CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 309, 29 December 1892, Page 2

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

The Amatedr Athletic Club and A.O.F Sports.—Mr E. Nordon, Hon. Secretary of the A.O.F. Sports' Committe, writes with reference to the refusal of the Amateur Athletic Club to allow their members to enter for the Boxing Day sports. He says :—"I agree with the Club's rules that no members shall run with professionals also that they shall handicap and start thsir own men for all events, but, sir, is it not Trades Unionism (orshall I say tyranny) of the most virulent kind to infringe on the personal liberty of their members, to debar them from running in a race carried on in strict conformity with the Club's rules? Looking at it in another light, are we so much lower than the promoters of the Eieht Hours' Sports that the Committee will not allow its members to run with our members? I look on ib, sir, as a gratuitous insult to a large section of the Auckland community (and ib is admitted that the A.O.F. and the Caledonians are a large section). If we wish to overthrow this monopoly, then the time has arrived for the Friendly Societies Conference to arrange for a yearly demonstration, carried out under free and democratic rules, and nob as an affair that is governed by a few to the disadvantage of the majority. I _ay mention that a°kindred society (the Caledonians) ate in precisely the same fix, inasmuch us the club's veto has made it necessary for them to alter their programme." The Comet.—Mr G. F. Grierson considers it surprising that with free education so general, anyono should have been alarmed by the prediction that the comet which was recently observed in the sky would come into collision with the earth. He says: «' By referring to any small text book on astronomy ib would be seen bhab the majority ot comets only contain a small mass of solid matter, perhaps several tons, bub possibly even pounds only. In 1861 we passed trough the tail of a very brilliant comet, with no evil results. And again in 1776, a poor comet became bewildered amongst Jupiter's moons without disturbing the equanimity of those satellites in bhe slightest degree. But not so with the comet, for it was thrown completely out of its ordinary path, and has never properly recovered. In fact, the tails of comets, though in some instances they are of tremendous length, e.g., 60,000,000 miles, yet may only weigh a iew ounces or pounds ! ! Thib is because they are composed of gas in an extremely rarefied condition. So that we see, thab if a comet did strike the earth (which casualty I personally believe the Creator never intends), the result would only be disastrous to a very small area of the earth's surface." While our correspondent is quite accurate in stating thab it may be accepted as proved that the mass ot a comet is very small just how small there is no evidence to shew —the head may for aught astronomers know to the contrary, contain a solid mass a hundred miles in diameter. Although small compared with the mass of the earth, such a projectile would work terrible destruction if ib plunged into our planeb abthe terrific rate of speed at which these bodies travel. Or the head of a comet may be composed of large numbers of meteors weighing a ton or more apiece, which, in collision, would expose the earth to a destructive bombardment. The probabilities, however, favour our correspondent's conclusion thab collision with the head of a comob in space, tho chances of which are, of course, infinitesimal, would be as harmless as contacb with a cometarv tail, once dreaded, but which has already taken place without) tho inhabitants'of the earth being disturbed in tho slightest degree.

Poverty and its Cause. —Mr John John»on, referring to the remarks made by the Hon. W. Jennings on the occasion of the presentation of an address by citizens, says : " Mr Jennings is reported to have said that to provide for tho poor of England the deer parks of the wealthy shouFd be converted to agricultural'and pastoral purposes. If they should do so, it would be a woeful day, not only for the poor of England, but for the poor of tho Australasian colonies and a considerable part of the civilised wqrld. According to published accounts foreign countries and the colonies pay annually to London bondholders tribute to tho extent of £131,000,000, chiefly in produce. Of this sum New Zealand contributes £3,000,00 C chiefly in pastoral and agricultural produce. Cannot Mr Jennings see at a glance that if the produce of English fields ware doubled they could not take our wool, mutton, grain and dairy produce, and that consequently wo could not pay the tribute. The next consequence would be that we could not pay for our imports, this would cause great stagnation in the manufacturing districts of England, all this degradation and suffering of the wonting classes would have to be endured without in the least benefiting the'landowner or capitalist. Mr Jennings is likewise in error in thinking labour-saving machinery is the chief cause of poverty in New Zealand. While one set oi men are exercising their ingenuity inventing labour-saving machinery another sot are counteracting their effects by inventing fictitious and artificial occupations, just as naval engineers are inventing steel plates to withstand cannon ball, and then inventing ball to penetrate them."

Band Competitions, — " Bandsman " says :—" Having been interested in brass bands for several years, I have, on frequent occasions, often thought that bandsmen should combine together and form a society similar to the Caledonian Society, for by so doing it would undoubtedly tend to bring brass music more before the public, at the same time cause tho competition for prizes to become interesting, and ailbrd considerable encouragement for the young performers of our various bands. At present there is absolutely nothing that offers to improve bhe average standard or style ot playing, which ab ptesenb exists amongst our bands, but by having a band society it undoubtedly would improve the execution of all performers by giving them an opportunity to hoar all the best performers, being something to copy in the different styles thab are certain to be dolivored ab such competitions. Since the Home bands have adopted the band contest on such an extensive scale as at present it had improved the amateur bands ,1 hundred j.er cent, both in style and execution ; in fact, it is mainly owing to the contests that the high state of proficiency has been acquired. What I strongly advocate is that if, say once a year, all the Auckland bands were to amalgamate and organise sports with piizes for all the leading solo instruments, in combination with athletic sports, I feel quite confident they would be well patronised by the uencral public, for I think it would be far preferable to the wild scream of the bagpipes, which at present exists with the Caledonian Society. During the athletic spurts there could be a band contest inaugurated, thus affording ample recreation and amusement for all spectators."

Sir Georoi- Gbey's Curios in the Art Gallery.— Mr W. Greetishields writes: '■ I beg to caii our worthy Mayor's attention to the condition of the above curios. Some of these are historically, while others nre both histories'!)- and intrinsically, valuable. In their present condition, they are comparatively ot lift c interest to strangers, but if each article had affixed to it a printed descriptive label, as it ought to have, the collection would be of the deepest interest to all and sundry. The larger articles outside the cases could easily have cardboard descriptive labels attached to them, large and small articles, stating what they are, and hoc tho articles came into Sir George Grey's possession, Ib is sincerely to be hoped that this invaluable

collection of curios will be retained in the Art Gallery, so that all of Sir George Grey's collections may be found in the one building."

Newm.ap.ket Street-watering.—" Taxpayer" inquires: "Why clothe Borough of Newmarket water their streets on very wet days, such as the 3rd December and many duys equally wet."