PIONEERING THE PUMICE
To the Editor, "The Listener" Sir,-While thanking you most sincerely for the generous space which you have given me, may I be permitted a brief reply to the criticisms of " Piri Piri"-a notoriously prickly party also known as Hutiwai: and I trust I shall not be accused of bad language if I quote the scientific name Acena Sanguisorbe. My book is not a political work. Only here and there in fragmentary asides I utter with no uncertain sound views which may not be popular. That aspect does not appeal to me. All that interests me is the truth. And many truths are elemental-e.g.: " The whole is greater than its part," though Labour Unions say "It does not interest us that the whole produce of industry is £1: we require 25/- for our share." I am not afraid of being called a conservative. Why is it that in private business a conservative policy is praiseworthy while in politics a liberal distribution of the public fruits is the only means of securing the votes necessary to success? It is a mistake to suppose that I have said anything against old age pensions: but the flood of pensions of all sorts has increased, is increasing, and must be diminished. The toiler, the adventurer, the saving, the successful are thereby robbed for the "protection" and "security" of the indolent, the faint-hearted, the squanderers and the failures. If "Piri Piri" can visualise prosperity with sanctity of contract abolished he is far more imaginative than I. If anyone is aggrieved by my politics I am able and willing to show him where he is wrong. My quotation relative to the Civil Service is taken from the most humorous publication in the world and is, of course, a jocular exaggeration-the same as the saying "Half a loaf is not better than a Government job." Your reviewer seems particularly interested in the amount of my capital. When I bought Broadlands I was worth about £20,000, a sum insufficient for the purchase and development of so great an area: but I made it do. . My book stands as a record of achievement. Yours, etc.,
E. EARLE
VAILE
Auckiand, February 13, 1940,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 36, 1 March 1940, Page 10
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365PIONEERING THE PUMICE New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 36, 1 March 1940, Page 10
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