BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 19020, 15 August 1925, Page 2

BY THE WAY.

[By Q.VO

“The time has come,” the Walm said, “ To talk of many things.”

Dunedin seems in danger of occupying a position of what Lord Salisbury called “ splendid isolation.” Far up amid the eternal hills Alexandra broods over wrongs which may only be wiped out on the football 'field. Away to the north Oamaru, “ a thriving, handsome, stone-built town, centre of a very fertile district,” to quote Petrie’s Geography, regards us with a suspicion which may crystallise into active dislike. Whyp Because some people cannot resist the temptation to make_ a joke. Dunedin asked Oamaru to assist in entertaining the American visitors now sojourning here for a space, and Oamaru responded to_ the S.O.S. like a perfect lady. She said she would take three hundred of the visitors and treat them as well as they could be treated in a No-license district. When the matter was being discussed hero later on, Mr Lough inquired with apparent anxiety whether it would be obligatory on the tars to make the journey, adding that he would not like to force anyone to go to Oamaru. “ See a word, how it severeth! 0 power of life and death in the tongue,” as the Preacher saith. Now, Mr Lough should not havo said what he did say, or was reported to have said, even if he believed it, which he didn’t. Perhaps, also, Oamaru need not have been so swift to take umbrage, though the honor of a thriving, handsome, stone-built town is not lightly to be trifled with. We have ourselves heard Dunedin spoken of in derogatory terms in distant lands, and lodged a vigorous protest. Dunedin may have some shortcomings, but we would not let any stranger say so, unless he happed to bo a very hefty stranger indeed. * » * » Within the last few days many of us have learned more about the geography of the United States than we had ever dreamt of. Yet we have only dredged in a small inlet in a mighty ocean. How many of even the well educated among us could locate the streams celebrated in the haunting verse;

There ■wander two beautiful rivers, With many a winding and crook, The one is the Skoodoowabskootis, The other—the Skoodoowabskook. The sheer weight of syllables overwhelms us, and we can only pipe plaintively back across the Pacific: — What know you of fair lluaroa? And what of sweet Ruatapu?—

Once home of the elegant moa, As likewise was Wakatipu.

Have e’er you explored Rangariri, Or visited Maungaputa, Where the Maori flirts with his dearie. While driving pigs down to the pa? Oh sweet is the Taniwha’s calling, To his mate in Tokomaru, But oh, how his anger’s appalling When annoyed in Mangamatu. How like you Waikaremoana, And what do you think of the view Of crystal clear Rotomahana, As seen from far Ruapehu? Oh, wild are the sheep runs of Chatham, And wild are the names of them too. What think you (now “Up Guards and at ’em ”) Of Karangimahmamu P « «• # ♦

That well-hated person, tho capitalist, is having a few home truths and plenty of home untruths thrown at him nowadays. His belltopper is dented in many places, and his once white waistcoat spattered with mud thrown by vigorous hands. In past years we knew tho old chap well. Then he was plump, well-nounshod, and arrogant. Wo served him with an impassive fafio and a strong desire to hand him one in the eye to go on with. Wo went so far as to read Karl Marx’s ‘ Capital ’ —the dreariest work ever written—and even believed it. Nowadays people believe without reading. It is much the easier method. Then the capitalist would have one of Ills occasional relapses into humanity, and the slate would bo clean again. Now', we understand, he is to be “ removed.” Mr Ramsay MacDonald and Mr Thomas think that ho should be allowed to die out peacefully. Mr Gallagher considers that he should be eliminated more speedily—that Nature should bo assisted, so to speak. One of Mr Gallagher’s ideas is that the army, navy, and police should be disbanded—especially the police, we should imagine. That would bo a great day. Wo hope that we shall not live to see it. It would be most annoying to have one’s last hours disturbed by Mr Gallagher's friends singing ‘ The Red Flag,’ looting tho hotels, and setting lire to all dwellings containing more than four rooms and a lean-to waslihouso, After they had finished our new masters would be chosen, for masters we should have for a certainty. There was never so much as a game at marbles played without one boy being boss, and not always the best boy either. *, » # ■* if As a race we are lacking in vision. We see the immediate task before us, and either tackle it or go on strike, according to cii'ciimstances, and the instructions from those higher up. We meet the great problems of the day, and do not recognise them. Either they are not in our set, or else we have not been properly introduced. When wo erect a public building we only think of what it is primarily intended for. Its secondary possibilities have not any interest for us. In fact wo do not always realise what is required for utility. The railway station at Christchurch is a blot upon the landscape, and that at Lambton quay, Wellington, ought to be condemned under the Health Act. Yet Christchurch is no moan city, as cities go hereabouts, and Wellington is the place where our legislators meet to accuse each other of—well, of many things not safely to_ be mentioned outside the House. Nov/, look at Chicago. In Chicago the railway station, or rather one of them, is furnished with a chapel, a gaol, and a morgue. If Dunediu were as big as Chicago and New York combined it would never occur to us to supply these handy adjuncts. Y T et consider their convenience. If the train is lute, and it suddenly occurs to you to fill in the time by getting married, the chapel is ready and doubtless willing. fenould you slip under the engine accidentally, or even designedly, your remains can be sorted out in the morgue, without annoying other intending passengers, and should your creditors desire your company longer than suits your ' plans, they can settle the matter by putting you in gaol. We have yet much to learn. “The dead go quickly.” Land and sea are thickly peopled by poor, jostling, unremembered ghosts'. Those whose names linger for more than a few weeks, save in the hearts of close friends and relatives, are in the_ minority. When such is the case it is proof that the men or women who bore them possessed some gift beyond the common. Wo are glad to see that the New Zealand Workers’ Union is taking steps to keep alive as long as may be the memory of their late comrade. Stove Boreham. It is a graceful act and a thoughtful act. The clash of interests which is so unhappy a feature of our times has many of the characteristics of war. Too often it is marked by had faith on one side or the other. Occasionally there are crude brutalities. Often quarter is neither given nor expected. But even war has its chivalrous and heroic moments, and when the dust of tho battle has cleared away

and the combatants pause for a breath*ing space, they are not blind to the merits of their opponents. Steve Boreham “ was ever a fighter,” but now tbal his last battle has been fought one feels sure that the subscribers to a memorial to him will not be confined to the ranks that he led. There are many who opposed Boreham the Labor leader bitterly who would be only too glad to give a donation towards commemorating Boreham the man.