Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 233, 21 December 1927, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

ORGANS

Sir,— A few weeks ago mention was made in your paper to an organ installed in a Mount Eden Church by an Auckland firm. The blower of the organ was stated to be German, the firm’s name not being mentioned. Since this date we have had a number of inquiries from clients to know if we were the firm referred to, and as we have charge of the Auckland Town Hall Organ and many others in the district, this report has been the cause of considerable annoyance and trouble to us. We will be glad to know if it is possible to have it stated through the medium of your paper that we were not the firm referred to? LAWTON & OSBORNE.

NOISE

Sir, —■ Reluctantly I take. up the pen to ventilate another noise-nuisance which may have a more devastating effect on one’s nerves than even the blaring of bugles or the “rat-a-tat-tat” (or worse than that) of kettle-drums. I refer to the hideous noises emitted from cheepy gramophones by American negroes and other “blighters.” In the purs it of my business I visit shops and offices, where sometimes it is almost impossible to hear oneself speak if in the next shop be one of these nightmare parlours... Will someone in authority lend me his ear? I want to whisper in the loud voice, that if this indecorous nuisance is not stopped soon, there is a grave possibility that the prediction of certain eminent metaphysicians, that half the population of the world will be insane in fifty years, through distracting noise nuisances, will come true. “HIM” OF AVONDALE,

MILITARY TRAINING AT TWELVE

Sir. I should like to draw the attention of your readers, especially parents of boys, to an injustice imposed upon the brighter boys who pass from primary to secondary schools. For some years past it has been the custom to compel boys who accept a free place at a State secondary school to commence military training, even though they be considerably under the age of 14, as the majority of our boys are when they pass the proficiency test. So hard and fast has this rule become that it now means that a so-called “free” place carries with it the condition of extra military service—a state of things never intended when free secondary education was first arranged. The Compulsory Military Service Act states that boys “shall be liable to be trained from 14 years of age or the date of leaving school as the case may be.” This loosely-worded and ambiguous enactment seems to be -settled by Section 40, as amended by Section 45 of the Act of 1912. which reads: “The training in the Senior Cadets shall begin on the first day of June in which they attain the age of 14 years or on any later date on which they cease to attend school.” The word “primary” is evidently intended to be inserted before “school” here. Nowadays boys pass Standard VI at 13, 12, and in many cases at 11 years,

and most of them accept free places or scholarships at a secondary school. It has thus come about that the more intelligent scholars are compelled to take up military training at a much earlier age than do the truants and dullards who remain at the primary school till they reach their fourteenth year. The Education Department has recently issued to headmasters notices urging Standard VI boys to register for training. These notices point out the advantages of training and camp life, and threaten various penalties for failure to register. All boys, even those of only 11 and 12 years of age, were served with these circulars, which were enclosed in their school journals. So our primary schools, private as well as State, have become recruiting grounds for the military, while our secondary schools tend to develop into copies of West Point- or Duntroon. It is time that the imposition X have pointed out was done away with, and boys allowed to continue their education without paying for it by giving extra military service. Legally, no boy can be compelled to begin liis military training before the first day of June of the year in which he attains his 14th birthday, no matter what school he attends, ZEALAND LA.

“OLD MARS” REPLIES

Sir,— Three letters in reply to “Old Mars” who only reported, for the benefit of the military authorities, simple facts culled from European papers, without expressing- any opinion of his own. In each answer, he has been contradicted. A striking success indeed! Now, I have a confession to make to “Double fc3,” “War Against War” and “Moderate”: I am myself decidedly against war! I mean aggressive war. But I maintain that a defensive war is a just one, and also, that in time of peace, every citizen must do his duty so as to be ready to defend his country in case of an uncalled-for attack. The boys in uniform whom we meet in the streets are not preparing to enter into war against Japan or America. They are merely fulfilling their duty to their native land and that is exactly what the “objector” does not. I am certain that if “War Against ’War” (who is not “Moderate”) was suddenly attacked in the street, he would not run for a policeman, but would defend himslef immediately; and he could do it , effectively, only if he had practised English boxing or French lacking.

We need not speak of “Socialists”: the German Socialists followed the Kaiser, to a man, in 1914! Nor of the “Communists”: the Red army, as we read every day, is fully trained and ready to repulse any attack made on the Russian frontiers (?). Now for another confession: I do not

believe in “conscientious objectors.” For me they are only men trying to evade their duty. I may add that their “conscience” directors make a big mistake in nert giving the right kind of advice.

Do as others do. Be not the one slacker among thousands of men of good will. Read the Bible well and you will do your duty. No lawyer, no court of justice, no prosecution, no newspaper tame. Do your duty and that’s all. BOOR OLD MARS.