Citizens Say-

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 635, 11 April 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say-

TAKAPUNA BOROUGH I 3 t Sir,— £ Mr. John Guinevan—a candidate for + the Takapuna Mayoralty—states that y ever since the Takapuna trams were r abandoned and up-to-date buses took £ their place there has been a woeful j. slump in the borough. r Of course, it would never do for Mr. t Guinevan to state that the slump really started when the borough adopted unimproved rating. Then there was a c glut of properties forced on the market and values slumped so much that every householder in the district finds it difficult to realise half the price he could have got before the change. . Of course, most of the money was t spent in sanitation and paving the parts J round the congested areas and as Mr. Guinevan is not a farmer who depends * upon acres for his living, he naturally ] thinks it a fine thing if the rural areas * are made to repay most of the money r borrowed. \ DLORAH. 1 € i TRAMS AND PARCELS 1 Sir, — Sandwiched among the major faults of our much-discussed tramway system are many minor irritations and unsatisfactory features which could be remedied easily if the Transport Board bothered to overhaul the existing regulations and facilities. I wish to refer v particularly to the lack of encourage- K ment for passengers with parcels and luggage and lack of space for the « same. It is true that moderately- 3 sized bags and parcels are permitted, 1 but they are not encouraged, while 1 mothers with go-carts, and workers 1 with large bundles are limited to the £ slack and, incidentally, unsuitable 1 hours. Our trams are constructed * badly for the carriage of luggage, but * provision could and should be made. 1 Moreover, council buses should be 1 fitted with luggage carriers at the rear. 1 Taxi companies and motor-car sales-; ( men are thriving at the expense of ( Auckland, because of a need that is supplied practically everywhere else A in New Zealand. 1 OBSERVER. UNEMPLOYMENT Sir, — ‘ In a recent issue of The Sun there i appeared a rather important cable item stating that the total number of un- , employed persons in the whole of France at the end of March was only J 1,078. This is indeed remarkable ' when even in prosperous New Zealand, , notwithstanding the determined effort- t put forth by Sir Joseph Ward in his 1 relief policy, our unemployed total still - runs into thousands. The question one \ naturally asks is "How can France «. keep her unemployed within such small limits?” Not by legislation or we t would have surely heard of such a i wonderful measure before this. . No! ] The answer is "by bleeding Germany.” ] M. Clemenceau completed his victory T over Germany when he out-mnnnor" ' j the Allied statesmen and forced the dis- i srraceful peace of Versailles—a peace f that imposed a nine months’ food block- « ade on the Germans which caused such J starvation and misery among the t German working classes. T By draining the richest industrial ? area of Germany and taking the lion’s \ share of the reparations, the French c iron barons are in the happy position ] to-day of having crushed all hopes of German rivalry and for the past five

(To the Editor.)

years have been able to flood all neutral iron markets. Many members of the N.Z.E.F. who happened to be in the occupied area are of the opinion that the German working class was a humble home-loving peaceful lot of people who had suffered severely the result of the folly of their rulers. I have no intention of expatiating on the right and wrongs of the German or French nations but I do think the enviable position of France with her almost negligible unemployment deserves some comment. We were in a war that was to end war, but from the independent experience of a first-hand visit to Europe with my eyes open, I am of the opinion that until neighbouring nations get rid of venal and hysterical statesmen, and financial and political ruffians, who know that whatever happens they will escape the blood and mire of battles, and try to learn a little about their neighbouring nations’ souls, so will wars continue. What is needed is the universal comprehension and the passion of collective action in the interests of humanity, because these things are missing. The only nation is mankind, which should be permeated by a desire for order, justice, light of education and charity, but we nearly all betray our ideals by the pursuit of our own selfish interests. EX-N.Z.E.F. BEHIND THE CARBOYS Sir, I wish to protest most emphatically against the sentiments expressed by your correspondent, "Worker.” No man with a spark of sympathy or humanity could have so expressed himsel.f Why, in heaven’s name, should the Rev. Jasper Calder not have the right to issue medicine free to the needy? If he does not do so it is safe to assume that the needy will go without. And going without medicine in the winter months might mean death to many a sick man. Our chemist’s assistant—snug behind his coloured carboys—needs to move through the poorer quarters and he will not see life in such couleur de rose hues. INDIGNANT. THE CITY MISSIONER’S WORK Of all the selfish, inhuman letters I have read, that of "Worker” in your columns certainly is the worst. lam not a churchman, but I have a very deep admiration’ for the Rev. Jasper Calder’s efforts to alleviate distress, l his chemist s assistant evidently lias P®* travelled far, or he would know that all large cities have institutions where medical attention and medicine aie provided to the needy, free of charge. But "Worker’s” extraordinarv selfishness, manifests itself still more when he resorts to ridicule, saying that Mr. Calder "should supply luxurUl V Vl £ eles * sets * etc., alio, free/’ “ e h , as nay pity and contempt. Free attention is really no more a. charity than caring for thp as‘dsta a nl- d n the t mai ? ied - Any chemist’s assistant must realise that when a Derif half-starved his powers of resistanee to disease are very low and medical attention is positively e’ssential to carry on. and yet this man would deliberately oppose any “free” assistance in this direction. It. is hard to believe. To use his “logical con elusion argument, I suppose he would refuse to donate his discarded ™er(Continued in next column)