THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 8

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By THE MAN ABOUT TOWN.)

It was mentioned locally at a lunch-hour ! seance of international friendship that the system of disseminating speeches at the I Mexican Rotarian conEARPHONES. ference was pretty good. It naturally followed that the major portion of the speeches were made in Spanish, which, of course, was Greek to most of the English-speaking listeners, brethren and friends. An interpreter of extraordinary fluency translated these Spanish speeches so quickly that almost as soon as the current speech was out of the mouth of the originator every foreign brother heard it done into the purest English in his seat —per earphone. One envisions aii extension of this method to minimise the necessity of loudspeakers which insist 011 blaring the current speech so that all ears must hear. There are ]K?ople in every audience, as there are in every house fitted with radio, who would prefer momentary silences. One imagines, for instance, a House of Parliament during debates in which the prevailing member would be audible only to those with earphones, and the utter weariness of the holders as they dropped their earphones one by one and indulged in slumber. These modern methods 'of distributing the human voice are marvellous. They may yet become a necessity.

One learns on the authority of an English writer that in the art, calling or complaint of nudism it is anathema to wear either a. pair of shoes or a hardTHE hitter hat. It is essential TENDERFOOT, for the health of the ad-

<lict to spurn the joyous daisies with tlie bare foot, and magazines circulating nakedly and unashamed tell new nudists to rub the tootsies every night before barely retiring to rest, with methylated spirits, afterwards powderii.g them, thus ultimately achieving a sole as tough as a dictator's conscience. Now everybody knows that the tenderest baby will toddle over rough ways without injury to its pink toes or soles, but that the big, black, brown or yellow savage 1)v continued barefoot contact with the ground achieves a sole impervious to damage. Islanders, of course, semi-nude for centuries, are able to do that rather silly stunt of running over burning logs, merely because their soles are tough as elephant hide. Indeed, only this week a gentleman who tarried long in the Islands mentioned the case of one of his native servants. The gentleman woke one night. There was an alarming odour in the camp. It became so menacing that lie rose to ascertain the cause. The odour clearly came from the native camp. He investigated to find a large native, with his heels in the camp fire, sleeping like a babe. He declares that about an inch of hoof had been burnt off the boy's feet without liiiu knowing a thing about it. There is hope for tender-footed nudists.

It lias been professionally pointed out that in Auckland and its immediate environs there are fourteen "Queen" streets. Everybody

would like to know the WHICH QUEEN? queen or queens to whom

the baptisers of these streets referred to. The present generation is entitled to believe that Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra or Queen Mary were in the minds of the baptisers when the inexpressive and wholly misleading name was conferred in Auckland or anywhere else. Within the Empire and outside it there are Queen Streets, King Streets, Prince's Streets, Princess Streets and Duke Streets, commemorating no particular person. In a generation or two the people may be pardoned for mixing up Queen Mary with Queen Anne, King George with Alfred the Great, the Prince of Wales with the Black Prince and the Princess May with an alphabetical array of British Royal ladies. If you must have "fourteen Queen Streets —name the lady. Why was Adelaide so called? Why didn't the pilgrim fathers of S.A. call it simply "Queen"? Who will know in, say, two hundred years why Queensland was called thus? Which queen, where, why and whose? You can understand "King William Street" —it tacks the name on to the right man. You know who is meant when you call our capital "Wellington," but it would leave you guessing if you called it "Field-Marshal." Why did not Wellington call "Abel Smith Street" just "Smith Street"? Keep on guessing.

Bear M.A.T.. —The article "Feelings of the Defeated," published recently in the "Star," with special reference to Britain's attitude

towards the Boers and to THE HANDSHAKE.CentraI Botha's feelings

at Verceniging,'where the Peace Treaty was signed, brought to mind an incident which occurred at Vereeniging and brought Briton and Boer together wlien hitherto a certain aloofness had ibeen felt. It was a bucking horse. I was on duty at the camp where Lord Kitchener with others represented Britain, while Botha, Hcrtzog, Do La Key. ])e Wet (pronounced l)e Vet) and other notable Boer generals represented the Boers. Agreement between the parties had been reached, when General Grobeller asked if I would lend him my horse for a Boer officer to take a message to someone. I readily consented. and handed over my horse, a spirited Xew Zealand thoroughbred standing seventeen hands liigli. He was decidedly "touchy" and ever ready to spring. The Dutch officer, having become accustomed to the lethargy of a worn-out Boer pony, immediately sprang 011 to my big fellow, and in doing so inadvertently jabbed him with his spurs. The result was meteoric. The Boer shot into the air like a rocket, to the great amusement of Boer and Briton alike, and from that moment the atmosphere of aloofness meltecl away and both sides fraternised and became more like one family than conquerors and conquered. That bucking horse snapped the indefinable barrier which divided the erstwhile enemies, and in doing so added another method of Britain's many ways of winning the good will of enemies.—Thin Bed Line, 11/(i77.

Anciently, and in old countries even now, a man's station in life is often assessable by his appearance. Certain professions, including that of gentlemen, are HIS PROFESSION, sometimes (dearly indicated. Families whose members have for generations followed one specified occupation are clearly defined. There is no reason why in new countries a man's profession should not be known bv his face, just as his degree of culture may be known by his language and its accent* An M.P.. for instance, should cultivate some definite physical indication of his supernal altitude, a mere free railway pass on a watch chain being insufficient. As it is. it is impossible to tell a banker from a butcher in his best clothes, a doctor from a relief worker with his well-ironed suit on. or an M.P. from mere undistinguished men in the lower walks of life. Among those who indicate their professions by physical signs is Max Baer, the boxer. On a recent occasion Max was found in his training quarters sharply bumping liis liead against a hot water pipe. A friend asked him why. He said it was done to toughen it—yet no politician one knows bangs his head against the heating arrangements of Parliament. Max, too, has a cauliflower ear, designed after much thought, to indicate to the world that he is a really-truly pugilist and not a clergyman. He acquired this physical mark of his trade begetting his trainer to thump the ear hard and often without retaliation. People often mistake the trade of a man. and it. leads to regrettable consequences. You know the story of the lone man who. being in a refreshment bureau, sought a pal and found a man to whom he said, "Do you drink?" and the immortal reply of that proud man, "Sir-r-r—l—am—ail Actor." '"The habit oft proclaims the man," as the poet said with another —hut sartorial — meaning.