Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 536, 13 December 1928, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Sir, “Charity” had better look up the Bible again and quote it correctly. He says: “God set a mark on Cain’s forehead so- that no man should kill Mm.” How was the mark going to save him? God said: “Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold whosover slayeth Cain.” “Whoso shedldeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen! 9). “Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death” (Numbers 36). “Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer —' which is guilty of death—but he shall be surely put to death.” “Charity” says: “Why does the law allow a precious soul to be sent to its Maker without a chance of working out its own salvation?” A man in such circumstances would have plenty of time before he arrived at the gallows. It is capital punishment which keeps thousands of men from committing murder. JOHN NICHOLSON.

PUBLIC TELEPHONES

Sir.— Through your columns I wish to enter an emphatic protest against the laxity of the local telephone exchange in permitting people to use the public telephones lor more than three minutes without inserting another penny Under the present vile system anv amorous swain can conduct a halfhour courtship for the modest sum of one penny, while irate would-be users hold indignation meetings on the footpath. Last evening I waited 20 minutes at a suburban box while a dreamy flapper indulged in sweet nothings on the wires. When I'asked her if she had bought the box. she informed me she could us© it as long - as she wished Surely the post office officials can exercise some control and fix a time limit. Other towns do it. so why not Auckland? The present system is losing money for the Government. PHONEY.

TROUBLE IN SOUTH AMERICA

Sir, While Bolivia and Paraguay are both sovereign States. their sovereignty is qualified by the Monroe Doctrine and the League of Nations, tor which reason, both nations probably count, on external arbitration and intervention in the event of war. But it is no! wise for any sovereign State to presume on enforced arbitration or mediation. Other sovereign States st 4. n d back and let intransigent States fight to the bitter end The League of Nations is not anxious to inteivene in the dispute between Bolide 3 '?- P r araguay ’ but the Pan-Ameri- ,■ r ? ce on Conciliation and Arbitration has expressed its willingness to co-operate in any move toward an amicable solution of the dispute. Gf this service Paraguay appears to

be willing to avail herself, and Bolivia would be wise to do the same, without making prior demands upon the Committee of Inquiry, provided for in 1923, to investigate this dispute. Not the wise provision and use of weapons of war, but their is to be deprecated. And right-thinking persons throughout the world will surely condemn a war between Bolivia and Paraguay for the possession of territory which is not worth war to either party. If one might hazard an opinion on the recent evidence submitted through the local Press, I would say that it is sixty-forty in favour of Paraguay; and a division of the disputed territory in that ratio might make a satisfactory settlement. BEATI PACIFICI.

THE CREATION

Sir, — The air of final authority with which Mr. S. L. P. Rimmer seeks to put Mr. Thornhill in his place regarding the creation is amusing, but also somewhat pathetic in its endeavour to retain at least some shred of divine authority for Genesis. Readers have no need to consult the musty personal opinions of the professors and deceased doctors of divinity resurrected by your correspondent. Let them consult the Bible story for themselves in the light of modern knowledge and common sense. There they will find that instead of the account of creation, there are two of them, contradictory in many particulars. In Gen. I. the order is light; a firmament dividing the waters; land, seas, grass and trees; sun. moon and stars: fowls, whales and fish; cattle, creeping things, man and woman. In Gen. II we find the order, heavens and earth; a mist to water the earth; man; garden of Eden: beasts and fowls; woman from the rib of a man. These two lists are wholly irreconcilable. I wonder which one Mr. Rimmer’s authorities put their faith in as agreeing with science? In the first : we have light before the sun. moon and stars, apd the stars, comprising the whole of the universe outside the solar system are mentioned somewhat in thj nature of an afterthought., as having been made merely to give us light! This of itself stamps the whole storv as a prescientific attempt at explaining human and cosmic origins. That the general order of the few organisms mentioned in the first list is partially correct*, except that we have birds before reptiles, is no guarantee of divine revelation. Even a savage might consider that simpler organisms were made before the more complex. Seriously, anyone who would advance these bald, incorrect and contradictory narratives as in any way comparable with or complementary to the last ramifications and researches ot modern science is either totally ignorant of the latter or fatally bemused bj the ancient Semitic legends. It is (Continued in next column)

indeed true tha - we lag 50 years behind rational thought in religion, when a section of our population can still believe as facts these discredited myths. A.E.C.

CHRISTMAS PURCHASES

Sir. — Your correspondent “Protection* sounds a timely chord when he reminds the people of Auckland that many of their Christmas purchases are of foreign manufacture, while alongside them in the shops are goods of New Zealand design—but frequently at a higher price. None could soundly oppose a steady policy of secondary industrial development, but the viewpoint of the poor-man consumer must not be overlooked in our enthusiasm to turn this country into a manufacturing concern. Many people in New Zealand are living so close to the bread-line at the present time that their primary desire is to secure the article' they require at the cheapest price, and in view of what the country has passed through during the last year or two, this attitude possesses a measure of justification. I wish to see New Zealand-made goods purchased, and it seems to me that if we are to compete with foreign manufacturers some sacrifice has io be made for a while by the State assisting industry, price-cutting by the seller, or by the consumer paying a higher figure. It is unjust to expect the householder to shoulder all tins burden. The manufacturer must share it. Perhaps when the Manufacturers Association gets busy on its “Buy New Zealand Goods” campaign it wiu attempt to fix the burden of responsibility. Are the manufacturers in New Zealand prepared to stand 8. ipsS on their goods in open competition until their market is established, look forward ultimately to the tta* when the volume of manufactures WIU reduce unemployment and dispel pov erty. The developmental stage, however, must involve the sacrifice. POOR MAN PURCHASER.