THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 85, 11 April 1931, Page 8

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By. THE MAN ABOUT TOWN ) You were asked herein not to squander so much pity on the poor, who persist in being cheerful, but to consider the miseries of the rich. Quite recently PLAGUE OF CASH, there was the case of the young man who at the age of twenty-one became possessed of a quarter of a million pounds. By the expeit help of human sponges he dissipated the whole before he was twenty-five and then blew his brains out (or at lea-st blew a hole in the place where his brains should have heen). Then there is poor Selina Thompson, who has been driven out of England to Canada, where she is apparently hiding. Selina drew a. sweep prize of twentv thousand pounds. She was so pestered with begging letters from people who desired to relieve her of her miseries that she stole aboard a ship under an assumed name and went to Canada. Selina, however, has a quaint way of hiding her identity, believing, no doubt, that the publication of her photograph, her English address and a column of print with lovely headlines will put the hunters off their game. Selina's little daughter also tries to hide her identity by telling the Press all about her mothers too, that she lias postponed her own wedding until the begging letters cease. The story of Selina rather reminds one of the public man who, to the reporter meeting him on the incoming liner, said: "No! ( No! I hate publicity. lam here incog. _My name is Hiram P. Potts, of Cincinnati, U.S.A. Not a word to the public! Ydu'll find everything you musn't print in this," handing the reporter twelve foolscap sheets of typescript about the man who Wished to remain unheralded, unsung and unphotographed.

PERSONALITY OF

THE WEEK.

Mr. Joseph Elmsley Broadfoot, secretary and treasurer of the Auckland Institute for the Blind, was born in Wellington fifty-five years ago and educated NO. 192. in Auckland. The family to which he belongs is an old New Zealand family with seventy-five years' history of the country. Mr. Broadfoot's father fought in the Taranaki war. Young Broadfoot began work in ISSB in the Auckland post office and served for forty years in the service. He was chief postmaster at Christchurch when he retired and took up the position his training so well fits him to hold. Yes, he has hobbies—his growing family and his growing garden.

Excited citizens at various moments during the last moon or two have burst into publicity with stories of fortunes made by mushrooms. It seems that they can be MUSHROOMS. trained and •'brought up

by hand. With the aid of bricks of spawn, darkness and determination a paddock soon becomes starred with this favourite 'ephemera, and wealth apparently comes pouring in. Of course, there is a catch in it. You have to get your mushroom to the palate of the populace before the oth§r fellow, and, incidentally, you have to reap your mushroom before the other fellow drives his car your way. A time comes when a phethora of this sudden vegetable renders it a relative bore. For instance, a complainant mentions that on a recent day a relative brought him a large basketful of lovely : mushroom buttons, sweet as a nut, with pink gills and white overcoats. There were so many that he awarded a portion to neighbours. Later in the day his uncle called with a large paper bag full of mushrooms. They were accepted in the spirit in which they were tendered. They were but half-skinned by the household staff when Auntie and the girls knocked to ask if complainant desired any mushrooms, and deposited a kit bulging with these treasures. They were added to the phalanxes of mushrooms already dotting the dwelling. Visions of rows of vessels of mushroom ketchup were floating before the mind's eye of the harassed housewife when the postman called with two parcels of' mushrooms, one from grandfather further north and one from a solicitor, who had been surprised into this fearful expression of generosity by the payment Of - his costs. In all, if the mushrooms had 'been set curve to curve they would have made a chain round a six-roomed 'bungalow (including the washhouse). The complainant explained his lateness at work thU morning by saying that mushrooms taku longer to cook than bacon. "* Dear i|)A.T., —In perusing a back number of the "Auckland Star" issued at the time of Sir Joseph Ward's death, 1 observed amongst other photographs of the TIMI KARA. late Liberal leader one of the Ward Cabinet of some twenty-seven years ago. Amongst the group was the greatest of our Maori orators, Sir James Carroll. The first time I had the pleasure of listening to him speak was in the historic old Municipal Hall, tly> Rotunda, in Dublin, about the year 1904. Sir James was at Home on official bxisiness in London, and' during his stay he visited Ireland on the invitation of the Leader of the Irish Parliamentary party, John Redmond. An official reception was held in honour of'Timi in the Round Room of the Rotunda, and I had the good luck to accompany my cousin, who was connected with politics in the city, and through his influence I managed to get. to the meeting. After a variety of stump speeches, etc., Sir James' turn arrived lo address the meeting. Never shall I forget that moment; he spoke, on the ambitions of the Irish people to have Home Rule established. He held the assembly spellbound with a flow of eloquence that was seldom heard in that historic building, and for three hours he dealt with every phase of Irish history; "you could have heard the pro-, verbial pin drop from beginning to end of his speech. Twenty years later I again met Timi, this time in Auckland in 1924. May the sod lie lightly on one of the greatest orators who ever spoke the English language—lrish Exile.