RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 293, 10 December 1910, Page 16

RANDOM SHOTS

! * 'BY,,

A correspondent, who describes himCclf —or should it be herself ?—as an enthusiastic reader of " Random Shots," has Sent mc a cutting from tho "Daily Express," conveying the blissful tidings.that " the hobble skirt is dcad_" This note is apparently a graceful and -grateful recognition of Zamiel's humble- efforts in the direction of anathematizing that grotesque habiliment, and' I- hereby return "thanks. As to the disappearance of- the " hobble " or " toddle " skirt, it was, of course, only a question of time; but 1 am sorry to say it was not common sense or good taste that decided the day against it. Paris had always resented it, declaring it to be of American extraction, and therefore vulgar. But not even Paris had the moral courage to abolish it till accidents began to happen. The week before the last mail left Home there had been about a dozen accidents in -Paris, traced directly to this "hobble", monstrosity, and one was likely to prove ■fatal. Therefore, the edict had gone forth from the rulers of Fashion that the "hobble," skirt is to be banned. And in proof that it is really excommunicated at last, the " old clo' " shops in Paris are said to be full of '.' hobble "'Skirts awaiting sale —but nobody 'buys. In fact, so complete is the eclipse that certain authorities high in the Parisian soft-goods iwqrld have- actually proposed that the discarded,garments should be shipped en masse to " the colonies." I sincerely hope , they mean Algiers or Cayenne, and not Australia or New Zealand. «. ±±±±±±±±±± . While I m on the subject of Fashion, I imay observe that I have never implied, as one of my correspondents seems to "think, that' women monopolize all the affectations and follies' expended by the human race on dress. And I gather through recent advices from England and Australia that if men have not already, reached the same pitch of devotion to the! great goddess Fashion, they are not far behind. A Sydney paper has recently, expended a great deal of genuine emo.ition over the interesting fact that "colJars are going up." A brief survey of King-street or George-street at mid-d-.iy 3s said to reveal many specimens of humanity "wearing a.vacuous look "and a huge battlement of. starched linen.that looks like a white-washed wall round a lunatic asylum." Then as collars go up, cuffs are supposed to be turned up in exact proportion, and trousers correspondingly. Originally one turned up one's trousers to avoid mud or dust; then because it became the correct thing ,tp. do,it. But everybody imitated the fashion till it would have been disowned'

by "society" folk as vulgar long ago, if! it had not been for one. advantage-—! it gave you a chance of showing your; socks. And it is to this interesting Jiabit-that I trace the sudden explosion, of socks into the gorgeous and resplen-i dent hues that the two last summers' ■have witnessed. "You can see socks," says my Sydney informant, "which lookj like the result of various problems in I geometry worked out in reds and blues and greens and yellows on different backgrounds. You can see socks with stripes all ways, like the criss'-crosß coloured paper-work that you used to ■worry over at kindergarten school. .You can see socks like eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, like the Aurora Borealis, like haggis, like sauerkraut, like sticks of coloured candy. And you can see plain-colour socks, in new hues, which .would have been enough in the old daysj to turn a-Puritan.bandy-legged. . You can see .them all. You can almost -hear them sometimes.". And . when you re-! member that some' men insist on wearing'ties and shirts tt match their sotrks you have to admit that men cah't afford J >to make fun of girls for their devotion tb ithe Fashions. - - - ; 444£43__f_*£4

The" Wellington Education Board is evidently very much in earnest about its btisihess. The other day a member of "that august body, discussing the'frequent vacandes in the school staff on the feminine side, pointed out that tbey were chiefly duo to the ineradicable and •obstinate tendency of the average New, Zealand girl "to get'married, and -wanted to know if'no regulations could 'be devised that would, prevent tho girl teacher from deserting the educational flag in this perfidious fashion. Then' Somef body else pointed but that some of these girls who had plodged themselves to an educational, destiny didn't keep their 1 vows even through the initiatory'stages of their career, because he had. heard it asserted on credible authority that quite a large number of the girls at the Training College had, contracted the bale- j ,Jul.habit of wearing engagement rings.' Some of the members of the Board seemed to feel these facts acutely, and one gentleman indicated that he felt the dignity of the Board was, to some extent, compromised by the fact that it was practically acting as a matrimonial agent, without even demanding fees. But be could suggest no way out of the difficulty, and the majority gravely and Wisely decided to " let it go at that.'' After all, I don't see why an Education Board should 'be absolutely destitute of a sense of humour, even if it has altogether outgrown its own personal experience of the invincibility of what our forefathers called " the tender passion." i44_£*i4444 • A horrible extract from a recent cable —" Seventy-five per cent of the recruits, to the Canadian navy are affected with either tob_ucco heart or moving-picture eye." Now, " tobacco heart" I can understand, and I haven't much sympathy for " cigarette fiends." But the Movingpicture Eye is quite a different matter. Are we to understand that the bioscope or kincmatc.gi'aph, or whatever it ought to bo called, is really a menace to public health, a blow aimed by" science ut the national physique, and thus indirectly a peril to the whole Empire? If so, the sooner the rulers of the Empire get busy, and abolish the picture show, the ■better for all. concerned. I quite admit that s it.strains your eyes to look at a •biul k'metoscOpe. screen; but I never imagined.-that even n prolonged course on the American plan'would disqualify hmi ■ °*i - o!i } T ' m Z. .'■*»■' die for my native 'SfSv^** l " ""vest evil t-<£iv £ ("%? n We have |^ fr^l;.^;So^l^f Uf,S ■to the Bioscopie Eyo. It lv " ■ thai w, nave to pay a fairly Wv*"* 6 ■ for process noWadaya. / } ; tt?a^"P»ce