TO THE EDITOR

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 70, 7 September 1965, Page 5

TO THE EDITOR

MANDY Sir, — With so much diametrically opposit-e news/of subjects like Vietnam, Religion and Shrews/It's really hard for one to choose the line on which to air one's views,/So I stabbed with a pin, and the topic most handy/ turned out to be (you'll never guess), — Mandy. Should she come in or should she stay out,/that's what the arguments been all about,/and it seems to me we'd better be careful,/ (some have suggested we even be prayerful)/that our morality status does not get distorted/until we are sure that our fears are supported;/In which case the girl can, of course, be deported. There's something else that, perhaps, we've forgotten,/ (We all know the scandal was sordid and rotten)/ but was it just Mandy (and Christine) that sinned?/or were they the butts of a system that thinned/out its claims for respect, and were tossed to the wind/when the number was up and the thieves fell out/when exposed to ridicule, mistrust and doubt. There were several genteel names on the roll/whose "profumous" excuses were somewhat droll,/and the question I ask without meaning to be rude/is — If they also came would we thu§ exclude/them the right of admission, to our Other Eden, / on grounds of adult'ry (in spite of their breedin?). OUR rating as sinners is no cause for mirth/ — TOP of the poll for illegitimate birth;/not to mention the j stories of under-age drunks / and fire - raising criminals burning their hunxs;/and songs glorifying people like Wilder,/ which I know very well are some of the milder/ forms of amusement we call living/ — nearly all

take and not much giving. Who'll sign a petition to ban from the screen/the sordid, the dirty, the filth, the ohscene, /which goes by the name of culture and art/ and forms by and large the greater part/of the influence wielded on young lives we cherish,/ (or do we in fact say "the heck — let 'em perish?"). The Star who's the idol of millions of eyes/has been the wife of a score or so guys,/and though she is legally hitched it's a ruse;/between her and Mandy there's little to choose. Who'll put a ban on James Bond and his patter?/ whom no spy is safe from, no girl for that matt-er. And where does all our moralising end?/It ends at the Cross of Christ my friend/And the ground is all level, there's room for us all/at the feet of the Man who drank Wormwood and Gall,/Who died to save sinners, of whom I am chief,/and offers His pardon to all who believe. — Yours, etc., HARVEY BRUCE,

INFORMATION CENTRE Sir, — As a self-appointed champion of tourism in our ,area I feel I must call the attention of -avery single person in Taupo to a catastrophe which may occur in the near future. I allude to the possible closure of Taupo's Information Centre. It is impossible to view so retrograde a step with anything but alarm. Howev-er, I understand that there is a strong body of opinion in our council favouring that course. Whatever the cause of Mr Leyland's withdrawal — and he has stated his reasons fairly strongly in your newspaper columns — the c-entre must not he allowed to shut its doors. It is clearly the duty of every Taupo resident to see that our town authorities keep this valuable amenity open with an ad-equate staff, even if it means a referendum on the matter of charging it to the rates. — Yours, etc., M. G. FOSTER.

FLUORIDATION Sir,— Why do so many people seem to have so much against fluoridation? To me it is something which is inevitable (in most places), so why argue about it? Granted, the anti-fluorida-tion group believe that people do not have to have something unwanted, but, don't parents make many sacrifices for their children? It seems a very selfish attitude to take, when so many children would miss out on something they themselves cannot fight for. The argument concerning the cost of the project can be balanced out by considering the money saved if dental services were no longer needed as badly as they are now. And wouldn't it be wonderful to see all children with white, shining teeth? So, I at least, am hoping for fluoridation. — Yours, etc., INTERESTED.