RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 46, 22 February 1913, Page 18

RANDOM SHOTS

__AMnE_?

\ ..is. l that has attracted some atten- ; t .! tring l:i»' week has heen that of! : ■■:::_■ lady who was alleged to have j ■ i revolver at a dentist. In thei .-.- court a magistrate considered that i . :• was sufficient evidence to warrant. .-[ :i conuniatii!.* the accused to stand' - tr..i : .it tilt l Supreme Court. But nil '.'.ind.iy the t.r.ui.l .Itiry found ""no bill." >. »-. the i.ran J .lury has before it only; I ...j -t'.r.v for the prosecution—the same' c- ider.ee, iad.-e.l. that the magistral. 1 ! on.-, icrs m lise I.■■.>..t .-ourt —and il j would be interiTtin™ to know on what: grounds it" 1 estimable and mature; gt—Lemen ot Lie 11 rand Jury differed ' tiorn the police magistrate. The firing ot a revolver, no matter what the attendant ! circumstances, or even provocation, cannot. I think, be to., fully investigated. I Ta_ ii no country in which to introduce a suspicion of the exercise of America's l " unwritten law."' and in any event the i defence of an accused 'n such a ease as j tbe one referred to should be placed be- j fore a common jury. xtri-r-r/T-f-ti-i: A correspondent employed ha.f a valuable c ■ iumii o; space in an issue this week to extol the action of lire- waterside j i\ --hers In -uspen.lintr operations on tiie' wharv.-s ou tin 1 occasion of tlie funeral! of a mate. Brieily. their action he charac- j t'-ri-ei] as an effective protest against an; Tfi-.it i.-factory system, and a more com-! mendable a.'tion than working on that- i day an.i handing tne proceeds—about! _",i>n- to the widow, i still differ from' him. If the system under which vessels j are ]..aded and unloaded presents undue, ri-ks to life and limb, the men should! refuse to observe it. and sh'.ul.l demand j the institution of the precautions that -hey depm necessary. To irrationally! h iii up the port for a day is not to achieve a step towards reform, but to j create a srnirce of reasonable irritation to I the commercial community. If 1 fall down an unprotected lift shaft in this buililing, I do not expect every employee to take a day off in consequence, and so suspend the issue of the public utility that this paper represents. If there existed an abuse in the working of the lift 1 wool! wish that my fellow-employees should see that it was remedied, and for the rest T would be grateful for any kind--t.'ss that th* l ;*- might be able to extend ti. my widow. .' t lea=t those are my living sentiments, and I do not see why -.hoy should alter, however sudden and unexpected my demise. __________ So much is written about the Englishman and his tub that we are prone to entertain the belief that we inherit the bathing habit from our ancestors. Such a theory receives a jolt from Lnvestiga-li-ms thai show that in one parish in Notting HTTI, a suburb of London, there is only one bath to 6.000 inhabitants, ami that in Bennondsey, with 19,0C0 Souses and 130,000 people, only 121 of tlie houses are fitted with bathrooms, and mast of these are in hotels. Now, while little can be said for the aristocratic associations of Bermondsey. on the south side of the Thames. Notting Hill is a te-s-pectable middle-class residential neighbourhood. Even in residences of the well-to-do the tab is to be taken literally. I nderneath yonr bed reposes a receptacle similar to a milk pan, only larger, and in the morning a neat maid trips in with a watering-can and. rescuing the pan from beneath the valances, prepares your tub. Personally, under such circumstances, being on the stout side, I always picture myself as a larger edition of the youngster stretching over the edge of the pa n for a cake of Pears' soap. _-_____:_*_-£ The age of extravagance against which we are warned by astute bankers is not t*u__ned .to this Dominion. English files covering the <__ri_t_ias period thai, came to hand by the Vancouver boat this week show that the demand lor gold coins constitutes a record, and on no previous Christmas had so much gold been withdrawn from the banks. Ba_k managere see in this signs of the hatri*. of the age—the habit of spending money. "Never did people withdraw so much, money." said a bank manager, "'and never, T feel sure, did they spend so much at Christmas as they are d-oin-o----■£h_ ye_r."' The modern itendencv to live at a ten-pound rate on a five-pound income permeates every section of the community, and unless we curb it many of us are going to wonder shortly where "the bare necessities are to come from. I was told the other day of three farmers rehired locally, the best off of whom could not "clean up" for more than £25.000, who have each invested in a car worth close on £1,000. At present they don't recognise that they can't afford it, .but it won't be so long before light dawns on them. Comparatively a non-manufacturing country, we cannot afford the luxuries that take money out of New Zealand. If the cash were expended locally on the pleasures of life, once set rolling we all -would have a chance of passing it through our hands — even you and I, dear .reader t but once sent abroad money has to be charmed back by wool and butteT and grain, and the sweat of the brow that their production entails. A number of London business houses have issued regulations against the wearing of the open-work stocking and the peka-boo blouse by female employees during business hours- Indeed, they -have gone to the length of stipulating that all blouses must come close up to the throat, and must have no lace in front. The girls are accepting the restrictions in the .proper spirit. "At first I thought it unfair," said one, "that I should not be allowed to wear what I liked, but now I understand. Negative mles of this sort. I think, everyone will accept so long as there is no suggestion that business girls must wear any kind of uniform like girls in big shops ami waitre_3es." Anyone who stands in Queen' Street between the hours of five and sixi of .in evening will agree with mc titat there is urgent need for some such reform in this city. However freely a girl j may indulge a varied taste for finery out!

'.•" business hours, she consults her own !-- -t interests by adopting as simple and ni >J.:.~t a costume when at work as pc_=i: !-.-. Tlie more sensible of our girls are al«-sve reproach in this respect, and m uhers would be well advised to see that the loss sensible follow the good examples. To see a young girl with her bud-ding charms displayed with n__y of the tricks and subterfuges known to the lady of the London West End is to conceive a disagreeable fear as to the future of a cor_ad_-_ble section of the rising g§n era—ion.