CORRESPONDENCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2196, 27 September 1907, Page 1

CORRESPONDENCE.

TOO MANY HOLIDAYS. [To the Editor.] Sir, —Will you kindly allow mo space, on behalf of the navvies employed on the construction of the railway line, to protest against the Government forcing an unnecessary holiday on us on account of the changing of the name of the colony. We are loyal and patriotic enough when proper occasion arises. We would even go to the extent of defending New Zealand against an enemy with our pick handles; but we do not care twopence if the place where we dwell is called a colony or a Dominion. ' Our life is one long struggle to gain a home and living for our families, arid'if we are obliged to bo idle on fine days as well as wet, the struggle is hopeless. To-day is Dominion Day, and we are idle. Not so the storekeeper and' butcher—they are not obesrving a holiday—while we sit and bite our fingers wondering how we are going to pay for our “tucker.” This is “God’s own country.lsn’t there room for working people in it ?—I am, etC "’ NAVVY. To ICaraka September 26. BRITISH SEAMANSHIP. [To the Editor.] Sir,— Kindly allow a “Squarehead” through the medium of your valuable columns to enlighten ‘‘Grummet on the cause of not more than 50 per cent of Britishers manning British shipping. Besides other sup.erior points and virtues of which a Britisher has got more than any other nation —according to his own ideas of his “infallibility”—it must be remembered that he knows what is the most payable occupation; and of course empire-building is the most easy and congenial; viz., loot, free trips, 5s per day, decorations, pensions and lofty statutes to his blessed memory, as instanco the Boer war. On the other hand, sailoring, having none of the above-mentioned advantages, is at a discount, and justly so. Let me inform Grummet that the Britisher can teach us nothing relating to duty and ability in whatever calling —I am, etc., “SQUAREHEAD.” September 26th.