RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 179, 27 July 1912, Page 15

RANDOM SHOTS

by zamiel

Foir.c B-rlif-valii Umi.-ln f«.r nc(»:fnl r-ash, Koaif write t,. i-l-.:-.- ;ii" c,iu:ti.v t!a s u, Ai.il raw .: iliii. For u;c. :::; iili;. 1 ii">-.t VasliI Hiilu for ft.Sl. 1 f.:.J '.■> my regret th.it I hive omitted '.'■' noike a I'DQimuniciiion from a c-jrrc-;)onJ''"i: who lock exception to i:ib co;iip.ir:-'iii 1 suggested sor.ie time bjo l-et.v-en Lord Husebery and .Mr. ilaasey. 1 was talking abou; the "lonely furrow," and my friend desires to point oat li-.al Mr. Massey has not been jiiough .:;. —r to vary ;he mo'.apiinr with anoiher •■;' I.nnl !:".-• ••>-y'- pMr.ises — com/ "fur..l iiri'i!'..i] liju.iewink ' .ill by ;, ■-μ-i:. T'l.ii i- .]■.:,. :-,,,. lir I ,iijn': mean !•■> ■'" a'iy inju.-i: ■■ to th. , -Ke-I'onii'-r-" v.i.i i.a\e .Luck .-.i fa'ihfu!!y i-, t'r.p "K:ii:!i: of franklin" all iiie"i> vpjrf. .in! hnve n--w iiaiir.n veiy Sf-cn!;-Sn2 ~rrr~ .! iiitu ilie fruit- of t !n.-i"i- !•>■ botir?. But my friend >Ikimli| r<».-ognifn ;ha: :i;"iir-. uf i-prri'h .-.houldn't be interpreted ■.•'" !:'er.i!ly. Yon >,-c. if he in6 is,'= on ;.ik : ng mi metaphor about the furrow cpiite "verbalini" l.c will in-i-t next '..'i.'.t I really* meant that Mr. liasser is exactly 'he -ime sun of per.-on as' Lord 110-eHery. Well I didn'tbecai].=n —but perhaps I had better leave the reaEons to the imagination of mv unnecessarily perturbed correspondent. I observe that th? good peopl ■of Christchurch are instituting a crusade against, the common house-fly— Curious. Thirsty Fly," as the early Victorian poet pathetically sings. Well, the on? and only way to get rid of this favourite domestic pest is to turn the rising generation loose upon it; and the only way to ri'j that is to oiler sutlicirotly substantial remuneration in the way of prizes and other pecuniary benefits for records in fly-kill 1 mention t lii-s because Christchurch doesn't seem to have risen yet to the lull height of its opportunities in this respect. According to latent advice.-, alter the preliminary anti-microbe rampaign engineered by doctors and infspectors and newspapers has run its course, the youth of Chrisiohurch are to receive individually cardboard boxes, which will each contain about a pint of dead flies, and the slaughter is to begin. The children are to deliver their pints of defun-ct animal life at various central depots, and the corpses are So be duly cremated, th» vhi'dren being paid on the munificent scale of one .penny per pint. Now as the Duke of Plaza loro said once under quite different vircumstances. "This is not enough." The average child in this, country thinks far too highly of his time, not to mention his physical energy. In "be prepared to slay Mies at the rate of one penny per pint, and the sooner i Christcburrh realizes this the belter for i all concerned. | ■ 4444444444 Xow. if you want to know how this sort of thing should be done, you have only to read the American newspapers, ■which have been discussing the extirpation of the house fiy of late with peculiar pusto. The public health authorities who ! 'Tan the fly "battues" in America last j year issued the most elaborate instructions as to the manufacture of fly traps, and the construction and use of "swatters" and other lethal weapons against ■ the tly: and the amount of trouble that! the children of America seem to have i taken over the extinction of the flies in j their immediate vicinity is .almost incredible. 1 may remark, in passing, that the heroic conduct of the boy who won the first prize in the Worcester (Mass.) j try-killing tournament, with a score of, 2.219,000 flies in 24 days, seems to roe a J "little marred by the fact that he con- I sciontiotisly baited his six large traps I with fish heads, -which, presumably, were j not always in the freshest possible ( >on- ! ion. There seems to be a screw loose j in the hygienic basis of the system ben-. ] But what I particularly want to mention j is this he was well paid for his trouble, j and jo were all the other prize-winners. ! The first prize in this contest was 100 I dollars, or £20, and there were ].■>.'; prizes, I of a total value of £130. Xow. fly-killing j at £20 a month is one thing, and fly- I killing nt a penny a pint is quite another: .and. therefore. I trust that if the i -killing habit is to bo encouraged here Auckland will develop a rather morn generous conception of what, undpr such circumstances, is due to the average boy. 444i-4ix4x4 'What curious people artists sometimes —or more poL.aly, I should say. what remarkable theories of art some, people profess. The very latest development I of "Art for Art's sake." i- what is tech- I nically known, so 1 millers!. as ''Futurism." The re.ison for the name apparently is that the kind of art the name represents ha.- never existed in i the past, and it doesn't reem to be finding ,i corafort.iWo pI.T. c for itself in f, O ■ Present, and then-fore it must be re-' legated to the Future. And the. main idea y> that the arti-.t must i lay most stress upon ev-.T.v detail l or feature in his picture tint lias ; appealed tn him m:\.i -.tronrily j:: ! tile or'TWi:i. "J'i.n-. if |i,i i. Vhieiiy ' absorbed in the eonten-.plrtin;, of a voting ' lady's eye wli he is painting ln'-r. lie p'-'es her a sort of Cyclcpertii npnear;:r.i<» i in her portrait. 'J'hi.J i-r.'t any cs:i,'y;n- i tion. I rnn as-ur" yon. Hi-re is w-ial mic °i the fouml-.Ts rf tliii new «-i;r; hn- got to sny for hlni-.eif: "W!i:>t we aim at i representing .ii o;ir panvii'rs are tin* I' sensations that !::;%,- been b-u in our j' minds aft-r ti.e person, or jirevt. or; object i- bcy.iT.d our virion. A lm«y ! thnrnui'ifari , i- ■■ nri-.'dle v!.-.inu. is it: r.ij. ? i|,'i;ii toppling blliltlin^ : . mot-Tsi thundering a long like r.iar : iijr i;.ius. An ! eye of a pretty girl or frightened j ■svnm.in is ill. , vita! >;nrk rf re- | tnen-c>r:iiic;' of this scene: or perhaps a , rpjpriT or sii.' v iciv of a f.ice is iftimititinL ! in t::- mind: if -o. It i< '':.n simply the] '■•. , ii: !":•■!■ :'ni is in-.Ti ''1 i:i ihr ;.iint-i' in,-. ]•'.,,- ir.-t'>r ■■<•. if we p.:ilii .i c.-ii j relatively i:ij'zi r i!:an :; I , mse. it ','• to i emphasise tin fnc: t';.it the i-;:'n i.- t!ie I Beading motive." Probably —1 wouldn't : like to dispute if. fitlt lam a conscrva- .' live person, md if I like to unl; at pic- ;• turrs that hr.ir some remote resembhmee l\ to the origir.nl a- rceii by the norm.tl '■}'<■■ '■ I can only plead in jus":fleati<>n that I ! em too old to start md live up to j' Futurism. 1 ;