams.—l am, etc., SIMPLE ARITHMETIC,