PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19896, 27 May 1936, Page 11

PUBLIC OPINION

.__?— x _ I As expressed by correspondents, whose letters are welcome, but for a - whose views we have no resDOHSiblllty- Correspondents are requested ‘\ to write In ink, It. Is essential that anonymous writers enclose thelr ‘ proper names as a guarantee 01’ good faith. Unless this rule ls com- ‘ plied with. their letters will not, appem‘. A

TRADE UNIONI‘SM. ‘E ___... (To the Editor.) Sin—“hen we are dealing witl principles it is remarkable how certair ‘6 contributors throw sinister remark: 3" at those they oppose. Such a lettel {’3 appears in to—day's issue over 1116 " signature of ”Unionist." Ed An argument fails to the grounc ”1 when one of the parties is ignorant of the facts. It so happens that i F' have never belonged to a. union. In 1,9 certain professions there are nc f) organisations for the supposed "safe—- " guarding" of employees’ interests. 1' A study of the results of trade unionism in Great Britain is far from " satisfactory when the aggregate ’f benefits and losses are compared. it j: is only necessary for a strike to occur “ to see what the “worker" gets and '6 what he loses. So deplorable are ’l’ these union methods that the Labour Party or Great Britain are against H strike action. ‘1 Further, I atn not against the trade n union principle. The whole trouble it is that trade unionism, like Labour, 15 e subordinated to politics; therefore, it it does not function correctly. it is a e matter of paid agitators whose job it is to stir up stril'e at any cost, because their livelihood depends upon it. it is the same with politics. Members _ of Parliament. have a job, and they n keep in with the party so that they _ may hold their job down. Admittedly e there are exceptions, but, alas, these 0 are fawn—l am, etc., - BRADSHAW BROWNE. e Hamilton,.l\lay 23. t t. INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY. ,1 ——-- \ e. . . e (To the Editor.) ‘ Sim—lt would be quite a mistake a to describe the present Government '0 legislation as humanitarian. ll is an t. attempt at. standardisation, and with s the present psychological attitude V existing among the farmers and “r workers of this Dominion it is inorc t likely to lead to endless litigation than to peace. Both the farmers and workers are suffering from “arrested develop" ment"—that is to say, that they are unable to get away from the price complex, which is the basis of the existing economic system, and is relsponsible for land values, shop rents. ,stop-work meetings, and strikes. The tides- that an individual can best secure himself and serve. society by snaich~ ing and pinching is primitive in the extreme, yet it is the economic atti—tude. I do not mean pillerins, 0 though some grown up children do 1 even that. I refer to the craven fear that there will not. be enough to feed. d clothe, shelter and amuse ourselves if we adopt a community complex. e So then we are in for a period of com- : petitive individualistic contract and . intense speeding—up of wage eni—- _ ployeee. . 5 ’This will be a part result of the , present legislation. Heroic remedies ‘ do _not always succeed. “That which 3 cannot be accomplished by main force i can often be et't‘ecteci by a little ) diplomacy,“ said Lord Chesterfield. ' We have, however. no sandwich—- ; boarded men as administrators, and , they will accept and get the result of t their actions. Spring-cleaning is , usually uncomfortable. but it is sani—tary and very necessary in our industrial outlook—l am, etc., E. DAVIES. Paeroa, May 26. THE FREE CHURCHES. (To the Editor.) , Sir,——A few weeks ago, observing a ‘ reference in a contemporary to “thct . Nonconformist Churches in Auck~l ‘ land," i wrote to the newspaper a mild letter of protest, which was not pub—lished. May 1 therefore crave the courtesy of your columns? -1 doprecalc the use of this word “noncunt'ormist” in New anland. it is always slightly contemptuous in its reference. in Scotland we used to use it, or a somewhat similar word—nnniely, “disscntcr.” lt described all non—members oi‘ the Church or Scot—land. But its use has completelyl died out. in England, i regret to say, the word is still used to describe non—members ot‘ the church of Eng—land, hut the term “Free Churches" is takingr its place. In both countries, however, where there is still an Established church—in Scotland Presbyterian and in England Episcopalian—it is, strictly speaking, legiti—mate to use the word. But in .\‘ew Zealand, where all churches are equal in the eyes of the law, there is no justification whatever for its use, and I do not think New Zealanders will stand for it it they understand what it implies, May I mention a somewhat similar matter? The Colours of thc \Vaikatu Regiment were dedicated on Sunday by the ttenn of st. Peter‘s, who was accompanied by a number of clergy, all, it‘ i mistake not, lipisvopali \\’hy were there no representatives of other Churches ot‘tlcinliy present? 1 \\ill uuarnnll'c that, a goodly number of the members or the llogimunt \\ill be round [U in; Presbyterian. But even if it he not so, it. seems in me out of time with the timrs to single out one ILhuri'h 101' such an honour and ll‘tl\L‘ all the others (‘ntirrly out of jl.”l aln. L‘lt‘.‘ it. it. tillAN'l' Sl"l'lll‘ltlli;\Nl), Minister or the lihllrrh ut‘ Scotland, l.m'llltl lonons in St. Andrew‘s. Hamilton, May it}.

N . ~ GARDEN PLACE. E _. j 1 (To the Editor.) 1 E3l Slr,—Tlle traiilc jam in \‘ictoria' 11 Street on race day has been something M. in the nature of a major disaster to 81 the advocates of the removal of. to Garden Place lliil. As the public is: well aware, their trump card has been 1d the relief of traflie congestion. The at hold—up on Saturday last is a complete ‘ I and conclusive exposure 01‘ the .1 in hollowne-ss of this argument. Anyone § :0 who may choose to reflect for a, " moment. must realise that the. removal of Garden Place liill _ 19 would not have affected the in traffic jam one iota, except to; e take an overflow of cars which would 1'; become jammed in Garden Place in. “1 addition to the Jam in Victoria Street. . {‘ Surely it is plain that the key to e traffic congestion is the sinking of the ”L railroad from Frankton right through ’ to Claudelands, and the conversion of, t‘ the railway bridge into a low—level t: railway and overhead traffic bridge; ls it", as the Mayor says, the council has it not been able to make progress \VIHI‘ the Railway Department in this (liver— ‘ it tion, it is because the council has not 8 been putting its back into the loll—E it lam, etc., , , .. CROSSING. t 3 Hamilton. May 24’. 1 gr .__—.4 . . ! X | e VOLUNTARY RENT. ‘ i __ . i (To the Editor.) . .l Sim—The objectives of the move—l ment as represented by Mr “I‘. E. .\le- : .\lillan were summed up in a recent; public debate. ’l‘hey amount to contis— l cation. ’lhat was the answer given; by the debater on their side, .\lri e i\icolaus. g f Whatever money one has spent on l n‘ land improvement, that would be re— ‘ h funded; but what the owner paid tor l o the land cannot be refunded. s'o that , Ll is the objective of the Land Party. | 0’ in his letter of May 20 Mr .\lc—i n .\lillan makes a remarkable statement.‘ lie slates: "ltent is a voluntary par, e ment, etc, to elsewhere," Now, shag , would the writer 01 this paragraph‘ 9' inform us where this Arcadian placei e is? l have been in many cities, towns, ‘. e and even boroughs. yet every week, or , _ month, the rent demander is on that ._ doorstep. heat is a tax, not. by the[ e’ Urown or the community, but by al 9 baron. it is a survival 01' feudal tithes. g _ We who pay rent are serfs to a baron. i e be the baron man or woman. it is as _ repulsive to pay as tax. Both should ‘ be done away with, even the single.l 3’ tax, for under a scientific system there i r is no need for either.—l am, etc., LEU KAY. l 5' Hamilton, May 25. 3 DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY. ; (To the Editor.) } Sir,——Mr R. Povall has the public. 1 in his debt for quoting a paragraph ’ from the last address by the flight ' Hon. Reginald McKenna. in comment— i i ing upon this illuminating passage the 3 f great London banker suggests that . currency reformers claim to havel ’ l'ound an easy way "whereby everyl ' individual can be made better off with— l ' out working." This passage is hardly ; correct. The Douglas social creditor-,f at any rate, never makes such an! assertion. Work has to be done before any person can enjoy the fruits or the] earth and the amenities given us by.‘ science. What the social creditori does point out is that as the machine ' has superseded man power. except in I regard to work that only man can do. ‘i L so man can obtain more leisure time! 1 to develop his higher qualities. \Ve! . cannot expand our industries, as Mr[ t McKcnna suggests, because the bani;— , ing system will not permit. We hear i 1 over and over again about the sur—pluses of industry destroyed. ‘ It is not necessary to extend the , area of employment because the , machine has [alien over the produc-I ‘ tion. The problem is unemployment . for displaced man power. That is the 1 question. 'l‘rue, as the great banker! has pointed out, “.\ioney cannot; oil [itself create wealth available for dis-I tributlon.“ \\’hy? Because the same banker has made money a commodityi instead of a token of exchange. The,l whole trouble is that the banking} system deals only with productivity;‘ it finances production, but it fails tol help the consumer. Under present conditions the bank cannot help the consumer because it could not obtaini its quota 01‘ interest from this end.— I an], ctc., - HUGH CLIFFORD. Hamilton. May 25. ALBERTA. (To the Editor.) Sir,—lL is not necessary for “Can—tah" to give us details from the London lially Telegraph. is the correspondent aware that the Press of the world is in the hands of the iinanrlcrs, also the cables and other means of t'mnlnuniraiion;l that nothing lfi permitted to disturb the puhlir‘s confidence in the financial! system"! ltlu‘n the christian Science Monitor is not a paper to quote as an I authority upon Alberta. ‘ The arrangement Concerning Major luau—“lns collapsed because it had been i arranged, lty the bankers, beforehand. l w! l‘ln'lhrr, they gave the l’l't‘llllt‘l‘ of ;\l- I herla the ilanli ot’ England‘s represrn— l = taliw as iiuancial adviser. The policy altered to one or heavy taxation, so .\l.t,int- lmur'las had no alternative but to yum-i; man the posilion men only lelnlmrarily. ’l'o st-rurn‘ authentic particulars 1 l'L‘i'wt- "liantuh" to Ille .\‘m-inl tit-oil“ m llvn.hlunrlrr~‘. London. ’l‘lu'sc heath. i]ll.ll'lt‘l'\ ltl’t' in lunch with the whole world. .illtl lu'l'll their [llllM‘ on t'\(‘lll.~. 'l'hr mmruu'nt lii'l'l' in New Xi‘ailtiiitl.ilil' l‘i'crlu's all information. .llltl their .ul— \i. til‘«‘>.\ is |h.- >l'i‘l'l’idl'}, Intuition Qil.ly.‘:~‘,: \\rllinftnn. ’wi lit-minim: the London Times. is .Ju "I2.lnl.iiu” .iw’url' of tilt" l‘nrnrll WNW" Cardinal .\lnuniliji \vrolv .~v\~ l'.|l essays l ,ulmn matters of lulu-rest, one upon the! Hit-p» mum nu- rm.- ot‘ ~- 'l‘hi' rum-n. inf lJinh'nsion,” in HM! essay ln- mention.» 1"” [hr mailer oi the "Him Hurt-mpguil— 15‘: .-ni." thirdlnal Manning; \\.isa man who i‘“ would lu' ilv'pcnxll-ll upon In .\llt'dlv Ih.) : lr truth: l min, rim, i .\l.\ln:t;s .l.\_\ll_‘_<,l lltlllllllUH, .\la; '3O, '