Citizens Say —

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 691, 17 June 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

BUILDERS AND TENDERS Sir,— The Architects’ Association lias expressed displeasure at the appointment of an unregistered architect to the Waikato Hospital X wonder if they are feeling the same as a builder does toward the Architects’ Association when he supplies the lowest tender for a building contract, advertised for public tenders and is turned down without a.ny explanation? I would suggest the poor builder would have the biggest cause for growling, because his reputation and capital is at stake. -CRITIC. In a statement issued on Saturday, the Waikato Hospital Board secretary explained that there was no intention of appointing an unregistered architect to the position mentioned. The whole position will he reopened this week. —Ed., The Sun. “AN UNOSTENTATIOUS WELCOME” Sir, The people of this Dominion have not yet forgotten the visit of a former German warship named Emden which sailed our seas. That ship acted the part of a pirate. We cannot readily forget the frightfulness of German naval warfare. The sinking of defenceless ships and the drowning: of men, women and children will take some time to foi'get. My advice to the committee of welcome is to do its welcoming in as quiet and unostentatious a manner as possible. We have nothing against the officers and crew of the present Emden. nor for that matter against the German nation. Still, we are not admirers of the German Navy. SAM KENNEDY. Devonport. VISIT OF THE EMDEN Sir, — While your correspondents are so busy recalling past war events in order to revive the same spirit of hate, it would be more profitable to meditate on present happenings perpetrated by our citizens in peace time. Recently an invalid girl was knocked down and injured by a motorist and callously left to be found by a frantic mother. And then four girls were thrown in all directions by another “road hog" who did not slacken his pace, but left them injured on the road. This is present history, not past, and against our fel-

low citizens. . . . What was done in war is past and done. Some say all is fair in war. War is war and you cannote gild it. The visitors on the Emden are young men, and probably had nothing to do with the war. They are our guests, and if a British warship visits German shores we shall expect to receive courtesy and civility from all. We should not like it if it were otherwise. Let us not forget that there is a Youth Movement in Germany, which is pledged against all war. Now, British honour demands us to extend the hand of friendship to our late enemy. If we persist in the old spirit of vindictiveness we can only class ourselves as a lot of hypocrites. How dare we go to church and bend the knee, and profess to believe in the teachings of the gentle Savour who emphatically says: “The greatest commandment of all is—‘Love one another.’ ” RUBY E. WATSON. LUNAR CYCLES Sir,— I deprecate the misrepresentation of which Mr. T. Mitchell is guilty when he states that I claim to understand the whole of the sciences. I have at no time made any such preposterous assertion. It is a myth which Mr. Mitchell himself has developed from my very different statement that c ritics of Evolution should acquaint themselves with its bearing on the natural sciences. Your eorrespbndent will pardon me for saying that his two letters, combined, reveal an ignorance of the subject he essays to discuss. He seems unaware that the word “cycle'’ has several applications. His question as to which solar body formed a cycle of seven years obviously applied to an astronomical cycle or periodic revolution round the sun, but now he says he meant a chronological cycle, or one of the periods between certain conjunctions of the heavenly bodies used in the calculation of time. He must not blame me for his inability to frame his question in an intelligent manner. Chronology is an abstruse science involving a thorough knowledge of higher mathematics and astronomv. I do not hesitate to admit that l have only a general knowledge of the subject. but if Mr. Mitchell can produc: primary school hovs who can work out these cycles, as he cl.-ims they v certainly achieve fame as buddinmathematical geniuses. To give an idr-. of the complexity of the meny lunar

chronological cycles I may instance the Metonic Cycla of nearly 19 solar years giving the period on which new* moons fall on the same day of the year; the Dionysian period of 63years, bringing new moons on same day of month and year; the lunar circle of the eliptic of 18.6 years; but I do not know the seven-year lunar cycle upon which Mr. Mitchell places such Biblical importance. It is certainly not mentioned in Genesis, though seven is * magic number, but I am sure he will now oblige with the exact date upon which it is calculated. A.S.C.