ONE-MAN CARS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 43, 14 January 1921, Page 8

ONE-MAN CARS.

The citizens of Invercargill will read with considerable interest and trepida,tion, the report of the meeting of the T'own Council on Tuesday night when it appeared that the Council on ordering some one-man tramcars from America had not stipulated in the contract that fare-boxes shoijjd be fitted on the cars capable of receiving English money. The "Johnson" fare-box deals only with American money, and the contractors in America, finding they have no box capable of handling English coins, elaim that the fare-box is not an essential part of the one-man car. We wish the Council every success in its

efforts to overcome the difficulty. The Traffic-Manager, Mr Glancefield, is optimistic, but it is a pity that no report from him was submitted to the meeting and published in the press. The citizens of tffis town are cpming to rely more on the experts whom they employ than on the amateurs who direct our civic affairs. The blunder — if it is a blunder — on the part of the Council is of a sort that is familiar enough to the Digger. The army is the nursery of idiotic actions, yet there never appears to be any definite person to blame. The writer recalls a conversation some time ago with the captain'of a large Home boat which was employed on one trip to carry ffive British railway engines to Salonika. The skipper point'ed out to the Loading Officer that he had no cranes strong enough to lift these engines out of the hold when the boat reached her destination, and asked if the transport officer had any information as to what cranes could be obtained at Salonika. The latter replied that „ he had no information on the point and the extent of his business was merely to see that the engines were put aboard. Sure enough on his arrival the skipper was unable to get the engines unloaded, but after a week's delay a French ship arrived, with a powerfnl crane, and was able to tranship the engines and land them on the wharf. The

engines were then found to be too large to go through the tunnels. The Returned Soldiers' Association is engaged in a hopeless battle with the Honourable D. H. Guthrie over the matter of soldiers' homes. As every Digger knows, the Government broke its promise to returned soldiers in the matter of providing soldiers' homes. Never in the history of New Zealand Parliament has there been a more deliberate breach of faith on the part of the Government in fulfilling its pledges. Returned soldiers were promised. definitely and unequivocally, that the benefits of the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act would remain available nntil a year's notice was given of their curtailment. There were plenty of returned soldiers foolish enough to believe the promise, but last year they were astounded to read Mr Guthrie's announcement that although the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act remained unrepealed no furtber monies would be provided, except in "special circumstances," to returned soldiers to buy homes. Monies will still be advanced to build houses, but while a really comfortable house can be purchased for well under £1000, the veriest hovel costs that figure to build. So the Government having wriggled out of its promise and made a plaything of the returned soldier, states that under "special circumstances" it will advance monies to purchase. At the last meeting of the N.Z.R.S.A. the Minister was closely questioned as to what were the "special circumstances" of which he spoke. He refused to give any definite answer, and when speeific instances were cited he refused to say whether they came under the heading of "special circumstances." So • far as" we know no instructions have been issued to Land Boarda as to what "special circumstances" gntitle a soldier to have his application approved. We do know that a soldier who was in hospital until the benefits of the Act were curtailed was informed by the Land Board that he could get no assistance to purchase a dwelling. So we wish our headquarters all success in their campaign against the Government in the interests of homeless soldiers. Against the German or the Turk we back our comrades to win ever-y time, but the politician is a more subtle foeman, and he holds all the cards.