RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS

The question of the moment is: Will Auckland's fish have a banana flavour? "When a certain type of lady gets together after a regretted separation." Is this another feat of modern surgery, or does the lady reassemble herself without help? "New Governor of New South Wales." "Sir Philip Game." Remembering the experiences one or two of his predecessors have had, some people may say Sir Philip is indeed "game." "Soldier's Farewell," "Governor Addresses R.SA." Hie Excellency's farewell was of course taken in his usual gracious and sympathetic manner. It bore no resemblance to the "soldier's farewell" of war-time. "Even if the law is an ass, we do not want to make it such a confounded idiot as to be obvious," said Mr. Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court. Everything in moderation, as it were. Australia has sheep runs, where New Zealand has sheep farms, says an Australian visitor. But it's the number of sheep that counts. On some Australian sheep runs you may run a long way before you see a sheep. Reports published this week showed that a great deal has been done in relief of the earthquake sufferers in the South Island. On the same day there appeared news of another earthquake. There's nothing tactful about Nature. A New Lynn slot telephone sometimes "returns threepence for twopence." If ijj is like other slot telephones, it does not return the money to the user who inserted it, but to someone who has done nothing to deserve it. Another injustice to Oireland. . "The four years of war left Britain in debt to the extent of £7,000,000,000." There is a controversy among historians on the question of who caused the war. With these figures in mind, they> might be better employed in deciding who won it.

After some weeks of ■ negotiation it appears that some of the world's great statesmen believe that the only way to limit navies is to build more warships. This, surely, will convince the man in the street 'that the problem is far beyond his comprehension.

Deploring the disagreements between Australia and New Zealand on tariff matters, a Victorian manufacturer says that what is wanted is "an economic Anzac." This is a high-sounding terra, but—let Australia start by admitting our potatoes. A number of Auckland business men regularly attend at the Aero Club's headquarters for early morning classes. "These commence at 5.30, and unpunctuality is almost unknown." Perhaps the unpunctuality starts at the office later in the morning. There is no other game like cricket. A team will travel thousands of miles, taking weeks on the journey, but on meeting jts opponents it will not be allowed to finish the match with them. This is an example of the subtlety of the game which no non-cricketer can ever understand. The Samoan problem is really very simple. Some New Zealanders think their country's administration of Samoais so good as" to be angelic, and they may be right, but the trouble is that the Samoans cannot recognise an angel when they see one. "I seem at last to hear the first faint, but unmistakable, reverberations of the death knell of jazz," says an English music critic. It seems unlikely that the death of /jazz"will be knelled. Its death note will have something with kettledrums and saxophones in it. "Stockincless tennis players were in evidence at the New Zealand championship tournament at Miramar, and the innovation provoked no official comment." If there had been comment, it would have been interesting, but not nearly so interesting as the players' retorts. Of the last wrestling match it is reported that "it was a 'he-man' battle from start to finish. The number of heavy crashes taken by each man was a feature," and "the attendance was a modest one." No doubt the spectators were wise to be modest. They had in the ring in front of them an example of what might happen if they were aggressive.

Definite arrangements for construction work at the southern end of the South Island Main Trunk railway have been made by the Public Works Department. Twenty-five married men are being selected to-day, and they will be followed by a further batch of 25 married men." The Department is wise in choosing married men. If the construction is to be done by such numbers as are mentioned, it is right that the men undoubtedly should have their wives and families with them. They are likely to be a long time on the job.

There has been some comment on the fact that although the M.C.C. team is playing against a number of provincial sides, all of whom are hopelessly outclassed, the duration of the Test matches, in which the visitors meet worthy opponents, is limited. Agains this is the argument that the visus of srood players to country centres have '"educational value." I wonder. At the end of a day of frantic fielding, a team of country players may be convinced that, eay, Mr. Duleepsiriliji is a thumpgood batsman, but I doubt that they have had time to notice how he does it.

"It "was decided to give the matter further consideration-" Have you ever appreciated the amount of "considering that must be going on in New Zealand all the time? A Cabinet Minister goes on tour, hears hundreds of deputations, and promises to give them all "full" or "earnest" or "sympathetic' consideration. Public bodies every day defer decision on problems, because further consideration must be given them. Now, as they arc all honourable men, it follows that public men must spend most of their .days "considering" weighty and as soon as they ha\e "considered" one lot, there is another to on. The remarkable thing is that our public men make so light of this mental burden. Seeing some of them, one would never imagine that every minute of the day they were "considering" tilings*.