PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21178, 30 July 1940, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents, whose letters ere 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 compiled with, their letters will **ot appear.

RETROSPECTIVE TAXATION 1 (To the Editor) Sir,—We all recognise that war expenditure is going to impose a heavy burden on the community generally and the individual particularly, but for all that the method of raising revenue should be equitable. This can hardly be said of the additional impost of Is in the £1 on the social security tax if my interpretation is correct—namely that the extra Is in the £1 has to be paid on income derived last year from other sources than wages or salary. Many paid the full amount due early after the close of the financial year, but it now appears that they are requested to pay the additional Is in the £1 on three-fourths of the amount because of legislation passed three months after the accounts were closed. By what argument can such a course be justified? It means that those whose sole income is derived from investments will have to pay nearly double. This will entail a heavy—and in my opinion absolutely unjust—burden on many who are unable to bear it. —I am, etc., H. E. PERWIN. Hamilton, July 29. NUTRITION AND THE SOIL (To the Editor) Sir, —There is a complaint we sometimes call specialist’s blindness, and it is interesting to note the means by which each one would prevent or cure the various ailments to which the human family is subject. Some say that if we thought rightly we would have good health because the seat of most ailments is the mind. Others look for a cause in misplacements in the spinal column, while another blames septic tonsils. The dietitian has his theories, and I suppose even the nudists claim health as their objective. Recently there have been some excellent references in these columns to the value of nutrition in preventing disease, while another suggests bacon and eggs as a cure for all ills. The fact is they all have their place. My own particular hobby horse for the moment is food deficiencies caused by shortages in the soil of the necessary properties. While most reasonable persons would agree that many of our ailments are due to wrong eating, and particularly to shortages, yet so far I have seen little reference to the seat of most of the deficiencies in our food, which is definitely poverty of the soil. Strangely enough, though we have hoards of Government Inspectors, and woe betide the milk vendor who supplies milk with too low a fat content, yet no inspection is made of commercial gardens to see that the necessary calcium and other minerals are present.

While I give every credit to surgery as having taught us more solid fact than anything else, and while I recognise in surgery the greatest blessing of our age, for nothing can cure organic disease, the only safe course being removal, yet no surgeon operates for fun and all would agree that prevention is better than cure. It must be exasperating to a surgeon, when treating a child’s leg for a diseased bone, to know that had the necessary calcium content always been present in the child’s food the case would probably never have occurred. The same applies to a dentist when making a valiant attempt to save a patient’s teeth. Some societies are doing excellent work in teaching mothers the value of balanced food, yet their work is largely undermined because of the essentials being short in the food which is recommended. I feel sorry for the mother who takes great pains to feed her child properly and yet is puzzled why he still eats dirt from the garden, and after a meal declares that he will go into the garden to eat worms because yesterday he ate two smooth ones and one woolly

one. The fact is that the fruit, milk and vegetables with which the child has been fed are lacking in bodybuilding essentials because of soil deficiencies. » Modern hygiene has taught us whaf we should not allow in our food, such as dirt, germs, etc., but no department has been provided to teach us what we should put into our food from the soil. Perhaps a more able pen than mine could give us the requirements for healthy plant life. Proper training in this matter should be extensively undertaken by the Government for m#ny gardeners believe that abundant growth produced by excessive nitrogen is all that is required, and little thought is given to the properties without which no human or animal body can remain healthy.—l am, etc., ANALYSIS. Hamilton, July 27.

SOUDIERS’ ENTERTAINMENT (To the Editor) Sir, —Permit me space in your paper to express, on behalf of the boys in uniform, from the Hopu Hopu military camp, our appreciation of the help and hospitality shown and given us by the club in Hamilton run by the ex-servicemen’s wives and mothers and wives of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. The public and the club may be sure that this sort of thing is very greatly appreciated by the boys and will not be forgotten for many a long day. We wish this club every success in the future.—l am, etc., A SAPPER OF THE 16th R.O.C. Ngaruawahia, July 29. (To the Editor) Sir, —Many of us who are in camp at Hopu Hopu feel that we should express our gratitude to those who have established and who conduct the club in the Waikato Winter Show buildings for the benefit of the soldiers on leave. Those soldiers whose homes are at a distance particularly appreciate the many kindnesses of those who have sacrificed their time and their personal efforts to make the soldiers feel at home away from home. Many of us would also thank Miss L. White, of Bryce Street, for her good work on behalf of the soldiers.—We are, etc., 27992 AND 27832. Hopu Hopu, July 29. WHY FRANCE COLLAPSED (To the Editor) Sir, —France collapsed. Here we [ see an effect. What factors deterI mined the collapse in question? [ (1) The political, social, economic and industrial environment peculiar to France was honeycombed with splits, intrigues, conflicts and antagonisms. Consequently these factors could not possibly go with unity, the foundation stone upon which success and victory depends. (2) Hence the political and military bureaucracy of the Republic, In fear of a civil war or a Communist revolution, determined the alternative, humiliation to Hitler. (3) The foe from within, Fifth Column activities, such as spreading lies and causing confusion, hampering air raid alarms, incendiarism, sabotaging transports, betraying the fighting units, diverting defence forces from one centre to another. (4) The National Socialist Party of France, by virtue of its hatred of industrial syndicalism, the direct opposite to Socialism, naturally favoured the triumphant march of Nazi hordes and the establishment of a system whereby a well-entrenched minority can control and own the State as private property. The subject matter thus submitted is not my private opinion made public. It is the truth based upon absolute facts.—l am, etc., HARRY WOODRUFFS. Auckland, July 27.