PUBLIC OPINION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 594, 21 February 1929, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION

The following additional letters to The Sun on the same subject, have been received.: GAS Sir, — I read with interest the letter written by “Only a Jingo,” and I am sorry that he has missed the main point of my last letter. Firstly, it will be the stokers of the home fires that will get th© gas of the next war. Hence my concern on his behalf, and if he has not yet smelt gas he does not realise that very delightful sensation of delay when one has trouble in getting on a gas helmet after the alarm has gone. Perhaps his concern on behalf of the children could be overcome by just dealing with the parents. Lastly, if “Only a Jingo” could have been in Armenfibres when the Germans put gas in the back areas (for the first time among the civilians) he would, no doubt, have been very interested in the way they took it. GAS KNOWLEDGE. “INDEMNITY NECESSARY” Sir. Valuable letters, informative and trenchant, have graced your columns lately about war, gas and inquities, but surely that by “Gas Knowledge” takes some beating for utter nonsense? Fancy contemplating the futility of the population of Auckland or of New Zealand wearing gas masks to cope with poison gas that we cannot see, smell or otherwise detect (vide cables and latest scientific articles) ? As “Gas Knowledge” is so brilliant in his supposition, would he, and could he, advise when the helmets should be worn? Would we all have to wear them night and day or would we just wait until we were dead? It is a knotty question for these ultra-clever slaves to artificial military . tradition and humbug. Imagine a big European nation in the grip of fiendish war bothering to dispatch gas-laden airplanes to the Antipodes to lay low a handful of helpless island people already rendered more harmless by sea communication blockage, almost sure to be a factor if another war takes place. “Gas Knowledge” is one who should be specially retained to test all gas helmets, for there will be no clamour for the job. Personally I think parents would be wise to demand a £5,000 insurance policy or other substantial indemnity on the life of any youth forced into this poison chamber. M.P.S.

“MILLIONS FOR DESTRUCTION”

l am sorry to have to trespass again on space to reply to your insensate correspondent, “Common Sense,” who, being apparently unable to question the substance of my letter on Wednesday, side-steps the issue—the madness of war and its perpetuation —and starts to take refuge in “Flag, King and Country,” and such pretexts as defending our shores, etc. He does not reply to my point about spending millions of pounds for the destruction of millions of innocent people; he does not mention my assertion that new methods of life and living make war unnecessary unless we admit degeneracy, and, further, he offers no constructive suggestion as to why we should submit to the slavish ideas of military automata, to none of whom would I concede a more sincere patriotism than that which my family has upheld and demonstrated. I have lost severely by war, and, like thousands of others in our very midst, would like to know what benefit it has cohferred, even on our own nation? My quotations by Lord Robert Cecil was lost on “Common Sense,” but let me hope that the following opinions will stir whatever little mental capacity he may possess;—“Force of arms and military alliances mean, crushing taxation, financial ruin and the inevitable Armageddon at the end.” —Sir Esme Howard, British Ambas-

sador to the United States, when supporting the endeavours of the League of Nations. “I do not believe that European civilisation could survive another war.”—The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd-George. PARENT. ONLY ONE ANSWER Sir, May I be permitted to add a word in the “P’oison-Gas Chamber” controversy? The sanity of the intention of the Admiralty Department to construct a test chamber, in which men who have enlisted for the highest of patriotic reasons cannot be questioned. There seems to be, in the minds of many people, a sheer inability to grasp the most obvious of facts. Repeatedly in the daily Press mention has been made of the preparations certain countries are making for war, and the equipment they are accumulating for that purpose. For instance, Russia can throw 10,000,000 men into the next war, and is training 870,000 men a year. Russia recently bought 50,000 tons of nitrate from South America. It is used only in the manufacture of high explosives, and the purchase was financed in Berlin! Just ahead of us lies the most ghastly war ever known, in which whole towns will be laid in death overnight, in which disease germs will be scattered broadcast and death will hold sway, that will eclipse for horror anything that humanity has ever known. And people are babbling of peace and the “brotherhood of man” and say “if you think peace you will get it.” Mad dogs can’t be stopped by thoughts. Edison, some time ago, publicly stated that the U.S.A. possessed a gas so terribly deadly that “to-morrow fifty planes could fly over London, and in three hours not a soul would be left alive!” Think of it! Shall we take these menaces lying down, or should we then be trained and ready? There is only one answer. A. H. DALbIMOEE,