Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 680, 4 June 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

POLITENESS OF CITIZENS Sir,— I would like to reply to “Cleric.” I should like to take him hack to Germany 25 to 30 years ago. Britons <L am speaking’ of members of the British Mercantile Marine) were treated in Germany with scant courtesy. Every male citizen of Germany was then more or less “military” and it was quite a common event to see a number of theso citizens go out of their way to be unpleasant to the visitors of the British Mercantile Marine. Since then there has been war. As a Briton I would like to say that every true German loves his country in the same way as we love ours; only more so. The Germans will never forgive the British nation for participating in the late war and I think it is a gross breach of international diplomacy to send the Emden to New Zealand, in spite of the fact that Germany is a member of the League of Nations. v ENGINEER BULLDOG. BAND MUSIC Sir, — one S of Jhi ePy ' yer ° f $Wa cil >' and so one of the owners of the Mumciml ?rmhHnS ay U voice W Protest at file fl s :lnd , unsympathetic attitude of those members of the council who arc preventing the hand concerts heing broadcast? Tho Broadcasting company—a very successful business co™- ' 1 n ,v l as decided the price it Is able tQ glve . for th ® band concerts ‘Turse, it has the right so to decide Some members of the council sa -y. ke will have more or nothing" and by adopting this dog-in-the-man-ger attitude are depriving the sick, infirm and elderly of our community the pleasure of listening to the band which belongs to the ratepayers and is kept up on their money; besides also depriving the band of a revenue of several hundred pounds a year. One hoped that a new council might have a, broader and more svmpatlietie outlook, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. If more money is required for the upkeep of the band, surely* it can be obtained from other sources How about a special day set apart for a street collection, or a house-to-house collection? And if the Press would kindly help in making it known that

the effort was in aid of making up the defic ency so that our sick and aged should not be deprived of any we can give them, there would be a s £? at response to the appeal. I willingly offer my help. s J M - E - SINGLETON. Point Chevalier. “A LEGACY OF HATE” Sir,— We know that ten years after the war reverently tended lamps of remembrance are kept burning. But. unfortunately. We are from time to time also reminded that stokers of the fires of hate are not idle. Even now they are busy opening draughts and reachE bovels, the occasion for their aetlvlty keing an approaching \jsit from a German warship. Nor does it seem that their labour of hate is 1 ° bo altogether unrewarded, for alreadly our representatives display symptoms of panicky indecision as to how they should receive the German < lt , 18 . sincerely to be hoped “l' Lt this, indecision on the part of the Lity L athers is not the preliminary to a stampede into the camp of the irreconeilablo die-hards. True, such contingency would put Auckland on the map, hut in a manner calculated to make even ardent advocates of “publicity at any price” hesitate. To me. p'y.°' er ’ tlle , most deplorable aspect ot this gospel of “keep the hate fires burning, lies in the fact that, alleged ofVmL 16 ac,ua i- ly , Professing to speak m the name of those who died to end war, would bequeath to a younger generation a damnable legacy of hate R.s! “WORDS ARE WEATHERCOCKS” Sir,— ■ Norrn j m Burton reintroduces the Schools °h teachin « Evolution in wx , He ® ays tbo members of the EducaUw Board were too nervous to discuss adequately the matter which is one of first-rate importance." , by . no means satisfied with t¥rn „ U £-°u S ust ot tho te rm Evolution, v. hIC h my dictionary defines as is w n °. t as an origin. There is this difference between teaehing the theory of Evolution and giving religious instruction in schools. The first (Continued in next column.)

is propounded as a theory, the latter as authoritative fact. There is therefore no parallel between the propositions. Ho asks if it is fair that Evolution should be taught to children of parents who believer in the verbal inspiration of the Bible but cannot say where Cain .got his wife, and who aro compelled to pay for teaching with which they do not agree. We have a divided opinion about authoritative religious instruction, but when Evolution Is taught only as an hypothesis it cannot really clash with religious teaching, which must be taught as absolute fact and enforced by a “Thus saith the Lord.’’ When Mr. Burton realises that Evolution —the origin of species—is only taught as a theory he may be less anxious for the Minister of Education to pour oil upon the troubled consciences of those minorities who think there is only one true interpretation to the sacred writings and that is tho one in their own minds. I am reminded of a verse learned in my early days: “So long as words a different sense will bear. And each may be his own interpreter. Our very faith ean no foundation find Bor words are weathercocks for every wind.” E. DAVIES, CONNECTING LINKS Sir,— “Thoughtful’:* 0 clearly stated objection to belief in evolution —that tv© do not find today every grade of life in a continuous chain, from single-celled animal to man—may bo partly resolved for him if he considers the analogy of a great widely-branching tree. Let him suppose that he could see only the topmost twigs, the rest being hidden from sight. would note that, although some twigs here and there were obviously connected, yet in the main the twigs would be separated by greater or lesser distances. If he were unacquainted with trees, he might find it difficult to believe that these widely separated twigs were all related, though perhaps the connecting links were far down tho parent trunk out of sight. Similarly with organic evolution. We have living today specimens of many intermediate forms between the amoeba and man, and all, by the way, are composed of cells. These represent the twigs that have reached the topmost level of the tree, and they continue to survive because they aj*e adapted to their present environment. But multitudes of other intermediate forms have been retrogressive or unable to adapt themselves to changing environment. These have become extinct, and are analogous to the great mass of branches and twigs below' the topmost level of tho tree. Some forms have thus become extinct in historical times, and many others have been brought to light by geologists. Tho bearing of his question, “Why did evolution stop for a million years?” ?s not clear. It is estimated that there has been lif© on earth for at least 700 million years. It is quite possible that such a short geological period as ono million years might therefore register no change in many forms, and very little in others, depending largely on environmental changes experienced. However, the oldest remains of man yet discovered reveal him to have lived perhaps a million years ago, but also show him to have been very different from the civilised man of today. But the evolution of man was not along any such simple lines as “Thoughtful” seems to suppose. As Sir Arthur Keith states, “To unravel man’s pedigree, we have to thread our way not along the links of a chain, but through the meshes of a complicated network.” A.E.C.