Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 781, 30 September 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

“ONLY SIX OR SEVEN CHANCES”

Sir. — Surely it is time a protest was made against the barbarous treatment meted out to our criminals. Why, in our gaols the prisoners are deprived of their liberty and are even treated as a menace to society! Let us bestir ourselves and correct this state of affairs! Most of our criminals, after all, have been given only six or seven chances to go straight. Such people as these surely deserve to bo treated more cindly ? They should each Le provided with first-class apartments, with all conveniences, and servants included. They should each have a motci'-car and chauffeur. Gaol should not oe a prison, but merely a residence for our highly-respectable criminals, who should be perfectly free to come and go as they please. A PRISONER’S FRIEND.

SHOOTING ESCAPING PRISONERS

Sir, — I usually ignore anonymous letters. The anonymous correspondent is a disease in Auckland. I am fully aware that a certain class of people has no sympathy with others and would not disturb the equanimity of such persons if w© boiled our prisoners or roasted them alive. It is not a matter of “prisoners should know’ the regulations." I am confident that all humane citizens will agree 'with my contention that the regulation is a lelic of barbarism and nothing can justify it. If your correspondents had read Lombroso they would find that the great alienist distinctly proves that there is no real cure for the an d that barbarous treatment of the culprit serves no useful purpose, but the opposite. W© no longer burn our prisoners alive; we no longer hang little children for theft. Let us remove from our penal code such a monstrous regulation as shooting escaping prisoners. Might I suggest that correspondents should not write anonymously on such an important subject. HERBERT MULVIHILL

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

Sir.—■ Do those members of the Chamber of Commerce who scorn unemployment insurance believe in leaving their motor-cars and factory machinery uncared for during the periods when they are not being used? I warrant they have more sense than to allow their possessions so to deteriorate. Especially does this apply to industrial machinery which, during our periodic times of depression, is necessarily ‘•unemployed." During

these periods (necessarily recurrent, under our present social and economic organisation of society) part of the workers are similarly unemployed. They, if in want during such periods, will deteriorate much faster than mere machinery. Rut unemployment insurance, by tiding them over these periods, would prevent deterioration. From a purely economic and selfish point of view, not considering the more important human, ethical and civic reasons, manufacturers and commercial men would do well to support some form of insurance.

But, as your leader points out, any form of “dole” is at the best a mere palliative. Unemployment can only be ended by ending the system of alternate over- and under-production (booms and slumps). And this cannot be done without some form of increased governmental oontrol over industry amounting to Socialism. And the sort of Government Zealanders choose would be sure to make an unholy mess of the business. So in the meantime let us have unemployment insurance by all means—palliative though it be. A.M.R.

BUS PASSENGER’S COMPLAINTS

Sir, — It isn’t a very edifying- thing to see persons waiting in Sttirdee Street for tho erratic departure of buses, exposed to the cold wind and rain. It’s the bounden duty of tho City Council to erect a shelter. Complaint No. 2: I was one of a number of bus passengers when a man engaged in conversation with tho driver for miles, often looking into the driver’s face and obscuring his view. I learned that the talkative one was a bus employee! Is there no regulation against such a practice, which might result in the injury or death of passengers? UNCLE JIM.

LUNAR INFLUENCES

Sir.— “L.C.W.’a” excellent letter in The Sun of the 26th might well be noted by sceptics who too readily ridicule anything beyond their l r en. As time goes on, we find more and more truth in ancient writings which for centuries have remained discredited. Darwin, of course, spoke of the mysterious and profound effect that the moon has upon all animal life, and he might have added vegetable life also. We are now able to understand how this comes about, and to look very much deeper into what concerns us most, its bearing in various ways upon human life and health. But, as I have said before, the intensity of the moon’s influence varies a great deal from one lunation to another, and at

times planetary effects are even greater than those of the moon. Mor* remarkable still is the fact that ®*»* ther moon nor planet is primarily sponsible. It is all a question or interference with forces that emanate from the sun. Some of Mr. Lee’s argument is certainly open to question. It would surely be more correct to say that moonlight consists of parts of the sunlight reflected. Its composition is not the same. And, just as a physician* prescription may be rendered harmful by the omission of one or more ingredients, so also with sunlight. Moonlight appears to be more necessary for plant life. Few will deny that it is conducive to sentimentality in us, and thus affects our minds, moderation this does good; in excess it may do harm. Animals which naturally sleep in the moonlight need not be affected in the same way; moreover, they have grown up inured to it. We should not say that moonlight is inestimably weaker than sunlight. The two have been successfully compared by various investigators. From my own computation, I can safely say that the sunlight which impinges upon the Auckland Town Hall by day wrculd* if stored up, be sufficient to illuminate the city by night with a light equal to that of full moon. And I will venture to say that a satisfactory artificial means of storing that sunlight will yet be found. Deranged mentality is certainly sociated with the moon, but is not necessarily the more marked at fu u moon. If the light is a factor, it 1* a very small one. At lfeast the chier one ia the fluctuating mental and physical stimulation resulting irom changes in the lunation. To refer to another matter; Ocean tvaves certainly do run in series, but is not always the sevenLh that is th largest. The series varies in ciiffereß parts of the world, and in any | of the world the series keep* altering. I It does so notably throughout a cyclo of about 340 years. The explanation 0* this phenomenon is a rhythmical move meat in the earth’s crust, with wblej are also associated (a) the periodicity in discharge from volcanoes euch predicted for Ngauruhoe five years ag«> (b) the recurrence of earthq ualc * shocks at certain intervals, such *s 1 predicted for the recent Buffer series, and <c) the observed “rocking*’ ot | lakes, throLighout the w'orld, which dm puzzled scientists for many y*a£J_ f** 1, , F. R. FOBLP-