LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 190, 7 May 1919, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

GENERAL SIR A. H. RUSSELL

Sir,—Could not the Defence Deparl men! wireless, the Arnwa and bring, he to Wellington before going to Lytteltor as at present arranged? '.There are ver many in this district, and m°Hawke' Ray, who so much desire to give Genera Russell a welcome on his arrival inNei Zealaud. His great record as a eoiaiei his constant care for his men, and th innate modesty of his character, thes have endeared him to us all. As North Island man surely he should b vt-lcomed in the North Island. Ir. would be a simple matter for .th Arawa to call at Wellington first, wliei the Genera!, and other North Island sol diers who might happen to be on board could disembark, and the Arawa procce* to Lyttelton. Sir A. H. Russell lias proved liimsel to Be our finest General in every ,6ense Surely it is only fitting that he shonn make his first landing on his return t the Dominion at the Capital City of th country.—l am, etc., A FATHER WHOSE SOLDIER-SON HAS BEEN CARED FOR BY THE GENERAL. Palmerston North, May G, 1919. MR. FRASER, M.P., AND RUSSIA Sir,—l would like to know for wha our sons fought, and also what retnrnei soldiers who rend the latest pro-Bolshe vik speech by Mr. Fraser, M.P., think T-he latter informed his hearers "tha soldiers were obliged to set about killin: one another without their consent." Well I have two sons, soldiers, though not i: this oountry at present, but I am sur they would feel nattered at Mr. Fraser' description, especially after (with others doing the said killing and thereby assist ing W 6avo Mr. Eraser's skin and free dom. I suppose as long as dav is da and night is night M.P.'s will" give u the benefit of their views, but how eve any man or woman can sit listening t this twaddle passes my understanding. 1 one looks around one sees the youth c New Zealand grown up and growing uj Why can't the patriotic fathers an mothers of those sons return them t Parliament and dispense with the foi eigners, or imported types, in our midst Tho born New Zealander should fill hi country's public places, and lie is mor broad-minded, kindlier and appreciative every time, in my opinion. Also, Mi Fraser does not pay a 'very flatterin compliment to tho workers when h says "they were obliged against thei consent." I know aye, thoi: sands, Mr. Fraser, who went (be it sai to their everlasting credit) of their ow will, and went early, and many of tlioi went never to return, thereby inakin life easy and pleasant for Mr. Fraaei So next time he cives .us a chapter o tho Bolsheviks, let him please remembe to mention this latter fact.—l am, etc ANTI-BOLSHEVIK.

RE RECENT CASE OF CRUELTY TO CHILD

are one or two points I should like to brinpr under- the notico of; the general public through tho medium of your widely-read paper. A point raised during the hearing of the case, the report of which appeared in your editidn oT Kayo, was that as nono of the chief witnesses giving. evidence were mothers themselves, they were hardly in a position to judge the exact amount of punishment that might he meted out to a child, but that 6eems to be absurd. Surely a woman does not actually have to be a mother to bo able to detect cruelty. . . How about a mother with her first child? Must 6lie run to her next-door neighbour, who is tha mother, of three children, and ask how much spanking she must give her young hopeful, as she never hnd a child before, and therefore does not know how hard or how 'long she should whip him when he is guilty of some baby naughtiness? Again, any mother will, I think, agree with me in saying that at tlio tender age of three a whipping a day, with a strap) is not justified. Children _at that age are too young to do anything that merits really severe punishment; Such naughtiness as they are capable of'is merely baby' nttughtinejs, which a good old motherly handspanking occasionally will impress sufficiently the mind, not to mention the body, of a littlo child of three. I have had a great deal lo do with children, and am a mother myself, and I have never seen a cTTild at three, or double three, that required systematic thrashing every dny; and to take n 6trap to nmere baby of three is straightout cruelty. I am giad the child "was removed from the woman, and liopo she will never ]jo given the chanco of "mothering" it again, ns now .her conduct has been brought • under public notice,'she will probably have a feeling against thechild. My husband and myself are not burdened with much hard cash, but 1 could gladly take that littlo child and keep it,, anil try to make up to it for the cruelty it had suffered, and I daresay there are hundreds of good homes,that would be offered the child to-morrow if the Government would hand it over, instead of keeping it in the receiving home. Trusting I have not trespassed unduly on your soace,—l nm, etc., ' . MOTHER.