Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 774, 21 September 1929, Page 10

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

MAYORESS’S APPEAL

Sir,— Mrs. A. D. Campbell, Mayoress, desires to appeal to housewives engaged on the annual spring cleaning to remember the Mayoress’s War Memorial Library League when discarding unwanted books and papers from their shelves. In two or three weeks’ time the committee will begin to prepare the Christmas packages for philanthropic institutions, country hospitals, backblocks soldiers, orphanages, etc. The Mayoress would be particularly pleased to receive calendars, which will be renewed -with new dates, and Christmas cards, in good condition, of bright and gay designs. She is sure that if Auckland citizens realised the gratitude that is evoked by means of these Christmas gifts, they would feel well repaid for the little trouble in sending them in to the Town Hall. If the parcel is too large, the league will be very happy to collect. ALICE H. G. BASTEN. Hon. Sec. BACHELOR FLATS Sir. — Tour correspondent, Mrs. Ruby Watson, cannot be conversant with the proposed conditions of the flats under discussion. She speaks of “lower-paid workers,” “cheap housing,” “girls and men in shops and offices.” Can any of these afford to pay two guineas a week for a pied-a-terre alone; extra for their light, gas, cleaning and cooking? Is this her idea of “cheap housing”? If so, I may sate that for two guineas a week one can obtain exceptionally good board, with every attention and service included. After paying all these items, your lower-paid worker has to eat. dress and have reasonable recreation. and I do not see how the average shop or office worker is going to finance it. There are very few single workers who can afford to pay two guineas a week for a room alone, and if tourists and travellers occupy them they are not going to consider the neighbourhood much so long as they have a good time. Another factor overlooked by these correspondents so anxious to attack the report submitted to the City Council is that the scheme would not be opposed for one sex alone. If the promoters are so sure of success, why not try this? Would the attraction be gone? Fifty-three serious business men coming home nightly to their virtuous abode would appreciate the peace and quietness of a masculine domicile without the frivolity and furbelows of the everlasting woman. Fifty-three tittering bachelor maids j could frolic and skip round the 53 apartments with gladsome step. But,

seriously, how is Mrs. Watson's “lowerpaid worker" to finance all these items? And the company will not be able to let them any cheaper, and at the same time keep faith with their share and debenture holders and pay a dividend. No one wishes to discourage the lady in her schemes for cheap housing Tor the poor, but she should be sure of her facts before making public attacks. Has she ever tried to control fifty-three bachelor apartments, and what would she do if. as often happens, one of the "bachelors” gave a jazz party well into the wee hours of the morning, with eight or ten couples as his guests? Would her enthusiasm stand it? THE LANDLADY WHO KNOWS. INFECTIOUS DISEASES Sir, — May I b© permitted to ask through the medium of your paper the following questions;—ls the Hospital Board going to pay for the new building which it contemplates erecting, or will the public be asked to subscribe? If the latter, then, in all fairness, let the public have a say in the matter. In the city of Leeds, England, there is one of the finest fever hospitals in Great Britain, but it is not in the immediate vicinity of the public hospital. The sanatorium for consumptives is almost immediately opposite. The fever hospital has huge stone walls around it, which make it strictly private. There is a very fine office just by the gates, and no one is allowed to enter the ground except through the office gates. The sanatorium is about a quarter of a mile from the main road, in the middle of fields. Jtfo visitor is allowed in except on the days set aside for visitors. Auckland is growing at a rapid rate. Therefore the buildings required should be erected away from the town. Let the citizens vote if they are going to pay. SAFETY FIRST. ON THE SILVER SHEET Sir, — "We have been hearing recently a £* rea -t deal about the danger of Xew Zealand children copying the Americap accent through attending the talkies. Well, allow me to state that J and my family have attended the picture shows regularly since their inception, and X consider there is little danger. These same people who are so afraid of the American accent are quite willing to tolerate the Oxford bleat and a polyglot mixture from l orkshire and Lancashire, the natives 1 from these two counties sometimes

failing to understand each other. And whoever in ail the world heard such an accent as Cockney?

Mr. Jordan speaks of the jingoistic spirit displayed in a recent American film, and rightly so, but I maintain, at the same time, that no country yet has given us pictures such as “The Big Parade,” "What Price Glory?” ’The Cock-eyed "World," and- —best of all —• ‘‘The Evening," all decrying and showing the futility and devastating results of war. On the other hand, we have had "Poppies of Flanders,” "Armentieres," “Zeebrugge,” “The Flag Lieutenant,” etc., all glorifying and depicting the World War as a pageant, and not what it was intended to be—a war to end war for all time. May the mission of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald to the United States bring about a result that will hasten the day when war shall be no more, and also inculcate in humanity a more tolerant spirit. MARIANNE M. JONES. Wanganui.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENT

“The Person Concerned ."—You hav J supplied neither your name nof your address. We require this in* formation before we can publisfl your letter.—Ed. The Sun