Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1081, 19 September 1930, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.) THE WRONG WAY TO TREAT ALSATIANS—IF RICHARD JOHN SEDDON WERE ALIVE—DECREASING BIRTHRATE AND WORLD PROBLEMS—CONFLICTING POLITICAL UTTERANCES.

A DOG’S TREATMENT Sir,— In Queen Street yesterday I witnessed the somewhat cruel and exceedingly tactless treatment of a fine Alsatian dog: who, obviously, was frightened by the traffic and therefore a little chary about crossing? the roadway. The person in charge of the animal treated it in a manner evidently intended to be masterly. She jerked its head toward the ground and thrashed it with rope. Apart from the unpleasantness of this sight it is as well for the owner in question and others to know that the Alsatian is a sensitive breed, docile if well treated, but dangerous if badly handled. If owners are not taught to treat these wolf-dogs properly, the whole question of their allowability in New Zealand had better be reviewed • DOG-LOVER. DECREASING BIRTHRATE Sir,— In an address the other day at Auckland, Dr. E. P. Neale, when speaking on the hire-purchase system, mentioned the fact that in many families the motor-car was competing directly with the domestic policy of family growth. If there was a car in the garage* there could be no baby in the cradle; if there was a baby, a car could not be afforded as well.

power must be accompanied by fewer mouths to feed if the balance is to be retained Falling birthrates all over the world, and particularl.v i n the that t< the fc^ ate , S ° f - Americ il- emphasise mVt 1 th “ , Pl F It . I ,° n m straightening itself out. Statisticians in estimated that before this century has half =.one the population movement will rate e win e S° me sta fionary—the deathte will have caught up with the birthlate. Universally applied, this must, in a anninT 8 ’ ten f. to assist in balancing a population which the world at the Present time cqn ill afford to keep. SENSIBLE. BACK TO SEDDON Sir.— Your subleader. “A Plea for Selfl.eluinee, contains the pith in the last |)«r.i D iapti, Only confidence and economie sanity are needed to restore norI financial conditions.” But to whom look for the restoration of confidence and economic sanity”? Can we look to 'chambers of commerce manufacturers’ associations, farmers’ unions, trade unions, associated banks employers associations? These bodies c.o not function from altruistic motives i here remain, then, the average elector and the Government. The former is, without any doubt, in the grip of an economic conspiracy, the manifestations oi which are incalculable and. aitnougn so powerful collectively, the average elector is so easily swayed and so inarticulate that he simply does not exist as a factor in restoring “confidence and economic sanity.” Now we come to the Government, and I can h° w many of your readers say. That s right. Blame everything on to the Government.” I do so because I maintain that whatever is the condition of the country it is to the credit or discredit, as the case may be of the Government of the day. Our descent into the slough of despond can he surely calculated from the death of K. J Seddon. That grand old man was before my time, but from a close study of his political career I am cer-

Superficially that sounds terrible L.ut is it so terrible? Problems of overproduction throughout the world have brought with them problems of overpopulation—that is over-population so rar as the consuming power of the people is concerned. There are insufficient jobs to go round, and the wheels of industry are turning slowly to keep down the production level. The trades are full, and labour-saving machinery is reducing the number of jobs daily.

\ et this restriction in population is gradually and automatically working toward the solution of the great problem. Reduced earning and spending

tain that, were he Prime Minister, we should not be in our present plight. I know, sir, it is no use indulging in criticism without suggesting an alternative and here it is: I agree with one of your correspondents who showed that it is impossible to have Government without party short of a dictatorship, which latter state is impossible without the forces to bring about a coup d'etat; so we shall have a party named the New Zealand Party, and the first planks in its platform shall bo abolition of unemployment, inauguration of a State bank, no additions to the civil service for five years, a moratorium on overseas loans for five years, a revision of the incidence of taxation and a placing of existing State enterprises on a competitive basis. In regard to the first plank, and lest I be deemed to be dismissing it lightly, I refuse to admit it is a problem at all. There was a problem in 1914 which was solved by 16.000 New Zealanders giving their lives, anti tens of thousands their services, for as long as required . . . and then we boggle at a paltry two or three thousand! Well, sir, there is my solution. It is an objective. All that is required is driving force. Any inquirers will be supplied with fuller particulars at 11 Phoenix Chambers, opposite the Post Office. 4’HAS. BAILEY. FREE TRADE OR NOT? Sir, — An interesting political discr©P anc -_ has occurred which I would like explained by the present Gove mineri The Prime Minister, the Hon. O. v ; Forbes, on his arrival at Vancouver few days ago, told an interviewer tna* tho people of New Zealand regard® Lord Beaverbrook’s scheme for Empi free trade as an impossible dream. One of Mr. Forbes’s lieutenants (tn<£ a Cabinet colleague), the Minister Customs, the Hon J. G. Cobbe, is T * ported to have made the statement tho House of Representatives on J 17 last year, in the Address-m-h P • debate, that “he knew’ of no for the state of affairs which had grossed his attention during bate except free trade within the - pire, and a tariff against f° nations.” NO FOOD TAXL-