Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 977, 21 May 1930, Page 10

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

OLD AGE PENSIONS Sir, Having read with much interest the correspondence in your paper regarding old age pensions, allow me to ventilate what I think is a grievance of elderly people coming from England. Many of these, persons have been in New Zealand ten years or so, and now find themselves getting old with very little to support them; also with little or no chance of getting employment on account of age. We do not expect the people of New Zealand to give us the old age pension, but think pressure should be brought to bear on the British Government to transfer the pension, as we are still living under the good old flag. MERCURY BAY. DEAF CHILDREN Sir. — Many parents and friends are very pleased at the valuable space given in your paper, affording publicity to the question of training deaf children, and to the meeting of parents called for Thursday evening at the Chamber of Commerce. It would be just as well, however to correct right away one detail that was wrongly stated. Education being compulsory in this country, the cruel fact is that the department, bv law, can demand that every deaf child be separated from its parents for 11 months of every year and sent to the only school in New Zealand, which is at Sumner, Christchurch. Now, if the parent can afford the money, £SO is the charge for each child made annually by the department for housing the child. However, if by case of hardship, the parent cannot afford to pay anything, the department will take the child without any charge, that being in line with its ’ policy of and compulsory education. What we want is a modern school run on modern lines, in or near to Auckland. In the Auckland Province is one-third of the population of NevZealand. therefore it is not expectin'too much to ask and demand that a school be established here, and so do away with the very cruel action of sending little children (perfectly normal in every way except as to hearing) away from their home and par™ts| '° an Institution which, no matter hon well run, is an institution. .-uch children should not be referred to as dumb and mutes, etc. Tlu> late headmaster of the Sumner school told me that last year he had' 131 children under his care at Sumruand they all spoke. It is admitt. d ;xll the children did not sp-uk \\ith tne name degree of success. How-

is supposed to be the teachers’ job. namely, to teach them to speak and lip read. I have heard a number of deaf children in this city talking and reading -aloud quite intelligently. A deaf child is only mute until it is taught to talk, and it is onlv mute by virtue of the fact that it has never heard language to imitate. It is a wonderful thing that the deaf can be taught to talk and lip read, and I trust it won’t be very long before the public of Auckland can see the miracle of giving speech to the deaf taking place in a school of its own established m this city. It only needs the Minlster of Education to be forced into action, and I am sure this great need of a school will be fulfilled. PARENT. FROM THE REV. D. D. SCOTT Sir, — I do not plead guilty to misreprerenting the position of “A EC" T-T> claimed that Rationalism “continuallv thrusts theological theories outward beyond the of the knowabfe ” i was entitled to press him at thic point despite what he now .says. It is rather remarkable that he refrains from telling the public what the NeW and U bv ;he°” aliStS mean by “reason. - SET T UievTGr ~ opinion At any rate, when they demand of Christians that Christian beliefs should be Ww? what 1 sr,n ” V- : ‘ OUr crltlCfi mean by “reaGan " e not. have some li"ht on the philosophical basis of Rationalism” The Manse, D D ‘ SCOTT - Onehun’ga, May 20, 1930. heard on the ferry { Sir,— i* „ The recent letters in Th*» c IIH «- i the Devonport fe.ry to tow" “ ! nauucaf ‘bat 5 tlv de mhl n a -f Uly nau «rul manner ! ronnected ‘with TV way only. Anyway, after i (Continued in next column.)

their opinion of the Government* stupid action to the entire satisfaction of each other, there seemed nothing more to be said about the- matter, but as the boat was now only half-way across the harbour they had to talk about something, so the unfortunate Government came in for quite a little criticism. It appeared they had all voted for United in a wave of enthusiasm. but now- realised they had made a sad mistake. Like many thousands of good citizens, it was th* leadership of a statesman like Sir Joseph "Ward that won their votes. "Who will be leader of the United Party now ?*’ questioned one of tl* quartet. Four names were mentioned and discussed from many points of view, and by the time th* ferry reach€*d town none of the four “possibles” seemed to have an earthly chance. The ferry bumped the wharf and we all arose to disembark, whea the nautical looking member of th* quartet made his final contribution to the argument with: "Well, seeing haven’t got a real leader in the party why not stick to their policy and import one from Australia?” SPLINTER.

AN OPEN MARKET NEEDED

Sir, — I most cordially agree with Cr. C. Bennett that an open market is badly needed in Auckland. There is a great waste of good food at present going on at the source of supply. Secondly, we have poverty in our midst. In regard to the first point. I have seen beautifu! fruit with just a trace of black spo: condemned because it would not kee:» in cool storage. Orchardisis always have a quantity of fruit classed a* second grade, not good enough for ths shoos, but quite good enough for cor.sumption. As to vegetables. I was told recently of a producer who had several acres of cauliflowers, oabbap* and lettuces and who was ploughing them in as he could get very little for them at the auction; only 9d a case for lettuces.

An auctioneer .said that much of th* fruit grown in New Zealand was on- v fit for pigs. "What he meant was it would not pay him to “cool-store” i*Everv boy and girl should have pockets stuffed with apples to take to school, while fruit is now rotting cn the ground and the children go without. There is no intention to interfere with the present auction marts. They are selling mostly in bulk, well -packed, first-grade, and in some cases coM storage.

We want the people to be able to purchase small quantities which would be brought to the market, sometimes loose or in sacks —in any way to reduce the cost of transport. There is a marker in or near every town -0 England raid France where country people can bring and sell all the.r produce, and people come and tak* purchases away in baskets or bagS"rabbits. bacon, curds, country butter, fruit, vegetables and fish. NottinP* ham. one of the biggest of Engbs" markets, has stalls also for all the

samples and throw-outs of the factories. odd lengths of cloth, glovedstockings, etc. Jersey is famous its market. A long time ago they ha® no covered market and no money build one. but the town of St. issued notes and built it. and in l* s ' than three years those notes were redeemed. The most suitable place for a market is the land near Prince’s Whart where the circus usually takes its stand, close to the wharves, wher* boats can bring goods from all of the Gulf, from Riverhead and W ar*f worth, to Waihekc. Not far, either from the railway station. I certainly consider all waste is shameful, espec * ally when our people are in want we citizens are taking a grave respond' bility upon ourselvesu for which shall have to answer, "if we allow It continue. I trust that everr society of wo»s* in Auckland will put a shoulder to * ; wheel and work and cgiiate for an open market. They can get it.