THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 102, 2 May 1935, Page 6

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By THE MAN ABOUT TOWN.)

The little girl had been taken by her mother to see the new baby the- stork in its wanderings had dropped at tto tonw «'• friend. He was a .bonny POST DATE IT. little chap, could cry as ■ good or as had as any other baby, and gave every promise of keeping dad awake o' nights wearing the pattern off the floor linoleum. The little girl fell in love with him and suggested to mother that she should buy a little one. Mother pointed out that new babies cost a lot of money, and it she were to buy one it would mean that Jier little daughter would have to go without toys, books and pictures. The girl thought for a moment, and then said, "I'll tell you what, mummy. Get a little baby, hut put it off till after the serial has finished."

Speaking at the Auckland Creditmen's luncheon yesterday, Ernest Aid ridge, exMavor of Dovonport, and one who has long ' ' figured in the newspaper ACOUITTED. business; got oIT a rather neat one at the expense of the legal fraternity. He related how it had been reported to the Law Society that one of their flock had accepted from a client a lesser fee than it was customary to charge, and the delinquent was asked to appear before the inner circle and explain the why and wherefore of it all. One would have expected the accused to file the usual statement ot defence first denying the indictment, then pleading that if he did do it he was entitled to make such a charge, and going on to plead privilege, the Gaming Act, Bankruptcy Act, Limitation of Statutes, and so on. But the accused did none of these things. When he appeared before the inner circle and was told that ho had accepted a fee less than set out "according to scale," his reply was "What else could I do? T took all the man had." Without leaving the "box." a verdict o£ not guilty was returned. He might have stayed at n comfortable hotel, but, being a young school teacher, he elected to bach in an old building which was near the school. All had MORE GHOSTS, gone well, and the Christmas holidays were approaching. The young teacher sat down to write to his friends at home, and had begun, in the loneliness of his single bach, to tell them that he was living in an old building reputed to be haunted. He had just written the eerie word when the place began to shake. Every youthful hair upon his head rose, and stood on end. Time and opportunity for reflection enabled the young man to decide upon an exploration of the cause of the weird experience. No, there was nothing within the place —nor without. It must have a supernatural cause. The building hegan to move again, and now, in a more composed state of mind, lie went outside and surveyed the situation. The old building was "shored" up and some pigs, well covered with mud from wallowing in the vicinity, had acquired the habit, apparently passed down from litter to litter, of scraping against the "shores." Had he not discovered the origin of the tremblings he would certainly have sworn to the ghostly cause of his experience. The teacher is now an old man who tells of his fright of over fifty years ago. Those who remember the visit to Auckland of the Grenadier Guards Band not long since, and particularly those who got hot and bothered under the colWIND lar and waged a pen and INSTRUMENTS, ink war in "the correspondence columns of the "Star" concerning whether or not tooting wind instruments brought on serious lung troubles, might be interested in a. little item of news contained in a London daily. In any case, interested or not, writer has pirated it for their benefit. Tom Payne, champion longdistance walker, of London, is fifty-four years of ago and a few weeks ago ho won the South Shields Harriers' championship, covering 10J miles in the good time of 1 hour 23 minutes 50 seconds. Three times ho won the Loudon to Brighton walk, and six times the .Manchester to Blackpool race. And on Easter Monday last he was to compete in the Sunder-land-Darlington walk of 32 miles. But the point which the Writer wishes to emphasise to those who took part in the controversy after the Grenadier Guards' Band's visit is that Tom Payne, when a young man, was a professional musician. Now please don't write in to say the accordion and concertina are wind instruments that do not affect the lungs.

With the. summer over and tho snivcr season coming along, notice the number of young women in tho cars and ferries these mornings busy with a BOOKS AND couple of knitting needles KNITTING, and balls of wool. Cream and maroon appear to be the popular colours, and, judging by the merry way the bone needles are being kept going. there will be some rather nice cardigans and jumpers worn. The girls not engaged in making something warm to wear during May, Juno and July arc noticed reading books and movie magazines, and in a tramcar this morning two young typists were eacli reading an Edgar Wallace thriller. Wallace, by the way, was a remarkable writer. At a time when the people were crying for distraction from tho horrors of the war, and the world was full of weary men and women, Wallace realised they wanted something to give them a thrill —and be produced that something. He sat up day and night gambling and writing. He filled the stories with pistol shots, prisoners and crooks of all descriptions. Ho wrote about criminals because lie knew all about them. But be steered clear of that sex-madness that was inclined to run rife. Wallace died a bankrupt, because he wai a gambler, but no books published since the war were so universally read as his. His estate, carefully nursed, i's now large. With two "full hands," one in Canada and the other in China, and "four of a kind" in our own little Dunedin, the papers have contained many newsy QUINTUPLETS items lately which should AND TWINS, cause grave concern to those who aro advocating smaller families. Twins have for the time being been thrown into the discard because four of a kind will always beat two pair, and live of a kind (there would bo something wrong with the deal) should beat either or both. Mankind has always been interested in and curious about twins. In the long ago to primitive people twins were regarded as monsters, and even among some savage people to-day they are thought to bring ill luck to the tribe. Triplets are occasionally born, but quadruplets or quintuplets are rare. Twins, on the other hand, are more common than most people would believe. Ask any person what the proportion of twins is to single babies, and the answer would probably be ''One in a thousand," but, as a, matter of fact, the proportion is about tine in seventy. A good deal of research has been directed to the question of "doubling.'' and the only reason that can be given is some heredity tendency. Professor Newman, of England, lias quoted a case of a man whose first wife had quadruplets once and twins ten times, and his second wife had triplets three times anil twins ten times. 'this might seem like exceeding the sliced limit, but there it is. Investigation has revealed that certain families an- prone to "twinning," also that Icft-handedncss is six times as prevalent among twins as in the [Ordinary, single births. >*• --_