PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20502, 19 May 1938, Page 11

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.

PETTY THIEVING

(To the Editor) Sir, —What can be done to stop this evil, which seems to be on the increase in our country? Over the air the Prime Minister and Mr Nash have recently told us how prosperous all sections of the community are. That rules out the excuse of being hard up. Is it that there is too much leisure, and this Is how it is being spent—no respect for law or order? Fencing-wire had been put ready to repair the fence on my property; it has disappeared. It cannot be the work of small boys, wire being too heavy for them to get away with. It seems nothing is safe. I am a widow, depending on labour to get the work done, which means that tools, etc., are left about perhaps more than If a man employer were looking after things, although it seems more despicable to steal from a woman than a man. Both are wrong, of course. There is a stray cow, also, in the same paddock; it may have taken the wire as a preventive against facial eczema.—l am, etc., ;E. ROBERTS. Te Mata, May 16.

OVERSEAS ORITICIBM

(To the Editor) Sir,—l see that a Sydney paper, In a recent issue, called our Government “the silliest Labour Party in the Empire.” That is a downright insult, and I think that the people of New Zealand should demand that Mr Semple be sent post haste to Sydney to tell this editor “where he gets off.” I suggest that Mr Semple would be better than either Mr Savage or Mr Nash. He is more bossy and seems to get all his own way. See how he got the tidy sum of eighteen millions or thereabouts for public works. He must have thumped the Cabinet table good and hard to do that. My word, won’t that editor shiver when Mr Semple gets into top gear! But reverting to this insult. Just think of it! The silliest Labour Party in the Empire! That is a positive insult to about 400.000 electors who voted for the Labour Party. It is just the same as calling them a pack of fools. Never mind; wait till Mr Savage and Mr Nash reveal their wonderful scheme to insulate New Zealand from the next depression. I imagine I can see Mr Roosevelt and Mr Chamberlain looking across the seas in wonderment and bewilderment. And if, in desperation, they should send rival delegations to interview our financial experts so as to find out, in full detail, how this scheme is worked, then this insolent fellow in Sydney will realise that lie has “spoken out of his turn.” Besides, he will have to admit, grudgingly, of course, that the electors were not such a pack of nitwits as lie thought they were, and that they were able, in many cases, to detect excellent political and business ability under unpromising exteriors. As for the cost of the trip—well, that is the last consideration that our Government need bother about. What matters above all is that our national prestige and dignity, as personified in our Government, should be protected from such unwarranted and outrageous aspersions.—I am, etc., RESENTFUL. Hamilton, May 11.

FACIAL ECZEMA

(To the Editor) Sir. —Much has been written to the Press and much has been spoken over the radio, both as to the cause of and the remedies for these numerous outbreaks. Experience has established the fact that they are always most serious after a hot, dry time. Warning might have been broadcast as early as January. Our knowledge has not been much added to. Continuous use of salts, except in the first stages of the disease, is not, advisable. Little lias been said of treatment for the more advanced stages when a solution of chloride of ammonia, tincture of gentian, tincture of aconite, and whisky, given once or twice daily, and chlorate of potash daily in water, may lie used to advantage, and calomen and opium in the more advanced stage. What of the after-effects of the disease? The animals treated correctly and promptly in the very early stages will recover competelv. ” Many not so treated may die months later. Many ewes will not conceive, and at lambing time there will be some trouble with ewes and lambs, and there may be a recurrence In the flush of the spring. The above seems about the extent of our knowledge at present. Considering that we have had periodical outbreaks, covering 35 years, research work should have made more progress. With this end in view I wrote the Director-General of Agricuture some time ago, suggesting that some grass be taken from a paddock where there had been a serious outbreak, to be analysed. I understand that Mr Blake, M.R.C.V.S., has been deputed to carry on research work in this direction. It is well known that Waikato soils are largely pumaceous, and Mr Aston, late chief chemist, found that in some of these districts lime could do actual mischief—Waikato farmers have applied carbonate of lime and superphosphate more extensively and for a longer period than any district. The outbreaks of eczema seem to have been more severe there than anywhere. Lime is a liberator of soil constituents. Persistent applications over a long period, especially on some farms where it is not required at all. may result eventually in there being little or nothing left of the requisites

of the grasses to make a balanced ration. “Lime can make a rich father of a poor son.” The continued application of superphosphate may also have been overdone. It may not be generally known that it takes eight years to exhaust an application. it follows that where there is a yearly dressing there must at the end of 70 years be a very large amount in reserve for good or evil. Tt Is for scientists to determine whether this combination has contributed to the causes of the outbreak. Weather conditions are surely a contributing factor. Most farmers realise that in a wet spring there may be too much protein in the grass for animals to thrive well. During a hot summer there may be an over-supply of some other chemical. It now behoves every farmers’ Institution, with the help of the Press, to bring pressure on the Government to ensure that tin’s matter is not allowed to rest until the causps of the grasses being such an unbalanced ration are brought to light. We are paying a heavy penalty for past neglect.—l am, etc., F.J.U Marton, May 14.

SCHEME FOR BCOTLAND

(To the Editor) Sir, —My friend Mr Hindle is very much astray in his assumptions. How many business people who sell £1 worth of goods can claim the whole £ as profit? If retailers are working on, say, a 20 per cent, profit, then their cut out of each £ is only 4s, out of which other payments have to be made. All the talk about inflation is pure moonshine. At present all money is issued by the banking system as a debt, hence the astronomical proportions of the world’s indebtedness. The Social Credit proposal is simply to ascertain correctly the gap between purchasing power and prices, then inject that amount of free money per medium of national dividends and a price discount into the community. Such a scheme would give freedom to the individual and justice to all, as opposed to the puerile policy of the New Zealand Labour Government, which is destroying the fibre of the people. Mr Hindle says “the gap” does not exist. Will he kindly explain what would happen, and where the people of Britain say, would get the money to buy the production of industry if all the work people engaged in armaments and the personnel of the armed forces were engaged in the production of consumable goods?—l am. etc.. R. G. YOUNG. Gordonton, May 15.

TREES

(To the Editor) Sir, —Some one recently stated that “they had planted 75,000 pine trees five years ago and now they are 20 feet high.” Yes. pines grow very rapidly in New Zealand, compared with the oid Country. Pines at Cambridge, for instance, along the Waikato River, were over 100 feet high 40 years ago, and they could not have been planted 50 years previously. These were, I believe, Pinus insignis, or Monterey Pines, as one person would have it. Other pines are slower growing. I suppose he planted them for the timber, but what a risk one runs when it is only pines. If they are burnt In a fire they are done for. Would it not have been better to have planted other rows of different trees? Red gums are very useful for firewood; I do not know their value as timber. They look a striking picture In spring, with their crimson-tipped foliage, and are not subject to the blight as bluegums are. If they get burnt or chopped down to a low stump. 3 feet high% when they are a foot or more in diameter, all you have to do is to chop through at least two of the main roots close up to the stump. You will then have finally a good bushy tree. If Die roots are. not chopped to equalise matters things might fail.

Then there is another tree that appears to have been overlooked in the North Island. I understand they have them in the South Island. I refer to the alder tree (Alnus of the birch family. In Great Britain it is the companion of oaks and birches. Its flowers yield green, its twigs brown, and its rough bark dark red dyes. By the banks of British streams the tree forms a dense covering. Its wood is capable of withstanding long immersion and is used for piles, and from the reddish colour and suitability for polishing it is sometimes called “Scottish mahogany.” it grows up to 60 feet there, but in New Zealand, 1 should reckon, it would reach 100 feet in the same time. It loves moisture, and there are plenty of narrow swampy places where it could be planted to advantage. It should be possible to plant it high up by the house if it got drainage. Willows do well high up as well as by a creek. The aider’s cones ripen after winter, and could he propagated by them. I do not suppose cattle would relish the foliage, so they may not need protection. They could be planted in hawthorn hedges for protection, as is done in the Old Country around the fields, and so give ’much-needed shade to stock. They could, with advantage be mixed with willow trees here also. —I am, etc., X.Y.Z. Raglan, May 12.