BY THE WAY

Evening Star, Issue 19388, 23 October 1926, Page 2

BY THE WAY

[By Q.Y.]

“ The time has come,” the Walrus mI& " To talk of many things.” Dunedin has a climate whiefi is variable. Some might go further and say worse, but with a fine sense of loyalty we will stop at variable. In addition to tills mixed and assorted weather, it is also blessed with tramways which pay. We notice with sorrow that the Christchurch Tramway Board has lost some £12,754 in less than six months. Rochefoucauld says that there is something in the misfortunes of even our friends not wholly displeasing to us, and he spoke ns one having understanding, Do not for a moment imagine that he meant we are glad to see our friends get into trouble. On the contrary, if we are at all decent wo are sincerely sorry for them, and would rejoice to see them delivered from their afflictions. This feeling, however, does not exclude a sense of satisfaction that we are so much better off. Wo look on Christchurch with friendly eyes. The worst we wish _ her is that we might bo able to relieve some of her citizens of their surplus assets at Cup time. We would be pleased to see her trams pay, but we are also exceeding glad that our own vehicles do pay. Why should Dunedin _ be taken and Christchurch loft in this respect? To explain would take a column. Suffice to say that the difference does not represent so much discredit to the northern town as a simple comparison of results would imply. Nevertheless, the municipal tramways of Dunedin, viewed as money-making machines, are excellently managed, as, indeed, most of our municipal undertakings are. Some people look forward to a time when rates will be merely nominal, all outgoings being provided for by tho trading departments. When that day comes we shall say: “Now let thy servant depart in peace,” and we hope to live for quite a long while yet. « « * « “ In tho spring a young man’s fancy ’ ’ — Every lover knows tho rest, Thelma, Marie, Alice, Nancy, Each tho fairest and the best. With each grace and charm connoting All your senses in a whirl Comes the ecstasy of voting For the other fellow’s girl. Each a subtle charm possessing. Each in turn our hearts could cozen, Filled us with desire, obsessing, Longing to support the dozen. Nightly o’er the paper poring, Choosing one, rejecting three, Reconsidering, restoring— Who will Miss Otago be? Now the final scene is nearing; Soon we’ll learn the chosen name, While the audience rapturous, cheering, Miss Otago will acclaim. Age may read or childhood lisp her Name recorded in the ‘ Star.’ Wo to our own girl will -whisper: “You to me are fairest far.” A fine tribute to the honesty of Roslyn, or a strong indictment of tho business acumen of the dwellers in that hilly suburb,, we are not quite sure which, was given or made, as the case may be, by the Motor Chib the other day. That enterprising body offered suggestions as to the , length of time an unattended car might be left in various parts of the town. Tho limits ranged from a few minutes in the city to half an hour in Highgate. The men of Roslyn are not awake to the, golden opportunities awaiting every active and energetic person in this young country. They have not got the “go-getter” spirit. Only recently a man loft his car for a few moments in town, and when ho returned its clock was gone. Had he been a little longer, the car itself, its appurtenances and apparel, as the marine insurance policies say, would have disappeared. In Highgate it would have been quite safe. A stray small boy might have blown the horn and vanished incontinently; a wandering dog of long pedigree, such as they keep in Roslyn, might have investigated the wheels, hut beyond these trifles nothing would have happened. Wo know a man in Roslyn who never locks his front door, not even when ho takes his family to church, and so far he has not lost so much as a copy of the report of tho China Inland Mission. Anyone requiring his address should communicate privately with the writer. Terras, 50-50. The Motor Club might have extended the Highgate limit to a week had the interests of car owners been the only consideration. « * * * Dr MTlwraith, wbo is a senior inspec- 1 tor of schools, says that dictation,is an j anachronism, like the tuatara lizard, and will shortly disappear from the; syllabus. In our day there were two recognised methods of doing dictation. Tho first, which gave the more accurate results, but was also the more danger- I oils, was to have your book open under the desk. The other was to sit next one of those conscientious lads who in after life make a lot of money and become churchwardens, and apply sufficient moral or physical suasion to induce him to let you copy his work. Times have changed for the hotter. It is pleasing information That the lesson called dictation Has gone to join tho moa in the happy hunting ground, Where the scientific, wizards Tell us all the extinct lizards And the unicorns and centaurs and other freaks are found. Though teachers still will hammer At tho elements of grammar, Till at length with much exertion these are firmly driven homo, You will miss their voices drawling While you hear the East a-calling, And feel inclined to, pack your bag and start forthwith to roam. It is true that vulgar fractions May produce some bad reactions. The art of composition is hut painfully acquired; And there’s little consolation In the thought that every station, From a schoolboy’s to a monarch’s, leaves much to be desired. Even so, gone are the terrors Of a lengthy list of errors. The subsequent detention, while your playtime goes to pot, The unavailing labors For assistance from your neighbors, Tho stealthy, eager hunting for a page you cannot spot. * * * * AVhafc would Cleopatra have said had she been asked her terms, plus special accommodation in, the latest trireme, for a lecturing trip in Rome and tho provinces? How would Queen Elizabeth have taken a suggestion that she should increase her income by a series of chatty discourses on the ethics of Empire-building, or her recollections of Mary Queen of Scots? We do not know, but we have a firm belief that tho man who made the inquiries would have been promptly introduced to a masked personage carrying an axe, or else have spent the remainder of his days swinging about in a. cage like Cardinal Baliio at Lcohes. We have moved a long way since these ladies reigned, though, whether forwards or backwards or zigzag, it is hard to say. Whatever the direction, it lias afforded us the spectacle of a Queen ready and willing to accept cash for her discourses, and, what is even to refrain from unauthorised speech—that is, if we may believe what wo arc told. According to a Vancouver cablegram, the Queen, of Rumania is doing this self-same thing. It is difficult to see why .she should go dollar-hunting, like an operatic star or a Russian dancer. Rumania contains some seventeen millions of people, and manages to

keep an outsize army in food and clothing, so it cannot be very hard up. Perhaps the Rumanians look on the army as a necessity and the Queen as a luxury. Possibly they are right. Queens are ornamental,and useful to a moderate degree in leading tho fashions, but when it comes to ejecting large hairy intruders with rifles in their hands they are really not very serviceable. Some ancient Queens had a short, sharp way of dealing with disturbers of the peace, but modern Queens run more to peace and tho domestic virtues. It may be, however, that the Vancouver man has mixed up his telegrams—or perhaps his drinks.