PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21215, 11 September 1940, Page 9

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents j whose letters are welcome, but for j whose views we have no responsibility. Correspondents are re- j quested to write in ink. It is j essential that anonymous writers . enclose their proper names as a ! guarantee of good iaith. Unless j this rule is complied with, then | letters will not appear.

SOLDIERS’ ENTERTAINMENT |

(To the Editor.) Sir, —If there are any people who have no further use for table games, musical instruments, etc., they would 1 be doing a kindness if they were to ; get into touch with the Te Rapa ; racecourse military camp, through i you or the Y.M.C.A. and church or- j ganisations, etc., with a view to pass- j ing them along to the soldiers who ! are in isolation without, leave.—l j am, etc., MACHINE GUNNER. Te Rapa, September 10.

RESPONSIBILITY OF UNIONISTS

(To the Editor.) Sir,—The only meaning that can be abstracted from the second paragraph of Mr Crabb’s second letter on the subject of responsibility of unionists is that the capitalist who invests money in a business and conducts it himself is not entitled to any interest on his capital or payment for his personal services. If Mr Crabb admits that the employer is entitled to such rewards, will he please tell us how he can get such rewards except by paying his workers less than the value of the goods produced by them out of material and by the use of plant provided by the employer?—l am, etc., A. WARBURTON. Ngaruawahia, September 7.

WINNING THE WAR

(To the Editor.) Sir, —It may seem superfluous to ask a normal question as to what is necessary to win this war. This involves something more than defeating Germany by force of arms. There are unseen evil forces behind Germany, Satanic forces, who desire the destruction of all that England and America stand for. Are we fighting this war to beat Germany, or to put over some secret scheme of a new order of society? We are fighting ideas that are foreign to our own conception of things. We do not want to take our social ideas' from second-hand sources, be they from a paperhanger, an Italian gangster or an Asiatic mass-murderer. The essential of maximum efficiency is not unity of command, but unity of intention. If this is of first importance, then may we inquire why Communists are still at large in this Dominion? It is not Hitler or Mussolini that matter but the mysterious man of Moscow, and his fifth columnists are everywhere.—l am, etc., ENGLAND. Hamilton, September in

BICYCLES ON FOOTPATHS

(To the Editor.) Sir, —On Saturday morning I witnessed a police constable's remonstrance with a youth who had parked a push-bicycle in the middle of a pavement in Victoria Street. Would it be mere “ wishful thinking ” to hope that this is the beginning of some official action on behalf of pedestrian users of the sidewalks of Hamilton? The tyranny of the “pushbike,” as at present constituted, is nothing short of a scandal. Admitting that actually riding on the footpaths—except in the vicinity of the railway bridge ! —is rather exception than rule, can anybody nominate a more serious nuisance than push-bikes being wheeled along the pavements? One is pest enough, in all conscience, but when they are wheeled two abreast, as they very frequently are, nothing remains for the lawful user of the footpath but to step off into the road. No-one official ever does anything about it. Is the abuse of pavements by bike-users legal in Hamilton, by any chance? If so, the logical conclusion would be to throw open the sidewalks to motor-cars and motorcycles, too. If not, isn’t it high time that council and constabulary began to enforce the law a little?—l am, etc., PES Hamilton, September 10.

EQUAL WORK; EQUAL PAY

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Mr Warburton has joined forces with “ Pouri ” and “A. Real Worker” in saying I have advocated “ equal pay for unequal work.” These men have read into my letter something I have neither written nor intended. It is because I believe in “ distributive justice ” that I am opposed to capitalism. It is because I believe that every able-bodied person should receive the full value of his labour, but not one penny more, that I am a Socialist. It is because I believe that the average small farmer and working-class man produces more than the average man with a “ good ” income that T am opposed to the present system. There is one more point. If the wheels of industry are kept going by the brains and work of mine owners, bankers, share brokers, heads of trusts and inheritors of large fortunes (and this seems to be the idea of most supporters of capitalism), do these brains become suddenly ossified during a slump; do these men chance to take their holidays all at the same time, or are they up to some little game of their own? Or are depressions the fault of small farmers and workers? Do they suddenly decide to become “ disloyal to the firm which gives them their bread and butter”; do they make a secret and world-wide agreement to “ go slow ”; do they all get a spite against their wives and children at the same moment, or have sun spots really got something to do with it? These questions have puzzled me. Perhaps Mr Warburton would explain why slumps come.—l am, etc., G. A. CRABB. Frankton, September 10.

toward new world

(To the Editor.) Sir, —A letter by Mr R. G. Young in the Times of August 20 with reference to a statement by Mr Goodfellow calls for a reply. With regard to Mr Young’s doubts whether “ dear old England ” especially has solved her labour troubles, perhaps he did not see what the cables said recently—perhaps last summer. They stated that the people who were transferred from the slum areas to new, ideal conditions in the suburbs simply have made slums of their new homes. What do you think of that, Mr Young? From an English paper I glean, from the criticism levelled at the local authorities in a small but busy manufacturing town, that they hadnjt done their duty toward the dwellers in the back streets. They had spent some thousands of pounds on new houses and made new streets, but they were somewhat reluctant to hand them over to doubtful people. Yes, they have done something very practical in the Old Country, and yet some people prefer to live in a rough state.

Only the other day we read about children evacuees from the city slums to the country. They refused to go to bed between clean sheets because they said that was what they put dead people in. Another one would go to bed with his boots on because he was afraid the rats might bite his feet. I don’t think Mr Young knows much about the dwellers in the Old Country, or what really has been done. Regarding Mr Gcodfellow’s contribution toward the establishment of a new world, just what has he not done? I ask. I take it that Mr Young must be about fifty, perhaps only forty. Go back thirty-odd years and see what was happening then. He may probably remember the construction of the main trunk railway. They were then engaged in making the famous Spiral at Raurimu. Yes, and what was Mr Goodfellow doing then, or shortly afterwards? He started to induce farmers to skim their cream themselves instead of leaving it to the factory managers. It was a distinctly revolutionary step to take, it seemed to me at the time, and could most farmers afford to buy separators? But they managed to do so in the Waikato and Raglan district, instead of ha vine ***

heavy cans of milk in all sorts of vehicles, even sledges, and in river districts like the Waipa and Waikato, in a launch, and even on horseback. Motor transport was only just beginning, and for some time, right through the Great War, four-horse teams picked up the cream cans from the farmers’ gates and took them to the factory. What an advance! What national progress in New Zealand, to the advantage and well-being of everybody. And finally, the introduction of milking machines. Yes, and Mr Goodfellow played a great part in bringing it about.—l am, etc., RAGLANITE. Raglan, September 7