CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1917, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

"THE NAKED TRUTH." To the Editor. Sir, —Ihave rend Ayitll considorable interest theletters of "Protest" and "H.A.M." on tliis subject, and, wtih the 'last correspondent, can only express amazement at the extraordinary interpretation by "Protest" of a chaste and delicately handled allegory. He says: "It represented, if you can believe it, an apparently devflut clergyman following a nude woman along deserted hillsides and tangled bush. His congregation was taught that such a pursuit was to be the aim of their lives." 1 am prepared to feel charitably towards "Protest" in the belief that he (or she) did not view the picture, otherwise it .would be impossible to imagine a mind so utterly debased. If "Protest" did view the picture, the only conclusion to the right minded is that he was more interested in the nude woman than the picture as a whole. For the benefit of the public who did not see this picture I might explain that "TVnth" (supposedly portrayed by a naked woman) was a shadowy transparency, done by the process known in photography a? "double exposure." Never was the figure plain or distinct on the screen, ■but. always shadowy and elusive, just as truth in real life appears to "Protest."' The statement—'".Notwithstanding its ignorant and thin pretences the picture shown is an hypocrisy, a serious offence against charity, religion and decency, a coarse fabrication to win from the ignorant and coarse-mindcd the plaudids and money, no matter how it may demoralise"—is a further display of blind bias or lamentable ignorance. "The Naked Truth" made no appeal to either the coarse-minded or the ignorant. Its appeal was to the higher-minded, thinking section of the public, to whom it appealed as a powerful sermon on the liyprocisy of life within and without, but particularly within, many of the present day religious institutions. The coarse-minded prefer the lurid society drama, with its intrigues, infidelity and other salacious garbage, wnich still unfortunately finds its way into many ot our picture houses. It is regrettable that "Protest" should use the name of the Rev. Mr. Colvile, as this gentleman is both broadmindod and sincere, and would view any picture with a clean mind and puw heart. In conclusion, I might say that right through the Dominion this subject appears to have had bitter opposition from one section of the community, and one section only, and that section is. one that condemns \ the picture unsecii.—l am, etc., SPADE. 'P-S.—lf "Truth'' aj screened professed to be "The Naked Truth," then she Wiis herself but another of "the hypocrites," Sot the figure was in tights! The deception was aided by her "faintncss.' Instead ol such silly and ridiculous attempts, can we not have some decent allegory fittingly pictured—say Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress"? ■ AN INSENSATE AND INCONGRUOUS PICTURE. ~ ' To the Editor. . Sir, —Neither "Onlooker" nor "H.A.M." attempt to justify the picture of thfl ■pursuit of a nude woman as even an allegorical representation of the pursuit of truth. The latter explains "the true life is portrayed by a very faint figure of a beautiful woman 'Truth.'" Thus he dodges the question by substituting "beautiful" for "naked." He even seems'to apologise for the missing word ■by telling us that the naked figure was "very faint." But why should truth be "very faint?" It is poor allegory that compares the pursuit of truth to a chasing after phantoms, ghosts and shadows. But he feels that the fainter •such a picture is the better, and so the feeling underlies his words.' My suggestion is that the picture-Make?, in the first place, set himself io contrive some way in which a nude figure of a woman could be thrown upon the screens as clearly as he considered might be likely to pass the consoi. Hence the faintness noted by "lI.A.M.'' Then a story had "to be made up to suit. The brilliant idea of "naked truth" was too good to Bliss and the rest was easy, religion and the broad and narrow roads There must be church and parson and ttgrf be brought in somehow. With

'such jam the concoction was swallowed, though one of your correspondents, as I have shown, coughs and shows that to him the taste is not without nastiness. As to tho church service, never was such a one. Never was choir so placed. •Never was there such a parson. Never such a congregation. The sermon was a deplorable exhibition of uncharitablenesß. The preacher was retailing all the idle gossip of the town, and as Jones '•or his wife was hit, Smith and his wife would relish the attack until their turn •came. The scandals were dealt out so liberally that all having come under the lash became irritated, and the sermon did no good at all. The hearers, as '"Onlooker" points out, "ignored the clergyman." They wen; rightly disgusted at his performance. Doubtless he had also asked them to sing not Newman's "Lead Kinkly Light,"" but the adaptation suitable to the picture, "Lead Kindly Nudity." As tho picture came to its close the mad clergyman died as a hypocrite. He had gone to his place in church, dressed himself in his robes and was found to have been mainly interested in reading sporting papers for the latest betting news. So ended the incongruous picture. Once an elderly man said to me "I have never in all my life called any roan i\ hypocrite." I invite "11.A.M." to ponder over that statement rather than over the picture that seems to have delighted him. Let him bear in mind that 110 sane clergyman would hold up a nude woman as '"The Truth." He would consider it blasphemy so to do. His mission is something very different. The picture •is indefensible and indelicate, a senseless travesty of religion.—l am, etc., PROTEST. • Hawera, February 27, 1917. WO-MESr AND THE WAR. To the Editor. Sir, —It has of late been the practice of many newspapers in New Zealand to draw attention to the fact that young women are shouldering a duty which in the past was supposed to be the work of men. Paragraphs timo and again appear showing that a woman did "this" or did the "other," being a part of farm work, "because, of the war." T\e Military Appeal Board members indicate that women will have to do more It's a pity some of them and their wives and children tlon't tackle farm life, and then perhaps they would have a better grasp of what women have done for years and are still doing on tlie dairy farms of Taranaki—and hot on account of tlie war. To one who known and who has been through the whole process of bush farm pioneering, the twaddle at times doled out by the big city press is simply ridi* ruloiis. Great Scott| 'Right through tho whole chapter of Taranaki's development as a dairying province the female has been and still is the mainstay, and how they are to take increased duty God only knows, but the Appeal Board evilently does! No one heard before the war of the trials, the self-sacrifice and the real ding-dong grit shown by the farmer's womenfolk. Why make such a prominence of the fact that a fc>v wellI'.nnwn young ladies in certain districts have suddenly shown their aptitude to do, in a minor degree, what hundreds of ivomcn in Taranaki are doing and have done l'or years and yim in the majof sense—and not on account of the war! Oh, dear, no! The said ladies, if they had to do the same work as the sole vicans of subsistence would pull quite a different face. Get some of ihe old female pioneers of 30 or so years ago together, and also get the female fanners oi to-day and induce them to give tlieif individual experiences, and you would find a similitude of experience in toil, etc., that would make you wonder that the female could suffer so long as she has; but when people say "on account of tlu, war" they know nothing about it. The day is. not far distant when tho female will "act," and then you'll see real live reforms that will astonish our legislators out of the "all_talk but no action" habit, they have been enjoying for a considerable time. However, when it it is recorded that i young lady wa3 seen driving a mob of sheep, don't, ulease, say it was on account of tho war! What women end girls have done on the dairy farms of Taranaki before the war and are still doing as a duty to j tlicir menfolk and children only strength-! ens the appeal, and the pity is that our •awmakers 'cannot devise means to lessen the hardships. Tlicy could, but they won't; their wives ind families are all right, eo why try and better the conditions of others? Tho big merchant, the shipping company shareholder and others of the parasitical class do not care one iot how many women are broken in Health and spirit so long as theirs are all right. Oh, no! but look out for the awakening, that's >.ll! I am, etc.,

.JOE B. SIMPSON. Durham road, February 28. THE WATERSIPE WORKERS. To the Editor. Sir,—'New Plymouth Watersidcr accuses me of being a misinformed, narrow.minded cockatoo. I'll start to disabuse his mind with regard to the first adjective anyway. I did not take my accusations from hearsay, but from what I have actually seen. I served seven years at the docks at Southampton and the Victoria and Albert docks, London, during which apprenticeship the memorable dock strikes at botli places occurred and I was mixed up in both. The engineers came out in "sympathy" with the strikers, but the only real bond of sympathy was that we were fellowworkers. I attended several meetings of the ''dockers" (I was a cockatoo analyst in embryo even in thote days), and I heard remarks and sentiments expressed at those meetings that, young as I then was, thoroughly disgusted me; and at subsequent meetings of our own union to discuss the situation, the whole history of the trouble was given and was not creditable to the dockers —nor to us for supporting them. They had very real grievances, it is true, but the coldblooded way in which they were going to redress those grievances, irrespective of whether the victim wero innocent or guilty, would have Shocked "Bloody Judge Jeffries'" sense of justice. Since my arrival in the Dominion (now many years ago), my old sea training has always drawn me to some seaport when I have been lucky enough to score a holiday, and my instincts liavo also drawn me to the spot where men go down to the sea in ships, also where those ships are loaded and unloaded. I have made many friends amongst the wtteraiders, and confess I have found men—many men—with braius, tact, ability, sense of justice, every virtue that a man reveres in his exact opposite, in short, while men, amongst them; but that doesn't disprove my statement that a big proportion are absolutely the reverse, and it is that proportion that, is at present calling forth the indignation of ail right-think-ing people to-day. Cannot the watersiders see that if, by their action—apart from the injustice they are meting out

to a class of workers who never did them any harm—money is diverted to New Zealand, they, in their turn, must, eventually suffer. Tlioro is only a certain amount to go round, and, no matter how important they may consider their work, they will find in the long run that they will only get their fair proportion. In conclusion, I unfortunately did riot keep a copy of my previous letter, but I e.in't remember using the terms "gaolbird, beer-cliewer, etc.," though I might have implied them. If I did, and New Plymouth Watersider read that meaning to apply to the whole class, I sincerely apologise, for, as 1 said before, I've met some as white, If not whiter, on. the, water-front than anywhere. But I still assert, and can prove from their actions, that my indictment against a big pro. portion of them is justified.—l am, etc., SHARE-MILKER. SOLDI KftS* PAY. To the Editor. Sir, —Would you be kind enough to give me, and some of the readers of your paper, ia little information if you are able to do so Suppose a man has voluntarily offered himself for# active service in connection with the war, has he-en rejected as medically unfit, lias cot married since May 1, 1015, and between that date and now (there are some such cases) lias dependent on him a wife and child, with the probability of his dependents being increased from a wife and one child to a wife and two children. That man still stands classed as ;v single man according to the Military Service Act. Now, the question I ask is this: Does such, a man, should he he drawn in the ballot and passed as fit for active or home service, just receive a Binglu man's pay., which is, I think, 5s per day? Or does he receive a married mn's pay with the usual separation allowances for the wife .and family should there be a family? Hoping that you will endeavor to give this a little space in your much-read paper,—l am, etc., ENQUIRER. [The New Zealand soldier (a private) is paid os a day; his wife receives a separation allowance of 7s a week, with as a week for each child under the age of 10 years. If the soldier allots his wife 4s a- day from his pay, as he is well able to do, she will receive 35s perweek, plus the payment for children. In addition, the Defence Department may make additional payments,-not exceeding £2 per week in tho case of any one soldier to cover civil liabilities, such as insurance premiums, rent, interest on mortgages, c-tc._ There is no doubt, that separation allowances and special allowances for children are provided in the case of married men who are situated as in the instance described by our correspondent. -Ed.] AN AGGRIEVED SMOKER. To the Editor. Sir, —Might I suggest, through your columns, to those responsible, that something might be done to prevent ladies taking seats (unknowingly) in the

smoking compartments of tram cars to the exclusion of smokerß, when there is plenty of room in the other compartment. The word "smoking" on the cars is certain]v very unconspicuous.—l am, etc., ' SMOKER.