Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 683, 7 June 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

MEDICAL EXAMINATION Sir, — I would like to know if this medical inspection of the children in our schools is of any benefit, or is it to create a position for a few of the medical staff? I think if they undressed the children and gave them a thorough examination they might find some of their ailments and at the same time save some of the children from getting unnecessarily harsh treatment at home, when the cause of their offence may have been pathological. INQUIRER. RAILWAY INSPECTORS Sir, — Would you publish the following protest? I wish to ask if some of the railway ticket inspectors in Auckland think we travellers are rogues and dishonest? We see them “popping” behind trucks and bridges, etc., and when a train leaves a station they come out of their hiding-place to join it. Why do they not come out into the open like the tramway inspectors and check the passengers’ tickets? HONEST TRAVELLER. ROAST MOAS—WITH KUMERAS Sir, Mr. A. T. Pycroft, in addressing the annual meeting of the Maori section of the Auckland Institute and Museum on Wednesday evening, said that in his opinion moas were demolished on the spot rather than baked in liangis because, as yet, no moa bones had been found actually in the ovens. Is Mr. Pycroft in the habit of enjoying a succulent sirloin seated in his electric range, or does he follow the practice probably followed by the Maoris and consume his meals nearby? It appears to me that Mr. Pycroft’s admission that “there have been heaps of bones close to ovens,” is strong evidence against his own contention. I support Mr. Skinner. COOKHOUSE CONNIE. SCIENCE'S CONTRIBUTION Sir.— Your correspondent, “M.L.,” says that Evolution is going to turn turtle. What a wild statement to make. There is no doubt that the religious bodies are up against this teaching; but, however much they try, they cannot disprove that man has descended from a being who lived in the dim ages of long ago. a being little higher than the beast. Killing was no murder in those days, and Nature’s laws ruled. If a man wanted food he took it, perhaps

from another of his kind, but that was not theft according to his laws. And, as animals cannot sin, so man in his primitive state could not sin. He simply obeyed the instincts implanted in him by the Creator, and, in following them, he did not sin. Despite the fact that scientists have been persecuted through long ages, science is at last coming into its own. it has played an enormous part in the amelioration of man's conditions of life in the past half-century. Scientists have laid down their lives for the benefit of their fellow-men, facing death and accepting it that this world may be freed from the terrible diseases that are scattered among us. By all means teach Evolution, and demonstrate that by listening to the teachings of science 've may learn something that will benefit us in this world, and also in the next —if there is one. TURTLE. FARMLETS AT PAPATOETOE Sir, Your correspondent “Manucewa" would settle the unemployed on 10acre blocks in his own district. lam interested in his scheme, which involves the purchase of land at £SO an acre. The cost of subdivision, roading, building a house, fences, etc., would add at least £I,OOO to the value, making £1.500 a settler. At 6 per cent, this is equivalent to a rent of £9O per annum, to which must be added £lO for rates. Will your correspondent furnish an income and expenditure account shoving what the small-holder could reasonably expect to make off the place? CURIOUS. DID MAORIS EAT MOAS? Sir,— I was exceedingly interested on reading your article in last evening’s Sun entitled “Did Maoris Roast Moas in Hangis in which it was pointed out that some New Zealanders claimed that if ancient Maoris with healthv appetites did bake moas in their hangis, or ovens, they committed the palpable blunder of neglecting to leave tha bird's bones among the ashes. ,A Now - sir - some years ago on the w f, s * < ?° ast , o£ this island, at a place called Kawhia, in the course of my peregrinations over the sand dune® after a very severe gale which had shifted the sand to an amazing degree ——l came across an old Maori hangi which had apparently lain covered for untold centuries. Alongside, and among the burnt stones and flint, T noticed a quantity of large bones and pieces of very thick egg-shell. The shell was well preserved, and from its curvature was originally part of an exceptionally large egg shell. I had the bones and shell sent and examined by the late Mr. Che.eseman, of museum fame, who expressed the opinion that they belonged to the moa. These remains were unearthed about two miles in a direct line west from where the famous “Tainui” canoe is supposed to be buried. J. T. MAIN GAY.