RIDER HAGGARD

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 113, 15 May 1925, Page 6

RIDER HAGGARD

Rider Haggard i? dead, and the minds of million? go bark to scene? in "King Solomon's Mine?." "She." and "Allan

Quartermain." There have been greater writers whose deaths have quickened fewer memories. How many of us there are who can remember boyhood hours thrilled with the fighting scene? in "King Solomon's Mines"— 'Twain the one-

eyed, the black, the terrible." and that amazing combat between Curtis and the beaten king; the death of thp witch and the entombment of thp explorers in thp diamond chamber: the undersrotind rivpr journey in "Allan Quartermain,'' and how Umslopogaas lipid thp stair: and all "She's" exotic and occult romance that culminated in the dreadful scene in the cavern of the rolling fire. To some of us the dark of hprl

was terrible after some of these chapters. "For the sea you will use Clark Russell." wrote Sir Arthur Quiller- ( ouch in 1S91: "for the East. Ru.lvard Kipling: for Blood. Haggard.'' Blood indeed wa? a characteristic of his storips. He was not a f,r?t-ratp writpr. but he was a remarkable romancer, and perhaps one of hi? book?, "King Solomon's Mines." is entitled to tbe decoration "great.'' Andrew Lang declared it to be worth all the rc?t of tbe year's novels, and time has justified the judgment to thp extent that it ha? refused to let thp book die. Haggard had the advantage of knowing Africa when great stretches of it were unexplored, and he peopled those part? with fascinating creations of his imagination. Since then the w-hite man has opened up all these territories. 1,,., found no beautiful white queens, ami the Haggard nf to day who sets out to weave a romance of the interior is under tbe handicap of knowing that there is no mystery of the unknown. Since, however, mankind loves romance and adventure it will go on enjoying the original Haggard's stories.

"The bones of Agamemnon are a show, and ruined is his royal monument," and scholars argue whether there wa? such a per-on as Helen or whether the Trojan war was not waged about mere trade, but the story of the Greeks before Troy a? told by Homer is still a delighl t'.,

"This has nothing tn d'"> with the milk business—it. belongs to the red hprring tradp." remarked Mr. Justice .Mpprs dur ing a trial at thp Supreme Court to-day. when counsel for two mpn connected with a creamery was cross-examining a witness as to weight of buttcrfat an,; other details, referred to by bis Honor n.< "tiresome." A minute or so later, th' cross-examination having continued on tbe same lines, bis Ht.tsor said. "I thinkthat the red herring is almost beginning to—er (sniff)—go stale!" (Laughter., A statempnt tplpgrapbed from Christchurch to the effect that a young engineer was being taken as a lpppr patipnt to Quail Island, "after six months in thp .Auckland Hospital." wa? to-day brought under the notirp of Dr. Hughe's. Medical Officer of Health. Dr. Hughe? declared thp rpport to be erroneous, as thp man had only bpen kept under observation at the hospital for about a wppk. ppnding arrangements being made for his reception at the Quail Island leper station. Previous to his complaint being diagnosed and to his bping takpn to isolation quarters at tbe hospital, be bad been under private treatment. The patient is a white Xew Zealander. but had been employed at Fiji where he is presumed to have contracted the complaint.

Owing to the breaking of a pisfon-rcd on the locomotive the S.l_ train from Onehunga was held up at Ellerslie. and blocked tbe main line for a long spell this morning, several subsequent trains from the outer suburbs being delayed at Penrose and beyond. It was not until 9.50 that another engine, obtained from Penrose, was coupled and the traffic resumed. There was an amusing interlude at Green Lane, when, just as a citybound tram car was about to move from the corner a crowd of from twenty-five to thirty people came running along at top speed from the railway station. Tbe car waited until all were aboard, and there were numerous exchanges of wit between the tram habituees and those of the train, the latter having somewhat the worst of it. possibly owing to their breathlessness and inability to satisfactorily account for the failure of their ordinary means of locomotion. The scene was repeated at Market Road, where another crowd from the Remuera station was waiting, and thp tram proceeded to the. city aowded to capacity.

An application was made to Mr. F K. Hunt. S.M.. to-day, at the Magis-

Urate's Court, for the increase of a Imaintenance order in respect to a child. ! Air. S. I. Clarke represented the mothpr. land .Mr. J. .1. Sullivan appearpd for the father. There were thrpp children, one j was illegitimate, one belonged to a I former wife, and the third to the preI spnt wife. Mr. Hunt held that the order I ought not to be increased from the I present rate of ten shillings per week. j "Over £1.000.000 worth of fruit i? proIduced in the Auckland province annually, 'and none of it is exported." said Mr. (>. jA. Green, at the annual conference of Auckland fruitgrowers to-day. He was 'talking alKiut thp Board of Control which j deals with the export of fruit only, ar.d I urged members of the conference and j fruitgrowers generally to look after their own interests in a hotter manner. Later in the course r.: his remarks be stated that New Zoalajid produc"d approximately £3.000.00(1 of fruit and byproducts, of which huge sum only about ' £230.000 worth was exported. I Flying in an aeroplane, thousands of : foef above tortuous, almost impassable i roads in North Queensland. Dr. Shep- . herdson, health officer tn the Clonrurry 1 Shire Council, was cnahlpd to rpach the stricken residents of the Duchess and Mount T?a mining field? and inoculate them against an epidemic of typhoid t>cor. The journey took only a few bout?, whereas by 'road it would have taken two days. "You cannot blame my mother for thi? .case, a? she told mc I ought to go hack I to my husband." was Ihe frank admission lof a woman at the Maintenance Court I this morning, while in another case, the I statement was made by Counsel that. I the wife's mother was the cause of all the trouble. That valuable area, the Civic Square site, gives every proirnse of making a \ery tine lawn right in Inn heart of the the ground, and though there is an -,tiddly large amount of or. s sprinkled here and there this will not lv> noticed when Ithe mower gets busy. 'there has only bepn one notice on I be site, that which | announced the polling date, but all rroing well the next notice should read "Keep off the Crass."

"That the fruit district over which Mr. ■'. W. bollard hold? jurisdiction be subdivided, and at least one other instructor be appointed," was a remit moved hv the Henderson delegates at thp Auckland Fruitgrowers- Provincial Con ferenre today. It was decided to forward the resolution to the Dominion Conference which will la- held in Wellington on -Tune 10.

The son of the Dean of Christchureh. Mr. (baric? ( arringtnn. has bpen offered a travelling scholarship from the Universities' Bureau of the British Empire. Up will recpive a first-class return ticket to New Zealand for six month?. and he is asked to collect material for a monograph on the early history of New- Zpaland. He hopes to arrive in Christchureh in August, and to return to England in time to take up his dutip? a? a master at Haileybury < ollere. in January.

Answering question? in regard to thp halancp-shpct of thp N.Z. Fruitgrowprs' Epdpration at to-day's confprencp of thp Auckland Provincial Fruitgrowprs' Association. Mr. H. E. Napier, secret a rymanagor stated that there were no had debts and the balance-sheet bad been passed by the Government Auditor as hping correct. Delegates ivnrr most complimentary in their remarks at this result, particularly when it nas mentionprl that the trading account amounted to £20.654.