Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 114, 4 August 1927, Page 10

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

THE PARNELL BATHS Sir, — Your correspondents haven't any sense of humour. I, too, have bathed in the Parnell Baths. I shall not do so again, unless they are improved: but looking back on my experiences last summer, I have to laugh. Every time I returned home after my “swim” the cat used to miaw furiously/ under the impression that it was Friday, and the good wife, scenting my entrance by the back door, w'ould exclaim: “Goodness me—that man’s brought home stale crayfish again!” Then she would soak a handkerchief in vinegar, hold it to her nose with one hand, and unroll the parcel with the other. When she used to find a towel and bathingsuit, instead of a mortified crustacean, she would upbraid me most unmercifully. On the last occasion she threw the “togs” out on the back lawn at the end of the copper-stick. The pup “worried”them. Poor little Towser! He never worried anything again. I buried him with the fell garment that had stricken him: My great physical fault, sir, is that I have no olefactory sense—’twas destroyed by smoking gum-leaves in early youth. But my friends and members of my household make up for it. Every time I came home from the baths, my family used to avoid me. For days after my weekly swim my friends at the office used not to come near me, and I always had a seat to myself in the tram. Now I laugh to think how many people I must have fooled into believing I was employed at the fish-manure works. REFORMED BATHER. TRAMWAY LOAN . Sir,— Before allowing our City Council to borrow another £500,000 for tramway extensions, it will be well for the ratepayers carefully to consider the position. We (the ratepayers) are in just the same position as the shareholders of a company, except that in the case of the company the shareholders’ liability is limited and as ratepayers ours is not. The Tramway Committee is our board of directors, and the said board asks us shareholders to allow it to raise a loan, giving as security the general rates of the city—in short, the property of the ratepayers. What we must ask ourselves is this: (1) Have we confidence in the ability of our board of directors to Use this money wisely? (2) Has that board shown by its dealing with the transport problem in the past really sound judgment? (3) Have we confidence in the management of the tramways department? (4) Has the management’s handling of the bus opposition been a success? (5) Would not the straightout business method of cutting fares have been a more effective way of dealing with bus competition? (6) What is the cost of management at present, compared with the days of private ownership? (7) Whether the expensive new depot is saving the amount of dead mileage that it was claimed would be saved. (8) Why loan money for extension purposes was diverted to the purchase of buses? Let. these questions be answered fully

not brushed aside, as mistakes of the past, and then the ratepayers may have some confidence in the concern. If such a state of affairs was revealed in the affairs of any company, I venture to think that the board of directors and the management would very quickly be replaced. Ratepayers must remember that although the rates may not be increased to pay for this proposed loan, valuations will go up, and the amount of our rating will increase all the same. Until things look much better so far as the management of our transport system is concerned, I for one will vote against the loan. CIVIS. “LEAVE THEM ALONE” Sir, — The proposal to shift the T.B. soldiers from their present location to another part of the Domain smatters of a desire to do things cheaplv. What is the advantage to tlie public of surrendering one part of the Domain to steal another? And what is the advantage to the unfortunate men themselves. They do not want to be shifted at all; and shifting will only upset and harass them. These men contracted their illness in the service of this country. It is this country’s job to look after them and studv their small requirements. If the public of Auckland is asked to vote as to whether these men shall be shifted so that a winter garden can be made they will say, “Let the winter garden wait. The comfort of these unfortunate fellows should be our first concern.” If the authorities are determined to shift them, they will only do so with the public consent, provided that the men are given an infinitely better home and that they are willing to enter it. LEAVE THEM ALONE. THE VETERANS’ HOME Sir, — A few lines in your valuable paper af tor a visit to that fine institution, the V eterans’ Home for old soldiers, might not be amiss. It would surprise, and perhaps shock, both the societies and the people who contribute to the upkeep of this institution, and any soldier visiting an old comrade there, to see these inmates without the ordinary comforts of life. There are no fires these cold days, and the veterans are forced to try and get what straggling rays of sunshine there may be. As the billiards-room and library, where they might at least be warm, are minus fires or any other means of heating, they are forced to wrap up in blankets or go to bed. When soldiers in wartime leave for the front there are bands playing and promises of all good things on their return. How are these promises being fulfilled in this case, and where does the responsibility lie for such parsimony? It is admitted that the best soldiers are as a rule good grousers, but these comments are not from grousers, but from my personal observations. I contend that nothing we can do for these people is too good: at least there should be fires, as even in the summer old blood is seldom warm. Many of these soldiers, too, would like each to have a small plot