THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 8

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By.THE MAN ABOUT TOWN.)

While all the world has had its raised to almost fever pitch over the birth of the Dionne quintuplets in Canada, and the Canadian Government has OUINTUPLETS. taken a hand in the welVU fare of the wee ones, even going so far as to take charge of them, there appears in a seven-line paragraph in the London "Daily Express" mention of the fact that the fifty-year-old wife of a Chinese gardener had recently given birth to tuplets at a village near Tangshan. 'there are three boys and two girls in the buncl. There is no mention of the Chinese Government adopting the children, and the little mother will probably be told that she brought all the trouble on herself and can look after her offspring. Those who know China can picture the quintuplets in a few'years time as the crew of a sampan, with the girls doing the work 011 board.

■ Dear M.A.T., —The circumstances surrounding the first discovery of gold in the Dominion are very interesting. Many years ago, before the 'fifties, a EARLY GOLD, pakelia crossed the Southern Alps and went "native" with the Maoris at Arahura. He was evidently a fugitive from justice. And his crime must have been a serious one. Probably the came in a whaler that had called into some cove. All the Maoris knew about him was that he called himself "Timi (Jimmy). One day he w<is exploring the bed of a creek that had dwindled to nothingness in a very dry season. He was after greenstone. "Timi," in bending down to pick up a piece of stone, saw the yellow metal shining in a small hole. He gathered it up. To the Maoris it had no significance. Had he been a ""free" man no doubt he could have turned the find to advantage. But he apparently dare not return to civilisation. When he died, to hide his identity, lie was buried under a Maori name. When the Maoris in later years realised how highly the pakehas valued the precious metal, they understood why "Timi" had constantly talked about it. The first prospectors, when they heard the story, refused to believe it, and interpreted its genesis to the well-known fertility of the native mind. —H.M. Among the most interesting men to the world is° President Roosevelt. So _ many schemes has he launched to get America out of the slum]) that anyAN thing may bo expected EXPERIMENTER, from hint. Yesterday the. cables told us he had fixed the United States Government's purchasing price of silver at a few oents higher than it was in April. Some people regard Roosevelt as a prophet, some call him «, visionary, and others a —tout this column must be kept clean. He is surrounded with experts, (.specially expert economists, but America doesn't seem to improve any, and so Roosevelt goes on experimenting. He is a man with tremendous physical energy, but he suffers from infantile paralysis, and though al>ove the waist he is a giant physically, his lfcgs are wasted and cannot support the weight of his body. However, by a mechanical device he is able to walk with sticks. Once, in Deorgia, when making a speech, Mr. Roosevelt, in the heat of the moment, moved away from the tabie in front of him, with the result t*«at he toppled over. There was a rush of horrified assistants to help him, but on the platform that day there was only one man who was both unruffled and cool. It was Mr. Roosevelt himself, who, having regained his physical equipoise, proceeded to carry on his speech from the exact point at which he left it as lie fell.

The par which appeared in the "Star" a few nights ago touching upon clay pipes, which tobacco furnace smokers long since have discarded for the more CLAY PIPES. stylish and expensive makes, or for cigarettes, brought into the writer's sanctum a now Aucklander, who, in the years gone by, was one of the few clay pipe makers in England. His dad before him was a clay pipe maker, and father and eon would turn out about thirty gross of "cutties" a week. "Cutties" were, four inches long, and the trade gross was sixteen dozen. These were sold to hotelkeepers at a "bob" a gross, and a little mental arithmetic will show that the clay pipe makers were not getting rich at their trade. The old "churchwardens"—the clays with a stem about fifteen inches in length—were worth to the makers from 3/ to 3/0 a gross, and the more popular "straws"—six inches long and a tip of red at the mouthpiece—brought in half-a-crown a gross. Hotelkecpers would give them away to customers, and consequently those who partook of the flowing bowl spent 110 money in the purchase of a pipe. The clay used was procured from Teignmouth, Devonshire, and was the same quality as used for china ware. The industry was so good that those days men would earn an average of eighteen shillings a week for six days of ten or eleven hours. Actualiy it was a bad. second to present-day sustenance. Strangely enough, neither the pipe maker now in Auckland nor his dad ever smoked a pipe. Switching off the radio he remarked, '"These Yankee crooners.get on a man's nerves. Why can't they give us some of the old

rollicking songs we used THE pLD SONGS, to hear at the music

halls and in the streets?" And echo answers "Why?" It is a question which will be echoed by many "old stagers" of both sexes. They will tell you that there aio 110 modern songs like the old songs, and it is true that, save in the Great War period, when the hills reverberated the airs of such compositions as "It's a Long Road to Tipperary" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning," we of the present generation have not heard anything like the rollicking songs which were the rage in music hall days. A multitude of songs issue from the music publishers' establishments,, but few, very few, live: because they do not appeal they die an earlv death. Hie music hall and the pantomime made songs popular. The cinema lias almost ousted the music hall, and, except in a few places, pantomime would seem to have lost its savour! Can it be that the young folk of our day are too sophisticated? The tunes of the old son-rs would be so rollicking or so captivating that it would be sung or whistled by, every omilkman, newspaper delivery lad, or telegraph boy and even the staidest of business men and the demurest of ladies would sing.the sonn- under the breath, as it were, or hum it. was thus with such compositions as "Slap Bans," "Tommy, Make Room for Your Uncle," "Not ™ r „ J ° e >' " You £>i°»ld See Me Dance the I™ J, ' Champagne Charley" and "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo." Queen victoria, at Windsor Castle, once listened to an air which the Guards' Band on the terrace was playing. An aide-de-camp was asked by the Queen what the tune was called He professed not to know. The Queen thereupon sent him to tlie bandmaster to inquire. He returned in a state of confusion. What he had been told by the bandmaster was that the tune was that of a song called "Come Where the Booze is Cheaper"; what the aide-de-camp told the Queen is not known!

THOUGHTS FOR TO-DAY. Apply tliine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.— Proverbs. Nobody ever finds life worth living. One always has to make it worth living— H E. Fosdiek.