THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 106, 7 May 1935, Page 6

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By THE MAN ABO'JT TOWN.)

The accident of birth gives clvUiwtioaiito kings-not invariably of course-but usua l}. It,„ two OTHER KINGS. MtoJ quotes signify the sniff of Cin.stendom at th|S sort of regalityj even the subspelt with inverted commas, although iis siib jects don't use them). The king of Bathuist Island was made "king" because he can speak better English than his subjects—:rather a »e reason and quite as good a one as ■'aking a Persian soldier a king (no commas) because lie could fight like a snake We alwajs thii in terms of grotesqiieric of kings. anyone who has seen a black fellow excused. One remembers with perfect deal n'ess one or two aboriginal monarch*, and particularly "King Billy," who bore nothing to mark his regality except a huge brass plate hum* bv a chain round his hairy neck ami emblazoned with l.is title. It occurred in the case of King Billy that unlike the kings of European and other countries, ne never raised taxes to carry 011 warn, but tried to raise sixpences to assuage his thirst 101 white man's "comforts." Present pen, ambling happily along a suburban road, returning to toil after a few weeks of perfectly safe holiday, heard the report of a gun —a noise BANG! that has made him duck » any time these forty years. A gun pellet whanged against a near strand of wire in the road fence and whizzed harmlessly away. Happily the wanderer's name was not 011 that pellet. Of course, tiie gentleman with the shotgun had not fired at the okl bird. lie was obviously after smaller and younger feathers. It occurred at once that almost everybody in our happy land is familiar with firearms —that people fatally drag loaded and cocked guns towards themselves in the most nonchalant way, continue to prop them loaded and cocked' against fences, drag them through wire by the barrels, stand them loaded and cocked in farm kitchens where the children can get at them, forgot to "break" a gun when not in use, appear to never "have heard of a safety catch, frequently mistake brother, son, father or friend for a rabbit, and in a hundred ways prevent human beings from 1 growing old. Presumably everybody who pulls a loaded gun by the barrels, shoot 3 a friend instead of a rabbit, or fires a charge of shot across a public road, lias a license for the thing Ije fires with. Even if the police insisted that every licensee should show Ilis ability to refrain from killing himself or his friends, we should probably have "Didn't know it was loaded" fatalities. Familiarity breeds contempt. Even old soldiers drag cocked guns through scrub and fern.

The course of truo love . I was standing looking with grout interest in a window in Queen Street at what I think are very excellent portraits of EMPIRE twenty-two gentlemen BUILDERS, who, because of their acts and deeds in various spheres, arc famous in the history of the Empire, the Silver Jubilee of whose King we are now celebrating. As I stood looking I became aware that I was no longer alone. I found that there were with me two young things who, I gather from their attire and equipment, had very recently been on a tennis court. The girl was asking questions concerning the identity and general behaviour of tile illustrious gentlemen whose portraits were before us, beginning with one Cabot. It was impossible for me not to listen in, unless I went oil my way to my lonely and generally unattractive bachelor abode. I listened 111, and I am bound to say that I shall not be surprised if I am told later 011 by some of those illustrious gentlemen that they turned in their graves when (and if) they heard the replies given by that lad to that girl. At the same time, I must admit that even I would have been hard put to it to answer some of her questions. However, the lad showed an admirable patience until thov arrived at one Sturt (No. 17 from the left), when, in reply to the girl's leading question. "Who was Sturt?" the lad said, "Oh, it all, darling, don t you want any dinner to-night? That's the tennis player." They then left, and so did 1.—W.A.8.

The grave and reverend selgnora who are to command the municipalities in this part of the King's realm will be chosen or rechosen to-morrow. It apTHE pears to be fitting, because WITENAGEMOTE. it is as ancient as the Throne, that the system of our ancient forefathers shall persist. One forgets how our Saxon ancestors spelt "elder," but from time immemorial the elder men— that is the aldermen—have managed civic matters. It is assumed presumably that wisdom is wiser under a grey thatch 'than under the brown. Now and then a .young man, greatly daring, will attempt entry into the sacred portals, but as a general thing he is so busy keeping the wolf from liis own door and snatching a crust for his own urchins that he has not the leisure to help keep the wolf from the municipal doorstop. You may take the view on gazing at the thinning thatch of the cldermen that the man who has the most to do—the man of affairs—is the man who can be trusted to do a bit more, and vou may or may not agree that lie who lias been most successful 111 his own affairs will be equally successful in the affairs of the people lie loves and the city ho adores. The fact that wars are won by recruits-straight off the turnips and that the navy is based 011 midshipmen of tender years is of interest, but the fact seems never to have interfered with the British Y' herever !t htt9 bec » held. After all, the eldermen, aldermen or councillors are nearly always without guile Tliev perform a thousand thankless tasks under the keenest sciutniy and criticism without financial re warns.

Thirty tona of good, dry tea-tree make a bonny bonfire. The uncounted fires burning for joy in New Zealand to celebrate the Silve? THE ;* llbilee of tho and THE BONFIRE. Queen typify a thousand nt i . i fi'°at communal actions f breed. I hey have burnt in celebration in timT' f aVC crtt * kled from a thousand points in time of war—have called the Men of the fo 2nw Pra (r- a,,d t0 t0 rejoicing' and to sonow. It is curious and touching that -rff of .P eace in ° l,r tilno is magically sent o\ei the air—tlie voice of the Kin" thousands of miles away, heard in the °milHo„ I" 1 -? hIS colonla l lieges; the modern signal, the wonder-call that has succeeded the SS?r s m m,?hom e to MTV' •!"' P ' e " '2 auely allied as finger and hand. You see a Fden y and tT^ 1 " b r fir ° burnin * on Mo »» t davsuhen n 8 u If 1 must P° ba <* to the all • B , re °" E "- lish hills called all people to the aid of the King. Who does toSS? - MaCa " lay ' S of F ° r >Wl " to ll,S 'on'Bonchy M ° Unt U Bprcnd ' U S, '° nC Fi ' r S outhern l shi P re, the Spaniar<l sa "'- ,110n ° Capo beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire till Sklddnw saw the lire that burned 011 Gailnt's Qmbattled pile, And tlie rod plnre 011 Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle. TJIO bonfire. is Iu tlio Wood of the Briton.