Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 728, 30 July 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

THE WHAU CANAL Sir,— Your articles of proposed Whau Canal and airport, as expounded by Mr. David 33. Russell, of Avondale, and tho accompanying plans, were most interesting. This gentleman, it is quite apparent, has gone very thoroughly into the matter, and his suggestions might well receive consideration from our Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon. Not only is the scheme a and necessary one, but, if undertaken at once, it certainly would relieve much unemployment. The initiation and use of the premium bond system, whereby the necessary finance would be rapidly raised, has been successfully carried out in other countries, so why not in New Zealand? This method of raising finance should be brought prominently under the notice of Sir Joseph Ward with a view to passing the necessary legislation permitting the use of a plan which has been so successful elsewhere. If this be adopted then we should have PROGRESS. DOMESTIC WORK Sir.— William P. Storey is quite right concerning the unemployment existing among women of our city. The fault lies in the fact that the Immigration Department has no idea of some of the places that await girls who have left their home and friends in England with the hope of getting on out here. I have known girls personally who would sooner be out of work and part with their hard-earned savings than go back to the slavery of the onedomestic household. The Immigration Department does carry out its obligations to the young women because they are soon placed when here, but most of the places are those which young women, already here, have been only too glad to leave, simply because endurance could stand no more. Then employers (there are exceptions) apply to the Immigration Department, which supplies them with girls just out. or coming out, and they in their turn cannot stand such conditions, and therefore join the unemployed. In the meantime others come out and take their places—and so ad infinitum. Why aro domestic workers looked upon as bought, once they enter private service? One task follows another, so that a maid shall be kept employed from early morn till late at night. Employers seem to sit in their homes and wonder what next they can givo the one pair of hands and feet to

do, just in case a little leisure should fall in their employee’s day. Only those who have experienced such places know the bitterness of them. The more they try to work a system to cover the domestic duties the more duties are given them, because they are thought willing and obliging. At last, with energy gone, they just—as s6me people say—potter. When properly jaded they give up the post. They have learned in a hard school that “human nature is only too ready to impose.” What is needed is better conditions for domestic workers, and only a certain number of hours a day. Employers should have to pay extra for each hour worked overtime. SYMPATHISER. TAUPO RAILWAY Sir, It Is quit© refreshing to read Mr. Charles Laurin’s letter on the Roto-rua-Taupo railway in Monday evening’s issue of your widelv-read paper Your correspondent does not hold these views all on his own and I venture to say that there are hundreds m the North Island who have nothing but praise for the manliness, courage and ability of that great leader, the Rt. Hon. Gordon Coates. The works on the Rotorua-Taupo line were started to relieve the unemployment situation and if the present Government would do half as much for the unemployed as the Reform Government did,' it might be more popular. Aucklanders are wide awake now to the “hot air” issued before the election and are looking forward with interest to hear what Mr. Coates will say in the House when the South Island railway additions come up for discussion. lour paper has published many fine leading articles on these subjects, and I hope you will still carry on the good work for the unemployed; also that a few more of the workers will voice their opinions through your valuable columns. ANOTHER WAGE EARNER. INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONALITY Sir, , read with interest a letter Thursday s Sun signed “An Armchair Dabbler,” I would like to ask the ™-.r7 hat he means when he savs t i ,° and Personality are indissoluble in man and beast.” I think there is a distinction between man and (Continued in next column.) __

beast, as there is between personality and individuality. In a recent article on “Individuality,” Professor Julian Huxley observes:—"The life of the mind, as it develops from a negligible accompaniment of life to its more important attribute, becomes organised aad unified like the life of the body. In plants and all the lowest animals it is so feeble that it can, for our present purposes, be neglected. Later we find a type of behaviour based upon some degree of memory, and a set of instincts each more or less independent of the rest. Such a mental constitution is displayed by most insects. In vertebrates, further amplification ia achieved by improvements in the power of learning, and finally, between brute and man, a critical point is turned with tlie development which gave us language and abstract thought. After this, a. much greater unification of mental life was possible. To such a welldeveloped mental individuality we give the name of personality-. It is, of course, Inextricably entangled yvith the physical individuality on which it is, so to speak, grafted; but it is also something in its own right, something not present in the earlier stages of animal evolution.” C.G.M. HIGH WAGES Sir, • *™ vas 11:111011 surprised when I read in Tuesday’s Sun the nonsense talked by some members of the Transport Board. The recent loan was not carried for the simple reason of finding work for a large number of unemployed at high wages; the job to be made to last as long as possible. The chief reason was that the people living in the outer districts wanted the trams brought to their doors. Whether they would ever pay expenses never entered into the question. The time has come when trams should be run for the benefit of the ratepayers and tho general public, instead of, as in tho past, almost entirely for the benefit of the employees. This nursing of the unemployed is only making the disease worse. The root of the trouble is tho high wages that are being paid. If a cut of 20 or 30 per cent, were made all round in wages the standard of living would be just as good—everything would come down in proportion. I may say I was astonished at the ridiculous assertions made by Mr. Poison at a meeting of tho .New Zealand Farmers’ Union the other day. They were absurd to anyone having even the slightest knowledge of finance! CITY RATEPAYER.