Citizens Say-—

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 195, 7 November 1927, Page 8

Citizens Say- —

(To the Editor.)

SUNDAY BATHING Sir, Could I protect through your valuable paper on the closing of the Shelly Beach Baths on Sunday afternoons. There were dozens of bathers waiting on Sunday, but all the doors were barred. Hoping this meets the eye of the proper authorities. BATHER.

“REQUESTS HAVE NO EFFECT” Sir,— I was pleased to see in THE SUN of the 4th inst. the paragraph about the Mount Eden Borough Council not forming the road round the base of Mount Eden from Normanby Road to Clive Road which, as THE SUN truly states, would save an immense waste of time and traffic. Repeated requests seem to have no effect on the borough council which, however, could waste hundreds of pounds on the formation of a hideous rockery at this place. The road would soon be made if the borough formed part of the city. It is only opposition which stops a great public convenience being carried out. RATEPAYER.

THE PREFERENCE CLAUSE Sir, The proposal to abolish the “preference clause” in the I.C. and A. Act will, if carried, have the effect of crippling small unions now registered under the Act. These small unions in order to conserve the interests of their members will, of necessity, join forces with the larger unions and by so doing will ultimately lose their identity by becoming absorbed. As these larger unions are powerful enough to enforce preference, it therefore follows that the proposal is a matter of the utmost indifference to them, so far as it would affect the engagement of their members, but to those who favour the “one big union” idea the proposal is everything that could be desired. In the interests of industrial peace I think the powers that be should let the Act remain as it is. H.J.S.

THE MAIN NORTHERN HIGHWAY Sir, — A matter that is causing grave concern to the ratepayers of the Birkenhead riding of the Waitemata County Council is the snail-like pace at which the reconstruction of the BirkenheadAlbany main road is proceeding. About two years ago this road was gazetted as part of Number 1 main highway and then the ratepayers authorised the county council to raise a loan for half the cost of tar-sealing, subject to the Highways Board’s subsidy of £1 for £l. A contract was let more than IS months ago and work was commenced almost immediately. At first things went ahead merrily and then, among other things, wet weather interfered considerably with progress. At intervals, over months, the daily bus had to be pulled by a tractor through a bad patch where filling was being carried out, and any motorist unlucky enough to be forced to use the road had to be similarly treated. All this inconvenience was taken philosophically in the belief that it would soon be at an end and that there would before long be a road worth calling by that name over which to travel. But alas the months are flying past and the work seems to be taking exactly the opposite course, for up to date scarcely two miles out of approximately eight to be done has

bad the foundation work completed. None of this has yet been tar-sealed. Every endeavour should be made to press on with the earthwork while the weather is more settled. Great dissatisfaction is felt throughout the whole riding and ratepayers are beginning to wonder why such slow progress is being made and whether it is within the power of the council to speed up the work before another winter sees them in a worse plight than ever. Good roads are essential for modern traffic and if your bright and valuable paper can give the people any enlightenment on the subject it will be doing them a very great service indeed. TAR- SEAL.

DOCTORS DIFFER Six’,— Now that the authority of Genesis has definitely been abrogated by the Auckland Anglican clei'gy it may seem superfluous to trouble about Mr. Hughes’s erroneous statement that “the Bible does not give 6,000 years as the age of man.” But this is just what it does give. Gen. V. to XI. gives precise dates (leaving out odd months) from the creation of Adam and Eve from father to son right down to Father Abraham. These dates are quite incompatible with our knowledge of the vast antiquity of man, and they are very embarrassing to the person who desires to retain belief in scripture as accurate records. In leading the Anglican flock into the evolution fold, Canon Archdall boldly discarded Genesis to make place for evolution, and he stressed the point, as also did Canon Grant Cowen in a recently-reported sermon on evolution that in no way does evolution upset the theological position. Observe that Mr. J. G. Hughes chai’itably thinks that Darwin “deserved all he got” because he “unsettled the foundations of existing civilisation ” When doctors differ, who shall decide v J. SIM.

THOSE “SOLID FACTS” Sir, — In re Ply # to my request for a list of the solid, facts” on which, accordmg to his contention, the natural sciences rest, “A.E.C.” writes: “Here then in the admitted existence of matter in its various forms (substance) and the manifold natural phenomena arising therefrom (energy), patiently catalogued by scientists, observable and verifyable by all —here do we And that solid basis of facts.” This means that the “solid facts” are matter, energy (an attribute of matter) and natural phenomena arising out of matter and energy. Let us start with matter. In the first place no one knows what matter is. Professor Tait says: “We do not know, and are probably incapable of discovering what matter is.” In his “Introduction to Science” Professor J. A. Thomson states that matter is merely an intellectual counter, a mere symbol of reality. “Solid fact” matter is quite unknown to the philosophical scientist. Does “A.E.C.” know -what matter is? Can that which is only an intellectual counter or symbol of reality be a “solid fact”? If matter is not a “solid fact,” it is quite clear that energy and “natural phenomena” cannot have more “solidity” than that out of which they arise. The postulates of science must be metaphysical in character, since we must assume initial conditions of space, time and substance which cannot be experimentally verified. Huxley frankly admitted that "the ground of every one of our actions, and the validity of all our reasonings, rest upon the great act of faith,.which leads xts to take

the experience cf the past as a guide in our dealings with the l»*®v and the future.” It has been I l v said that “only he who is walk by faith can walk al **;. “A.E.C.” tells us that science rm» “solid facts”; Huxley confesses it rests on a great act NORMAN BURTON. VICTORIOUS PRINCIPLE Sir, — s The Bible in Schools League '. - Zealand and the People’s Orga & have been battling for a well as an objective. Every of the organisation desires as jective the “restoration of the . the schools of this land,” ana a t j Jfl ciple “the .recognition c*f t*oa j-n education of our children. p ar . people’s elected representatives liament on Wednesday las ; mously supported the principle at heart. _ # the B-" A large minority vote<l for _ „ v known as “The Isitt Bill « v „ reading in schools —most dec : : these votes were for “the r rfctfi* of God in the education of "JL prt .~ ren.” A majority (the remain .. ent) voted for strengthening known as “The Nelson System j, devised for “the recognition oi w J: .. the education of our cnhdr r self-evident therefore elected representatives in l a *\. a whole unanimously recogn - . r?* necessity for, and absence or, * g&j cognition of God in our „. e c&ceducation. Therefore m K€rs : * one and all. congratulate rn all parties in Parliament for - - thily supporting and a *“SJL for * principle we have been * long. It is now up to e '' er> 4rr , m *edi& Parliament to grapple *r7 c bildr£ with the problem so that of this land will no longer - _ teD2 disabilities of a Godless • * && education. Perhaps Bishop jepr* the great Church militant for**** sents will also eagerly and assist with genuine f r ? solve the admitted problem » ljca u# our children the improved hoo u, they now lack in our Statejjgr B. .HB.POT