Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 701, 28 June 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

SCHOOLBOYS ON TRAMS Sir, —• I travelled on a Herne Bay car last evening- and sat next to a college boy. Five women, one with a baby in arms, entered the car. I gave my seat to the one with the baby, but the college boy sat tight and allowed the women to stand. Is the courtesy of giving up one’s seat to women in trams not stressed our secondary schools? H.B. HELPING THE BLIND Sir, I have noticed in the papers that 1,350 free tram passes are issued yearly in Auckland, but our blind friends have still to pay tram fares. Some of them are working and trying to be independent, and in these hard times it means a lot to them. We must ask our new Government to do something for our blind friends and see if Sir Joseph Ward cannot arrange that all blind people in New Zealand travel free both by boat, rail and tram. FRIEND OF BLIND PEOPLE. “NO TIME LIKE PRESENT” Sir. Excuse me for broaching a muchdiscussed subject—the harbour bridge. During the last two or three weeks (what with fogs and boisterous weather) the travelling public between the North Shore and Auckland has had some very trying experiences, and I think the present time is opportune for the Bridge Association to assert itself and forward its claims. I read in The Sun tliat Mr. Alison and the Ferry Company were opposed to the bridge. Well we could not expect anything else from them, or any one with interests opposed to the proposition. The whole trouble with the bridge seems to be the Question of finance. Where did we get the money to finance the war? It just had to be found. I think the same applies to the bridge. We have the men (unemployed); we have the materials—shingle, lime, sand, cement—the steel we would have to import from Britain—and surely we have the brains. As for the money, what is wrong with a poll tax for every person and toll for every vehicle that crosses the bridge? Or as an alternative, a rate struck on the districts directly benefited by the bridge

which would include Auckland, Greater Auckland, surrounding districts, and all those districts as far north as Whangarei, which would ultimately be benefited by a concrete highway joining up with the bridge and opening up all districts north of the Shore, which are now more or less isolated. The site of the bridge would be the next question, and I think the best place would be from the Western Wall, thence to a concrete wall or ramp, connecting Northcote Point with Stanley Point. Thus both districts would be equally served, and all that stretch of water behind the wall, which has never been of any use, could be reclaimed, and would become of great commercial or residential value. It behoves every young Aucklander to make the harbour bridges his or her concern. Let us kill the parrot cry: “We won’t see it in our time!” DO IT NOW. ABOUT SURNAMES Sir,— I read in The Sun your witty paragraph concerming the names of the Hon. i \ A. de la Perrelle and Captain von Arnauld de la PeriSre . . . and the French Club. May I state, for your information, that PSrelle is synonymous with “parelle” or “parrelle," a kind of lichen which grows on rocks in the form of a whitish or greyish crust. It is collected, especially in Auvergne, and compressed for use in the manufacture of dyes. The orchal and different varieties of rumex also bear the same name. The origin of the Hon. Minister is, therefore, as easy to trace as that of Marshal MacMahon and the French Minister, Murphy. His family probably came from a place, in France where flourished the pgrelle, orchal or rumex. As to Captain de la Peri&re. I will add_ that, in French, (with 2 R’s) has two meanings: (a) A quarry open to the sky. (b) A nevrobalistic machine (a sling), used in olden times to throw stones at the enemy. Miners working in such quarries as also the men who used those slings were both designated by the same name: perrier.” Those are ancient words, of course, and are no longer in current use; but we find a great many Frenchmen called Perrier. Now I wonder what is the exact name of our guest? Is it Von Arnauld (Arnauld is probably his patronymic) or de la PeriSre? Or both? “Von” being

a German “particule,” I suppose that his ancestors received a German tffi 6 - I read in a local paper that the commander has dropped “de la Peri&re, and is known, in Germany, under the name of von Arnauld and nothing more? If so, why do we find “J? ancient name printed in full in the locm papers daily? ONE OF THE CLUB-

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE EARTHQUAKE There have been voiced complaints that the Government n done little or nothing to meet urgent necessities of sufferers m . recent catastrophe. Now, it is ° . fair to point out that the leaders all parties visited the scene t ally. The Minister of Health, wn , take it, is specially concerned, pressed to his constituents in a P sessional speech, his grief, and personal knowledge of the man, 1 6“ antee that he “shelled out' decen • and helped personally as far as could. The Minister of Educau when rebuked for not meeting putation, replied that he was s? ; but that his duties connected wm earthquake had prevented M®. . that he had been putting “first tnmfc first.” With regard to company*, with what the Rt. Hon. J. G. L . has done, it is only fair to sugg that his duties as Leader of tnposition are not quite so the moment, as those of the Mm responsible for the policy of the co try as a whole. „ Tr .o ANTI-PARTY POLITICS. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENT E.S.S. —The controversy is closed f° r the present.—Ed., The Sun*