LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2707, 29 February 1916, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PENSIONS BY RICHT. F r n Sir,—Re pensions by right. I was ii nuch interested in the controversy re- ii xjrted in to-day's issue of your paper, ti md think tiiat Dr. Newman and the tl vorthy Mayor of Wellington are right p n. their view 6f the question. I shall t! )0 glad of your advice on my own case, tl vliich is as follows:—I have three sons c; lud ono daughter. I aiu in receipt of i fair income, derived from a position t vhich I hold in a commercial firm, but c t is only tho last few years that X lave been able io save anything. Two >f my sons are on active sorvico, and :he third ,is willing to enlist as soon g is he is of age in a few months. Sup- d lose, for tho sake of argument, that ii ny sons are killed, or contract illness ind dio, and that I prodecense my wife, is tho Aot now stands, and is interpreted by Mr. Allen, ray widow and laughter wpuld not be entitled to any lension because we have not been de- Jj jendent on our sons prior to them go- „ ng to the, war. I shall be much obliged jj f 'you will adviso me if my view, of ;he position is correct; if it is, I j shall oertainly do all in my power to j, prevent my youngest son enlisting. In ' ny opinion, it is his duty to look after t lis mother and sister,—l am, etc.. ANXIOUS. I February 21, 1016. ■ fc [This matter was referred to the De'once Minister yesterday. His first re. t nark on the subject matter was: "1 3 should like someone to define for mo ji precisely what this demand 'pensions | )y right' means." Mr. Allen further r stated that tho view of the question P taken by "Anxious" is hot quite cor- £ rect. _ A widow who had lost her sons, t le said, might at any time claim, and c be granted, a pension in respect of (. them, provided she had reached the age f 50 years, even if in life none of her t sons had ever contributed to her sup- [ port. One condition of the granting of j such' pensions to aged persons not pre- c viously dependents of tne deceased sol- \ diers, is that the applicants shall not f be possessed of "adequate means." The t fact of tho death of the husband_ occur- J ring after the death of the soldier son £ or sons, or even after tho war, would ; not preclude the widow from success-' j fully applying for a pension.] 'j ( ALLOWANCE FOR MUFTI. ' Sir, —I would like to say a few words J in regard to a statement under the ' above heading in your, paper of Febru- ' ary 25, that: — 1 "The Minister sets forth in detail < the list of clothing provided for tho soldier on his discharge, comprising two 1 military uniforms 'and underclothing, ' etc." < In the first place no discharged sol- 1 dier is allowed to wear a military uni- 1 form, so even if ho did, succeed in se- 1 curing one on his discharge (which I j emphatically did not) I do not see of what use it would be to him. Per- ' haps a relation of my own strenuous 1 efforts. in trying to procure a decent uniform to wear on my return to New 1 Zealand will not he out of place. In ! the beginning of August, 1914, I was ' issued two Territorial uniforms (second- 1 hand, by the way). On going to Gal- ' lipoli we left one uniform behind in Egypt, and the other with the trousers cut down to "shorts" was , worn at the front, and on my return to Egypt some throe months later, the ' latter was, naturally, unwearablo in a civilised community. However, I recovered my other uniform, also much tho worse for wear, having been worn both in New Zealand and 'in Egypt, and on hearing that I was to be invalided to New Zealand I applied at the Convalescent Hospital/to :'which 'I had'been sent). ■ for a new uniform, but was told I could procure one on tho boat. So about two months later I lined up with the rest on the boat, presumably for the purpose of Iwing issued with new uniforms, etc. • ' After parading for five consecutive daya I did manage to a new pair of trousers (the smallest size they had in the stores), which might have been a splendid fit for Machnow, the 9ft. Russian giant, but for an ordinary sft. 8111. mortal like myself,were altogether beyond the limit. So on arrival in Wellington I either had to make a circus of myself for the amusement of the small hoys of Wellington, or wear my old uniform, which was, to put it mildly, in a dilapidated condition. I chose the latter course, and had also to wear an overcoat to hide the uniform's deficiencies. Upon my'discharge I was told that if I gave in my uniform I would be allowed a suit of mufti or 305., but I declined this offer, as I valued it far more than that as. a momelito. I might also.nfSntion that on my return home I applied to the local Defence Office (whero I was sworn in) for a new uniform, but was told they Jlad none to spare. I would ho glad if someone could explain to me the reason of issuing two uniforms to a discharged man, if such is really the caso now.—l ain, etc., ANZAC. February 26, 1916. LTfic Defence Minister, when this complaint was, submitted to said that if the writer of the letter did not secure" a second uniform on_ discharge he must have returned early in the war before the present system was in working order. Mr. Allen said he knew 110. thing of any order by which a man would be required to give in his uniform as a condition of his receiving a suit of mufti. If a man was honour-, ably discharged ho retained his uniform, and received a suit.of mufti 01 in lieu of it 30s. in cash. If a man was discharged with dishonour he was not allowed under any circumstances to retain his uniform.. Mr. Allen suggested , that the writer of the letter ouflit either to-make application to tho Base Records Office for the suit of mufti and other things denied to him, or to write privately to the Defence Minister, supplying particulars of his case. If the writer would do this, he (Mr. Allen) would have inquiries mado into his case.'J / NURSES,. THE PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTIVIENT, AND THE TELE PHONE DIRECTORIES. Sir,—Tho following is 'the text of a circular letter sent by the Public Health Department to certain nurses, who have been practising their profession in New Zoaland: . "Madam,—The Public Health Department, having undertaken the revision of the special lists of registered nurses appearing in the official telephone directories, I have to inform you that the list was accordingly submitted to that Department, with the result that your name has been deleted from the special list. This will not, of course, interfere with_ the listing in the alphabetical portion of the di- ' rector. Yours truly, ." Now, sir, I would like to know where in tho nation docs the public come in? Is that special list intended as a benefit and an advertisement for the registered nurses? No, it is there that sulTeftlig humanity may fipd ready help without loss of time. And how often —how very often, even now have we not to ring through tho whole list,_ and then, perhaps, find nojj. one available in urgent necessity ? Surely a list of tho certified nurses (who, though not registered in New Zealand, have had many years of practical experience, and who havo had their names on the special lists for some time) might, be placed next the "registered" list, for the sake of a much suffering public?

Supposing these names flow to be deleted from tho special ■ lints, are "allowed" to take a place in the alpha* betical portion of the directory, can you imagine the possibility. «ir, of s

person in distress finding a nurse., in this maze of names, after haying rung up every registered nurse and found not one at liberty to answer the call? Fancy reading through, one or two or more thousands of names, and the calling of cacli person in the hope of finding one that is a nurso! It is preposterous! Especially at this time when the ranks of the nurses liavo been depleted for war service; and, in view of the prevalence of sickness just' now, there are correspondingly numerous calls for their aid. Bed tape, waste time, money, opportunity, nay, oven life itself, but' we cannot submit without, at least A MURMUK. February 28, 1916. [Our correspondent's suggestion seems a reasonable one, and sertainly deserves the consideration of the Minister.] "IN AN UGLY MOOD." Sir, —When Sir. Mack rushed into print on Tuesday to relieve' his mind of the weight of the railway men's grievances ho admitted that both ho and the 111011 wero "in a very ugly mood." That being the case, he would have been more discreet had he held his peace, as ho should have done, after receiving Sir. Massey's assurance that tile demands mado by the men l'or an all-rouncl increase of Is. per day in their pay would receive early consideration at the hands of Cabinet. The Thorndon meeting was apparently made the excuse for the interview in which Jir. Hack contrived to do his test to damago the Prime Minister and his colleague, Mr. Hemes, who, so far. from receiving censure at Mr. Mack's hands, Bhould have been complimented upon their past action, in advancing the rates of pay and generally improving ilie conditions of employment in the Railway Service. You, Sir, will hardly have forgotten (although Mr. Alack appears to have done so) that the railway menhave to thank Mr. Massey for benefits in both directions that are costing the country over £200,000 per annum, which sum has to be made good by the general taxpayer. Now that they are demanding further concessions, whioh Mr. Massey has pointed out will add another £200,000 .to the cost of administering the Department (it will . be £400,000 if the demands made by the Thorndon branch, of A.S.R.S. are conceded, as its members are demanding an increase, of 2s. per day instead of the Is. originally asked for), Mr. Mack adopts a truculent attitude and warns both the Government and ths> country that "drastic action" will be taken if the demands of, tho men are not conceded.

The cost of living, and the alleged failure of the Government to doal with tho so-called "exploitation of tho workers," are made use of by Mr. Mack end tho members of his society as an excuse for tho "stand and deliver" attitude they li&ve taken up, so far as the Government is concerned. lYe have heard a lot of this sort of tiling bofore, and can easily trace it to its source, seeing that it has been the

"stilkin" horse" of the Social Democrats ana Red Fed. section of the community for the past year or two. But Mr. Mack, in relying upon either the alleged "exploitation," or tho increased cost of living, wilfully blinds himself, and those who accept his utterances as gospel, to the tact that, relatively, living is cheaper in New Zealand to-day than it is in any other part of tho British Empii'e, and that, as compared with New South Wales, foi instance, the New Zealand worker ia absolutely "on toast." Bread, it is true, may be rather dearer at tho present time in some New Zealand centres than it is in Sydney, but thero is a reason for that, a bushel of Australian wheat giving a fuller flour product than the . same rfiantity of New - Zoaland wheat, owing, to tho fact that the lat. tor carries a greater amount of moisture than Australian wheat. In all other■ respeots,. however, New' Zealaud comes easily first in point of cheap living. There have been times in our history when greater privations have had to be faced than any we are likely to be called upon to endure as a result- of tho present war, and those privations have been endured manfully and uncomplainingly by the people, and with no attempt to throw the responsibility upon the Government of the day. But we have so pampered and spoiled the "worker" of this country that he now calls out, at the least provocation, and expects the Government to spoon-feed him until further crders, and forgets the very ohvious fact that, by that very process of spoon-feeding the cost of living is increased in other directions.

Mr. Mack, In contrasting the Tates of pay proposed to bo given by tho employers to tho waterside workers with' tho rates paid by tho Government to the railway men, makes a very unfortunate comparison for himself. The watersider's employment is,' as everyone knows, prccarious and uncortain. He may earn several pounds ono week and nothing for weeks following; his work is intermittent, and he has none tho privileges that attach to tho railway servant's employment, and in many cases, he would undoubtedly bo glad to exchange places with the railway men. lint Mr. Mack is only anxious to make good his ojvn case, and is not too careful how he does it, for, on his own admission, he is an angry man and "in an ugly mood," and we know by experience that the angry man is seldom, if ever, just, and that is the reason, perhaps, why ho now threatens "drastic action" against the Government.—l am, etc., AMT-HtJMBUG. TRAMS AND SOLDIERS. Sir,—The Wellington people are evidently going to allow the decision of their Mayor in the matter of traihcar hospitality to make them a laughing-' stock for other. towns, where such nfeanness is not practised. There is another question I should like to ask, if I may: That is, how often does one see a soldier seated in a traincar, even though he has paid his faro? It is only necessary lor you readers who navo not noticed this to glance at passing cars ■

and see them on the footboards clinging to anything available. It is not the soldier who occupies the seat, while tho old woman or mother with baby stands; neither is it th;> soldier who edges the passing woman into the gutter. It is the man to whom the Mayor grants the monopoly of tho tramcars. —I am, etc., A SOLDIER'S MOTHER. THE SLAVERY OF THE WORKINC MAN. • Sir, —Your correspondent of Saturday, Mr._ Vavasour, writes you a lengthy, and in its ■'"way able, letter on tho above, displaying more of shrewdness than or wisdom. It is like the discussions of politicians and lawyers, wherein a great deal is said, and a great deal more always lias to be said to correct what has been said. But, said a Persian poet: "All the saints and sages who discussed Of the two worlds so learnedly, aro thrust Like foolish prophots forth; . And their words to scorn aro scattered, And their mouths are stopped with dust." Your correspondent must probo deeper before he begins to touch the real heart of the matter. Hn may then strangely discover that tho "half-educated" aro often not. without "tho one true lip;ht" which he W (in common with his class) heon laol.ing ; and tho lack of it, 1 beg you to consider, is at the. bottom of fierce and bloody revolutions. In the name of humanity, let there bo an awakening; let us ohbrisli wisdom that we may escape Let us abandon the fool's paradisa in which wo have shut ourselves away from tin "half-

educated," suffering 'and miserable fellow creatures, and when the wounded | show their hurts, let lis not throw dirt at them. To descend a moment. If some are "half-educated," who is to blame? I ask, Have we not kept the masses in ignorance—as much as we could —of what is useful 1 and necessnry to know, while wo havo expended (largely theirs) almost uncounted wealth in "kultur", of university and college? "Half-educated 1 ." Yes, that is where the cunning conies in. Have we not made their ignorance an excuse for keeping tlieni in a state of slavery, while we have carefully kept them in ignorance ? It is a stone and not bread that we have given. Woe unto us. Have we not, too, persecuted those who would enlighten and save? There would need to be 110 agitators if there were 110 errors to remedy; but while condemning agitators, your correspondent is an arch-agitator. I see men who have scarcely done an unselfish thing in their lives attain a sudden access of "patriotism," and calling (upon others) for sacrifice and endurance. Flippantly almost, certain munition workers havo been charged with "murder"! Let us take this charge to tho right door. Posterity will,.if we do not, be assured. Did such as your correspondent rush to fill the gap when these men stopped a whilo to emphasise their protest against that very evil, against which their fellows were fighting "in Europe." Need I name this evil? To do so might be to accuse some, whom your correspondent has met at a house party. T will leave readers to guess this evil.. Some are saying it is made in Germany, but I bolieve that the human heart is the "same the world over, and true patriots' will fight against it the world over, although their exploiting contemporaries may call names.—l am, etc., EVELYN MACDONALD. Te Horo, February 21, 1916.

WAR, A JUDGMENT OF COD FOR CREAT NATIONAL SINS.

Sir. —In your issue of to-day (February 24) . "Itustieus" asks is the war a punishment for sins? And asks sarcastically whether tliis dreadful war is our punishment for the wickedness of the Uhinoso or the people of Central Africa ? "liusticus" must indeed be blind to our own great national sins if he does not know that wo as a nation havo committed very great sins against China for more than a century, for which many of us bolieve we are now suffering, as we have in past years. Of. tho first Opium War, 1839-42, Mr. Gladstone said: "A war more unjust in its . origin, a war more calculated to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I. do not know, and have not read or." In the very- year which closed the Opium War, even before the Treaty was signed, a British force of 15,000 men (or 25,000 with women, children, and followers) was exterminated at the Khyb'er. Pass, only one man (Dr. Brydon) being left to bring the awful tidings. Of the second Opium War in 1557, tho late Lord Elgin, tho eminent statesman sent out to superintend its conduct, has said: "Nothing could be more contemptible than the origin of our existing quarrel. I thought' bitterly of those who for the most selfish objects are trampling under fcot this ancient civilisation." Writing before tjio bombardment of the defenceless City of Canton, he says: "I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life. I am sad, because when I look at that town. I feel that I'am earning'for myself a place in the Litany immediately after plague, pestilence, and famine, (battle and murder)." After the dispatch of the British troops to China in order to shed there torrents of innocent blood, tho Indian Mutiny, with all its atrocities broke out; the Indian Empire trembled to its foundations; the wails from Meerut, Delhi, Cawnpore, with its awful well, had filled the hearts of tho civilised world with horror. Can anyono doubt that this was a judgment 011 our nation? At the conclusion of tho second Opium War, by the Treaty of Tientsin, in the language of Sir Rutherford Alcock, our Ambassador to Peking: "We forced the Chinese Government to enter into a treaty to allow their subjects to take opium. To tho best of my knowledge, China is still hound by this iniquitous treaty to allow us to poison and demoralis&'her people. Five weoks only before the outbreak of this awful war "(on June 29, 1914), Sir Edward Grey, in the debate on tho Foreign Office yoto, stated that he was considering whether China should now be released from her treaty obligation to admit tho Indian opium, .but I havo not yet heard that our Home Government has ever got beyond the considering stage. Although it is too late now to prevent the retribution of God which we are already suffering, yet even now we believe that a national turning to God in humiliation, confession, and true repentonce would have tho greatest effcct in staying God's hand upon us, and in granting to us and tho world a speedy peace again. My daily prayer for many years has been that God would awaken the conscience of our nation to a sense of our great national sins so that we may repent. 1 A great national sin requires a national humiliation, confession, and repentance, which would result in freeing China" from our iniquitous treaty. I agree with "John Ploughman" in his letter of to-day's issue that it ia no use praying for deliverance ".until we can tell Sod that wo have put. away the abominations from us which are the cause of the fierceness of His anger" ; but I entirely disagree with him that we are "rather late" to pray that a great wave of national repentance may sweep across our country. We-have certainly seen few signs of any national repentance in this country. Five or six anti-opium societies in our dear Mother Country have for years been calling the country to repentance, and warning of a terrible retribution if we continued in_ our sin ■ against China. Even little Now Zealand has joined for the last few years in a uoto of protest and warning. Only about four months before the terrible war broke out, the I(ev. W. S. Potter and Dr. J. 6. Hughes, in- a stronglyworded resolution, which was sent to the Prime Minister and other authori- '■ ties in Great Britain, concluded with a quotation from God's Word, Luke xvii., , 1: "It is impossible but that offences i will come; but woe unto him through whom they come." And said: "11 we ! heed not God's warning, He must bring uponussomo terrible retribution." Per- [ sonally, I cannot expect any blessing to our beloved country till wo do repent and put away our sin.—l am, etc., * H. S. BLAOKBMINE. Wellington, February 24, 1916. Immediately upon indications of Sore Throat or Influenza take Fluonzol (1/6 . and 2/6) to dispel the microbes. Reliel i is prompt. Firmly refuse substitutes. *