PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20265, 6 August 1937, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents, whose letters are welcome, but for whose views we have no responsibility. Correspondents are requested to write In ink. It Is essential that anonymous writers enclose their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Unless this rule is complied with, their letters will not appear.

FOOD FOR THE GUftS. (To the Editor.) Sir, —The reputation that the Waikato people haye for good sportsmanship and care of animals is in most respects fully merited. For that reason it will come as a shock to many to learn that the barbarous practice of shooting tame live pigeons is again to be perpetrated in the Waikato. I refer to the proposed North Island live pigeon and live sparrow championships set down to be held at Morrinsville late in August. I have a recollection that a similar event was held at Hamilton a few years ago, and there was a great outcry from Waikato people, as evidenced by what appeared In the Waikatq Times. Can anything, be done to stop the shooting of live pigeons and sparrows in this manner? Was any effective protest made a few years ago when Hamilton had the doubtful distinction of being the venue of this alleged ‘‘championship”? Our Waikato shooting enthusiasts have got a lot of -sport out of shooting day birds, so what is the need for shooting live pigeons? I understand emissaries of the gun clubs have been buying up thousands of tame pigeons seoretly, beoause they know that the weight of public opinion is against this so-called sport. I hope the Waikato Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will take this matter up.—l am, etc., LIVE PIGEON. Morrinsville, August 4. MACHINERY AND DAIRY FARMING. (To the Editor.) Sir, —I note that Mr Burnley has charged me with inconsistency in advancing proofs that labour-saving machinery causes employment. In his previous letter he asked me to confine myself to the effects of the separator and milking machine, and my | reply was to the effect that the benefit of just these two improvements was almost counterbalanced by the spread of weeds and other pests—a statement with which most farmers will agree. My earlier statement referring to the expansion of production since 1924, combined with the reduced numbers engaged in the industry, cannot be laid to the door of the separator and milking machine alone. I have already shown, how labour was displaced last summer by harvesting machinery (a faot which Mr Burnley has been unable to deny), and I am sure that he is well aware of the hosts of othor things such as flame-throwers, topdressers, drills, tractors and rotary hoes, which, combined with more scientific methods of farming praotice, are increasing production per labour unit and rendering unnecessary the employment of many farm hands. To ask me to confine myself to the negligible effect of two machines only and then to compare my reply with an earlier statement referring to all improvements is scarcely fair play. The Socialist concept that machinery is responsible for a ‘‘concentration of wealth” was imported into the discussion by Mr Burnley, and I fail to see that it is relevant to the issue. Mr Burnley appears to misunderstand my attitude. I have never at any time condemned the use of machinery. I even go further and say that wherever machinery or scientific methods displace labour they are conferring a potential benefit on mankind. But the benefits are lost under , the wage system, whereby a man’s income ceases the moment his place is taken by machinery. Another method by which such benefits are nullified is the strange obsession of politicians to “create employment” and to “solve” , the unemployment “problem," as if work were an end in itself instead of being merely a means to an end. Other means are rapidly being found which achieve the same end, and the fact that the world cannot buy its production is sufficient proof that the “wages of the machine” have not been distributed.—l am, etc., VENATOR. Hamilton, August 3. DEMOORACY. (To the Editor.) Sir,—“Let us line up on two sides and create an atmosphere that will make the vote-splitter feel he is not playing the game; the only way to make democracy work is to line up in two parties.” Thus the Hon. Adam Hamilton, Leader of the Opposition, speaking at Palmerston North recently. One is tempted to retort: “Is zat so?” But, there is a serious side to this. In politics one has the extreme Right (epitomised by Mr Hamilton) and the extreme Left (epitomised by Mr Savage). Now, Sir, what about, that large body of citizens who are neither ultra blue nor carmine red? Are they to be. bullied at the next election into choosing between two extremes? There are thousands of decent moderate citizens making a big -struggle of U to roar their families and give them a chance in life, who, exasperated at the utter lack of vision shown by the National Government., at the last election voted Labour as a despairing gesture that “things couldn’t bo worse.” To-day they find that things are much the same; (he privileged class being pampered liy the Government is different, that is all—trade unionists instead of city vested intercsls. Mr Hamilton's party has so far Shown no signs of repentance; they have no constructive policy, but hop'c to succeed, as Labour did, on the voles of the disaffected. ’ Is it not i about time that this great middle class, who pay most of Hie taxation and carry most of the burdens, began to organise in their own interests’’ What, is wanted is more Independents in politics who will not meekly bow Hie knee to the party machine, Iml wilt stand by the electors who put them In, Incidentally, Mr Hamilton deplores Hie fact of members representing constituencies with a minority of Ilnur electors behind them. Quite; 13 out of ids 10 supporters are in that position. and S 3 out of the f>B Labour men. \x ill Mr Hamilton and his supporters prove their sincerity by pledging them- , seUos in preferential voting 1,1 e ! Ibis evil?—l am, etc., I INDEPENDENT. Hamilton, August 4.

PARTY POLITICS. (To the Editor.) Sir, —“Independent,” in two issues of the Wailcato Times recently, pointed out promises made by the Labour Party so far unfulfilled,. and suggested that thi-s session they would have a busy time giving effect to them. In the next Issue he pointed out some of the shortcomings of the National Party when it held office, and suggested that there was not much hope for the country from that quarter. This oapaclty for unbiassed and judicial examination of political platforms, promises and performance, is all too rare. It is certainly a welcome -change from the melodramatic and exaggerated “eyewash”’ with which spokesmen on both sides have been attempting to gull the public lately. Incidentally the attempt of the Hon. A. Hamilton and his confreres to dragoon all political thought in the country into two camps is about the most undemocratic suggestion made In the sacred interests of “party” for many years. Hitler says there must be only one political party in Germany, and Mr Hamilton says there must be only two in New Zealand. The true democrat would say: "Let them all come,” for it is the elector’s opinion which is important, not the politician’s. “Independent” has rendered a service by pointing out defects on both sides, and he has not overstated the case. None but the most bigoted Labour supporter would assert that the Government has kept all its pledges, but the fair man would judge at the end of their term. The.less said about the National Party the better.— I am, eto., DEMOCRAT. Hamilton, August 5. FARMERS AND COBT6. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Dairy farmers seem to be as divided as ever as to what they want., and the Government, to my mind, has an impossible task in attempting to placate them. When the Government asked responsible sections of the dairy industry to give details of increased oosts and the amount needed to bridge the gap the Farmers’ Union and the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company submitted that about 3sd increase per lb butterfat was needed. Now we have the chairman of the Te Awamutu Dairy Company telling u-s that 3Jd is excessive, and that Id inorease would be adequate. Many farmers in this part of the island are urging the adoption of the compensating price formula, yet it is common knowledge that leaders of the Farmers’ Union and prominent farmers in the south have expressed opposition to the proposal. It is clear that farmers can reach no agreement on what they want, and (if history is any guide) if the Government allowed 2s 6d as the guaranteed price one oould be morally certain that the additional returns would be spent or made the basis for extravagant commitments. Incidentally, I was speaking to a farmer recently who admitted that In computing his Increased costs he had Included large sums for extending the conoreting of his yard and building a new cowshed. Since I know the farm, I consider neither capital commitments were neoessary. Other farmers are said to Include the price of new cars In their “burden of costs,” but I have no confirmation of that. By all means let the farmer have economic justice, provided his figures are computed on an economic and just basis.—l am, etc., PANDORA Hamilton, August 5. THEATRES OF WAR. (To the Editor.) Sir,—lt would be a great thing if New Zealand and Australia could join successfully in helping to make more ■secure the tradition built for us by the war armies of the two Dominions. One of our objectives, as Gallipoli veterans, Is to promulgate the tradition wrought by our men in association with New Zealanders in foreign lands, and we feel that an ideal way of doing this is to induce people to see the places in which they fought and died. •New Zealand returned soldiers, relatives of the fallen and other sections of the community, are invited to join a special pilgrimage to the war graves and battlefields of Palestine, Gallipoli, France and Belgium, which Is being organised in Australia. The pilgrimage is being sponsored by the Victorian branch of the Gallipoli Legion of Anzacs. It Is proposed that the party shall leave Australia in March next year, and after a tour of the Holy I,arid, disembark at Gallipoli about May 1, spend nearly Iwo weeks in France and reach London at the beginning of June. Particularly is the pilgrimage designed lo appeal to the younger people of Australia and New Zealand. The. Legion feels that the tradition built up by the Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the Great War con be kept In full vigour in the future only by en Intimate understanding of its birth. For those to whom the war is merely history the only way to gain that understanding is to see the thousands of grave-s In special cemeteries built by the Imperial War Graves Commission in nil theatres of war.—T am, etc., A. 11. PUTTICK WYNN, President, Gallipoli Legion of Anzacs. Melbourne, July 31.