Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 917, 10 March 1930, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

GOOD-BYE TO FIREWORKS! Sir,— It is gratifying to observe New Zealand again leading the world. A great fighting race has discovered fireworks too dangerous to handle. No danger; no trouble; Born into the arms of the Plunket nurse, taken to school by the inspector ... no Bible with unpleasant ideas about sin . . . good fat wages as soon as he goes to work . . . encouraged to gamble on 10s and £1 totalisator; our young New Zealander will soon be told to stay at home till the Government finds him a job . . . cheque forwarded weekly if he is not wanted. LIVER. STORIES FROM RUSSIA Sir, —• A sane and interesting letter to your column was that from the three members of the Rationalists’ Association who put forward their considered views on the propaganda that is being broadcast about Russia. I agree with practically all they claim and suggest. Propaganda is an insidious and treacherous weapon in the hands of biased or unscrupulous interests. To take an extreme case but one that illustrates the point admirably, suppose the pen of an alien propagandist were directed against our country. Me might write: “New Zealand is a land of earthquakes and floods. Hundreds and hundreds of its people are unemployed all the year round, its land values are inflated, taxation is crushingly heavy, and the cost of living is high. The police ban books, drinking is not allowed in certain parts, and theatrical amusement is allowed only under the strictest censorship in the world. The male inhabitants are forced into military service.” Imagine yourself a stranger to New Zealand, read these perfectly true statements unsupported by any other facts, and consider the impression you would receive. Such are the impressions one is persuaded. to receive about Russia. BRITISHER. RELIGION IN RUSSIA Sir, “Britisher” appears to think that the Anti-God campaign as it is called in Russia, is an invention of a propaganda onslaught on that country. We agree with him that one cannot base too much faith in cables from Riga, but to show that the suppression of religion is part of a deliberate policy we give one or two extracts from Soviet sources. “All religions are one and the same poison, intoxicating and deadening the mind, the will and the conscience. A fight to the death must be declared upon them” (AB.C. of Commuhism). Lounatcharski. Commissar for Education said, “We hate Christianity and Christians. They preach love of one’s neighbour and pity, which is contrary to our principles. We have done with the kings of the Earth, let us now deal

with the kings of the skies. The antireligious campaign must be carried throughout the world, in Mussulman and Catholic countries also.” Tho “Godless,” an anti-religious body which issues the most sickening and blasphemous cartoons, announced at the beginning of 1927, that a large subsidy would be obtained from the Soviet Government to help it to continue its anti-religious propaganda in China and publish a special Chinese edition of its paper. The Official Journal of the Third International on October 18, 1914, says, “The Communist-International fights against religion, against all philosophy other than Marxian materialism, against doctrines wliich preach union between Capital and Labour, above all class war to the death.” Karl Marx himself whose theories are the foundation of Communism as practised in Russia said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” Religion and Communism are incom pa table, and we can. assure “Britisher” that there is overwhelming evidence to prove that the purpose of the Soviet Government is to kill religion in any form, and we believe the evidence of religious persecution is too strong to dismiss it as lightly as he does. Exaggeration may be present, but even if full allowances are made for exaggeration, the balance left is very serious. N.Z. WELFARE LEAGUE. MR. FIELD’S PREDICTIONS Sir, All readers of The Sun who watch for Mr. Field’s contributions will have been glad to note the remarkable success of his last forecast of weather and earthquakes, and will endorse ail that lias since been said by your correspondent “Aldebaran.” Mr. Field has repeatedly said that he wishes his work to appear as the product of New Zealand. Are the Government and its scientific officials determined to compel him, as Mr. Field has put it, to take his discoveries, and the honour accruing to them, to some other country or, worse still, to take them to the gra # with him? Surely his achievements of the past few years, never equalled or approached by any other scientist, ought to satisfy any fair-minded person that his work is sound. Let us consider just one of hi£ successes! Many have held that the discovery of the unseen planet Neptune in 1846 was the greatest triumph in mathematics. But, compare this with Mr. Field’s published prediction, so exactly verified afterward, that an island would rise out of the sea at Tonga at a certain hour of a certain day in 1927. Neptune was a persistent planet altering its position very slowly. For many years there had been clear evidence of its existence and approximate position. Repeated observations of Uranus, long recognised natural laws and established mathematical formulae made it a straightforward problem. But in the case of Falcon Island there were apparently no previous observations, no known

■ — = ===== natural laws and no formulae to guido him, and time was a desideratum. Yet. the island rose according to time and place foretold. . In the whole history of wonderful scientific achievements, where are w* to find the equal of this one performance of Mr. Field’s? _ SCHOOL TEACHES,