TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1930, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Holiday racing, according to figures given in our Turf Notes on Saturday, showed a marked increase in totalisator investments. The total this year was £1,209,672, as compared with £1,137,001 for the previous holiday season. The figures are interesting in view of the complaint that trade and industry are experiencing difficulty. It would seem that there is still as much money as ever for racing. Of course too much importance must not be attached to the figures. It must not be imagined, for example, that a million, or anything approaching that sum, is withheld from business for use on the totalisator. Money is turned over several times in the course of a single day of racing, and very much less than a million produces a million total for the holiday racing. Nevertheless, the figures indicate that more money was available for this purpose this year. No doubt this will give satisfaction to the racing clubs, and the Government also takes its share; but the increase is not a matter for public congratulation. If business generally is as difficult as it is reported to be it would be better for the country if racing were absorbing less loose cash instead of more. The increase raises again the issue whether the opportunities for speculation are not too many and whether a further endeavour should not be made to limit race days.

From time to time at this season the glorious appearance of pohutukawas in bloom evokes admiration, with a suggestion that the pohutukawa should be adopted as the national flower of New Zealand. Opinions may differ on the latter point. Some people will hold that the fern is a more appropriate emblem; but there can be no two opinions as to the worth of the pohutukawa for brightening dull places with colour. The red of the Christmas blossom is not so vivid as the crimson of the rata, but the rata as an epiphyte cannot be divorced from the bush. For the covering of waste places it is useless. The kowhai, another colour splashed tree seen in its splendour at Lake Taupo, ia less successful in exposed situations. But the pohutukawa will thrive and bloom where sea Ireezes and even gales will kill less hardy growths. The wonder is that the tree has not been used more extensively in reclothing the Wellington hills. It should not be for lack of knowledge, for there are splendid groves to be seen which must have been planted in the early days of the town. • i ♦ * In the last twenty years a great improvement has been made in the appearance of the hillsides. A City Reserves Department, which is not over-supplied with funds, has accomplished much; but one could wish that the green (which is certainly more attractive than bare yellow) were relieved more often by the bright red of blooms. There is some relief in the broom, and even gorse at a distance has its merits; but planting of other things is reducing the area thu9 clothed. The gorse must go, but, noxious weed though it is, it seems a shame to clear the broom unless something equally colourful is to be put in its place. Unfortunately all people do not hold this view, and some in authority appear most anxious to destroy anything which is wild. They cannot see with the eye of Richard Jeffries the beauty of wild life—that a broom-clad roadside is more pleasing and refreshing than the same roadside stripped of its green and gold. In some of the hillside suburbs this destructive energy is evident, and slasher and fire are leav-

ing burnt patches where formerly the wild growth covered man-made scars. • • • It is reported that a fight took place recently on a southern bowling green. The term "fight" is used literally, and is not the effort of a reporter to convey an impression of the keenness of the game. Bowlers' heads, and not merely heads of bowls, were knocked about, and blood was drawn instead of the jack. If this is true, another old belief is shattered. Football is admittedly a rough game which may lead to blows if the players lose control of themselves or the referee is lax. Golfers have been known to smash their clubs and do other violent things. But bowls has always been suggestive of calm, peace, contentment, and mildness. The traditional association of Drake with the game is notable for the contrast —that an adventurous Elizabethan -admiral should seek relaxation in so peaceful a game. If Drake had refused to go after the Armada until he had finished a cup tie game with the Devon Pirates the fact would probably not have been deemed worth recording. It was the fact that a peaceful game of bowls delayed him that made his remark historic. Now it must be sorrowfully admitted that bowling is not a guaranteed safeguard against angry outbursts. Must the bowlers regretfully abandon their game and start basketball or croquet? *