THE FATAL DRINKING BOUT

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1916, Page 6

THE FATAL DRINKING BOUT

To *he Editor. fir,—Your correspondent, Mr. O. Ji. Maunder, does not make himself very clear in Ms letter we to who it was that did not make very close enquiries into the recent drinking bout that resulted in the loss of one life at least. As far as the local police were concerned, most searching enquiry was made, and the police in asking for an adjournment did so on the ground that they wanted to get right down to bedrock in this case. I have held many enquiries of various deaths from drunken sprues and similar deaths traceable to the siime cause, and more direct evi- | deuce was produced by the police in this case than in any previous case I can remember. 1 should like Mr. Maunder to remember that this case is not Ii an isolated one—just a circumstance of the "Trade"! —I am, etc., C. D. SOLE. Stratford, October 4. GIFT AIRCRAFT In To the Editor. t: Sir, —When we read of the events P that are taking place in this awful e ' world-war, and the terrible cost is " brought home so forcibly to us by th* '? receipt of our long casualty lists, it is ' fitting thai we should, think if we .'an " in,any way help to lessen those losses J' by providing equipment to place IB in [ a position of superiority (over our ene '' mies, regarding the knowledge of the movements of troops and thus lessen:u!T their powers of hitting our men. ' It is now generally admitted that in or- ■' tier to secure the greatest immunity , from the danger of hostile attack, both on sea and land, the possession of strong air flotillas is an absolute essentia.l. and the side possessing the superiority in this branch is better placed, , both to strike the enemy and to pro- . tect its troops from being struck than a, its opponent, and thus to ensure itself ' victory. We know that the enemy is " bending every power and straining every t , ell'ort to secure a sufficient ascendancy in the air to enable them to inflict the most horrible punishment on England ] ( especially, and we know also that Eng- ;, land has made and is making tremen- j, dons efforts and almost unthinkable expenditure in order to successfully ward off the attacks which she knows will jj be, and even now aire being, made. To „ assist oui people in England, our jwn j kith and kin, to protect adequately p their homes and the lives of their child- 0 ren tnd womenfolk, the members of the 5 Overseas Club in almost every part of g the world are contributing, through the f club, towards the purchase of aircraft j fni presentation to the Royal Flying v Corps, and have already enabled the a Overseas Club to present just on 80 ], aeroplanes to the Imperial Government. •Xew Zealand has .presented three of \, these, and it inrely would be fitting \ that Taranaki, a district that has bene- t fited probably more than any other in } Xew Zealand'by England's supremacy of f the seas, should contribute her share t towards the maintaining of that supre- T macy which k admitted by experts to 1 depend largely now upon ascendancy in c the air service. What would be the c value of our produce, if by any mis- t chance we should lose our supremacy on t the seas? Surely then it is only a busl- e ness proposition, even if we have no t higher motive, that we should contrl- c bute as an "insurance fund" to provide 1 adequate protection to our sea-borne c produce and to the gallant hoy* who a are doing more than their "bit" to pro- I teet us and ours. The conditions under ,1 which the aeroplanes are given are that e the aeroplane may be named, if so de- c sired, after the district which presents it; that in the event of it being da- 1 stroyed in any way it is replaced by the 1 Army Council and still bears the name I of the district from which it was ipre- 1 sented, so that it becomes a lasting < memorial of the part that district has f taken in the war in the matter of pro- 1 viding eyes for the Xavy and Army < wherewith to spy out and smite the 1 enemv. The cost of the machines Is I £loo'o for a 70-h.p. Renaul B.E, 2C„ ' and £22-"il) for a 100-h.p. Gnome-Vickers ' gun biplane, complete wrah gun. The [ Overseas Club hope to bring the number of machines presented to the Royal i I Flving Corps up tc 100 at least by the I end of the year, and what could be more fitting than one should com* from 1 Taranaki? Sir, we would be glad of I your valued assistance towards this end, I and hope you will open 0 subscription I list at your office, where sympathisers i may pay whatever they can afford to the fund. All monies contributed to j the fund will be forwarded, free of cost, to the headquarters of the Overseas I Club in London, and we earnestly hope S and confidently expect that by the end ' of the year Taranaki will be represented by its own aeroplane in thy Royal Flying Corps.—l am, etc., GEO. H. BI'CKERTDGE, President, Club, Elt'ham. GIVE IT A NAME! '.'»-. To the Editor. I sir.— Sot jo many years ago our !egj iaiors, in their zeal to see that fair I .'my was given the rising generation (male or female) compelled to take to working in shops or at trades, etc., passed laws that it was compulsory for the employer to give it the start fair remuneration. The old iftW, "the laborer is worthv of his hire," and others of a like nature, was largely used In favor of the proposal which was brought about because of the practice of many people of using the labor of girls and boys for six or twelve months for nothing, and then turning them adrift, with a "ditto repeato" on another ! batch. Well and good. Now I find that one State Department, at least, in appointing men to fill a responsible office of great at'ility to a section of the public specifies "that for the first six month 3 services are required to be graSua"i Do raw cadets in any Gogegt department have to work fox,

"nix"? It is laid down how much tliey shall get for the first year or to, a.iul also wli.it increase they can expect yearly, so why ask a, man to run an oHice for the benefit of the public for six months on free labor? Was there ever the like? And on top of it all comes the proposal that men with an assured yearly pay and the prospect of superannuation and other benefits are to receive a war bonus! Hurrah! hurrah! for democracy! Of course, if the V taxpayer will sit down and take it I a suppose it is no use kicking back, but ? I should like the public to know the '' kind of "dope" that is being ladled out. ° Here, we have an office instituted for the ' benefit of the public and to which they ? are entitled (especially the farming t community, if the authorities ,vho preach about encouraging people to take 1. to and stieik to the land are genuine in i their preachment) but when the said :. authorities ask a man to give six months' service free of marge it is time the public for whose benefit the ofiiee t was instituted should see that such an a unjust stipulation was removed and j more especially as it is against the law . for the ordinary employer to do like- 3 wise. We have under the party system ; allowed a lot of anomalies to be perpetrated in our legislation, and it is hoped the lesson shown by the war will not be lost when the sponge goes up. We want and must get a revision of ma.ny of our laws through the referendum, and until we get that ,ve are simply f hypocrites when we claim to be demo- . c-ratic, but that's another story—l am, . etc., JOE B. SIMPSON. \ Durham Road.