PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21583, 20 November 1941, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION

CURRENT VIEWPOINTS QUICK CHANGES IN WEATHER (To the Editor.) Sir,—Someone with a nice sense of satire sent us yesterday a copy of your journal with a screed about the beauties of a Waiouru summer therein. I read same this morning huddled before the mess fire, what time the snow fell without. Your reporter, if he were here now. could rhapsodise about the delicate beauty of the falling snow flake, the exi quisite tracery of frost on the panes * and, perhaps, pen a sonnet to the tender pitter patter of hail on the roof or the soft susuration of the wind that comes from Ruapheu’s pallid flanks.—l etc, etc., ALICE. Waiouru, November 18.

BAY OF PLENTY SEAT

(To the Editor.) I Sir, —For sheer arrogance the letter by “Cynic” is a prize winner and : bears out what I have frequently said, that in lair New Zealand we have all the makings of Hitler’s Gestapo. Probably 60 per cent of Bay of Plenty electors are anti-Labour. Quite right, “Cynic,” you can’t fool all the people all the time, as the Bay of Plenty voting will show. I am anti-Labour because I am fully persuaded that the Labour ! policy must in the end bring the decent working man to misery, and I ; hold no brief for any money-making : employer who exploits the workers, j The boot, however, is on the other j foot, for the unionists are now exploiting the employers. The purchasing power of the pound is now j 10s 9d, and higher wages and in- j creased pensions must obtain; this , will decline the pound still further. —I am, etc., W. P. KENAH. Raglan, November 17.

HALL IN ALMA STREET

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The Hamilton Borough Council is determined to go ahead with the “doll’s house” and is going to pay £250 for a bit of land in Alma \ Street. An amendment was put to : the meeting not to go ahead with it, i but it was lost by eight votes to five, j I hope those who voted for the amendment will fight hard to stop such a hall as the Mayor suggests i being erected. It will not be one thing or the other. I cannot see for the life of me what the Mayor is trying to do with such ideas in a lovely 1 town like Hamilton. This town hall for which I am ! lighting was promised for 1941, so : > why not keep to the mark? May I ; make a suggestion to the Borough ; Council to resign and let someone J else take over the management and ! run the town as it ought to be run.— \ I am, etc., J. MOODY. ! Hamilton, November 8.

“INSULATING SELFISHNESS”

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I am not going to make a j critical review of the letter under j the above caption over the signature of T. E. McMillan, but wish to refer j only to one statement, namely, j “While the few are becoming richer ! and richer, masses of the people are necessarily growing poorer and j | poorer.” That is virtually the Marx- j ian theory; it is universally quoted j and accepted as a truism. But is it? . It cannot be substantiated by a refer- j ence to statistics. Between 1840 and 1890 the average : wages of British workers rose by 81 i per cent, while during the same period the cost of living rose 11 per cent. The masses of the people were not becoming poorer and poorer. Even H. G. Wells admits this. While researching in the Auckland library I came across well documented and tested figures, proving that in Britain j small investors (people with incomes ! below £3OO a year) held investments 1 totalling £3,800,000,000. That does not look like becoming poorer and poorer. How much invested capital was held by the same class of people i a century ago? Large accretions of wealth are to- ! day held not by individuals but by 1 companies. The masses of capital are j larger; so is the total capital handled ! by the wage and salary-earning j classes; and the ratio is steadily 1 changing in favour of the latter. j The proposition stated by Mr Me- ! Millan cannot stand up to statistical ‘ criticism. It falls into the category of propaganda.—l am, etc., A. WARBURTON. Ngaruawahia, November 18.