Citizens Say-

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 8, 31 March 1927, Page 8

Citizens Say-

To the Editor. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDED J.G.—Sorry. We can’t U is too pravSL*°> worded. oca bve]-. “Progress.” Thanks for vour wishes, but letters of such a must of necessity carry a and not a pen-name. ®***fc? SOUND APPLES Sir. — Watching a shipment ©f being loaded yesterday. I Was see the way they were handled 10 being taken from lorries and he ” 5 dropped in slings. Now, Sir* means bruised fruit when catJm llus opened. I quite believe it i s 1 thoughtlessly, but a little more ' ' would be a good thing to the shinS: and growers. F. ONE WHO TRIED Sir. — In reply to “Humanitarian’' an* - may say I prefer the terms ‘ and “Humanist,” because thev’ - concise and accurate of meaning the same time I am only too glad • hear that a “Humanitarian Societv”h“ been formed where I have sign failed. Perhaps some day mv in 1922-23 to found a New Humanist Society will receive tion. Then I heard of the Bri:u> Humane Association and got in As their principles and teachings m my requirements I adopted them, and posted literature all over New Zealand but never received any response a though I spent a lot of my own mineadvertising in addition. If Mr. Forb** of Oamaru has succeeded where I have failed then I heartily congratulate hiir for my experience has been so bitter in its repeated failures that the news of another’s success acts as a pallia, tive. Some of us are deserted and “cut” by our “friends” (?) because i e are “cranks and faddists.” Such has been my lot, but some day I intend to win. HUMANIST. THE MISSING ADDRESS Sir, — In your issue of Saturday’s SUN your correspondent asks the question, “Who blundered?” in the recent controversy of an address on behalf of our Roman Catholic community to the Duke and Duchess of York. Our worthy mayor and his councillors refuse to accept any responsibility in the matter. Then, Sir, I take it that the primate and the president of the Council of Christian Congregations were both aware that addresses of welcome were to be presented by their respective churches. It would have been a graceful act if they had written to Bishop Cleary notifying him of their intentions, thus giving the bishop an opportunity of preparing an address. To doubt the loyalty of the member* of our Roman Catholic community is to insult them, and by so doing we dis* honour the memory of their boys who sacrificed their very all that we might live. T. N. PEAKE. BACK-BLOCKS LIFE Sir, Re your article “Miserable Three Weeks” in THE SUN, practically all these new arrivals from the Old Country know absolutely nothing about farming on New Zealand lines. They have to be taught everything, milking (hand and machine), feeding the calves and pigs, even to cutting up a bit of firewood. You say that these two young fellows referred to in your article received £1 a week; a munificent wage. Considering their capabilities, 10s a week should be enough for the first three months and an increase of 5s a week every thre« months. Surely the tuition they are receiving from the farmer is worth something, to say nothing of sundry losses incurred through inexperience. I guarantee that not 5 per cent of the young pioneer farmers in the backblocks use sheets on their beds. The majority sleep a good, healthy sleep with one or two blankets f.nd a colonial rug or so. Almost every farm labourer is expected to wash his own clothe*. There is always a hot water supply in the cowshed, and if a man will not wash his sheets he deserves to have fleas. God knows what these younf fellows expected. There are hundreds of ways of making a living if these men will only get out into the country, especially the back-blocks. Opportunities can be seen every way you look, but experience is necessary, and the new chum must be eager and willing to learn. If he expects to be fed with soft pap with a spoon, better t<* him to remain in the Old Country. This is God’s Own Country, and there are great possibilities for the energetic man with a little experience. CONTENTED BACK-BLOCKS SETTLER. FOREIGN OFFICE AND CHINA Sir, . THE SUN rises on perilous and stirring times; times when old f1u 169 are tested and new ones are -ff”* What’s wrong with the world? Wn** - * is Britain going? These questions nanmer insistently at one’s mind as on reads the daily news. Two thousan years have passed since the advent the Prince of Peace. Eight Tp* have passed since the conclusion °* u “war to end war” and yet we read THE SUN of 25th inst.:— -“Nanking *• Flames. Cruisers Shell City.” ” should be our attitude toward a tion such as this? Let us consider -- matter rationally and calmly- An ber of British citizens, resident i foreign country aflame with civil have been killed during the course * a siege or battle. Exactly how t > people were killed is unknown, there are three likely solutions. 1. The killing was an accidental mv pening, the almost inevitable contant of a military struggle for poss®® sion of a city. 2. The killing was wholly or P*™ the work of a mob of that type is to be found in every city oi | world. . tbfc 3. The tragedy was caused cy Northern troops. . . In event of the killing bei S accidental result of the civil foreign warships have no more to bombard Nanking inrin? Britain have had the “right ' hir( j the American Civil War to k? Hfiher s Richmond. Virginia, because Bn 0 [ were suffering through the » ® a that city. When people foreign country they must ta jl risk of civil war and disorder country. v orWe of the H.O.C. Anti-wax ganisation consider it neither nor Christian to perpetuate a by indiscriminately murdering y men, women and little childre • admitted that the European and children had been evacuai. . the scene of action. If any .. r it then shame to those who 3.11° s j. Nearly half of the Britishers dent in China are eoncentn tra n*' Shanghai. The very ships tnaj feaVi ported troops to China c° evacuated the whole of population in the affected ar *'' t j re iy should dissociate ourselves Qgitf from the policy of the Foreign tiaSi as being anti-social, and SCOT?*