THE BEAUTY COMPETITION.

Evening Star, Issue 19412, 22 November 1926, Page 6

THE BEAUTY COMPETITION.

The beauty competition for New Zealand, which is now ended, will do no harm to anybody so long as it is not taken too seriously. The only people we have found so far who have shown any sign of exaggerating its importance have hem a very small number of critics, notably the members of the North Canterbury Methodist Synod, who have brought much solemnity to the condemning of it. We can imagine that dancing—even the staidesfc dancing—and the playing of Five Hundred for love are not viewed with any affection by the Methodists of North Canterbury. We do not pretend to understand what the chairman of their Synod meant in saying that such contests as the four cities have witnessed were “ deeper than a jnodern fmol%.

amd pandered to si phase of human nature that should not be brought to the forefront.” Certainly they are older than a great many modern frivolities. In a graver and more rigid age than the present the “ May Queen ” was a contestant in a beauty competition, and it is quite plain from the high popular estimation in which she has always been held, as well as from the seriousness of her reflections, that her character was not injured thereby. A crown of flowers was placed on her head, and the shepherd lads and girls danced around her—another sin—because of all the maidens of that village she had the brightest eye. And the age of chivalry had its tournaments, at'which the successful knight was required to choose his “ Queen of Beauty and of Love ” from among all the fair assembled. Their behaviour on the occasion of such an award is described, without any thought of censure on the performgnce, in ‘lvanhoe’: ‘‘lt was worth while to see the different conduct of the beauties who underwent this examination during the time it was proceeding. Some blushed, some assumed an air of pride and dignity, some looked straight forward and essayed to seem utterly unconscious of what was going on, some drew back in alarm which was perhaps affected, some endeavored to forbear smiling, and there were two or three who launJuid outright. There were some also who dropped their veils over their charms; but as the Wardour Manuscript says these were fair ones of ten years’ standing, it may be supposed that,‘having had their full share of such v nities, they were willing to withdraw their claims in order to give a fair chance to the rising beauties of the age.” There were beauties, without that reason of aloofness, who did not compete in the latest contest. The Rev. H. L. Blamires would give them a special crown of merit. For our part we are content to hold all. contestants and non-contestants, in the same esteem. But beauty competitions in these days, it has been implied, are not the same as those of the past. They have been rendered specially odious by being commercialised. That objection might bo made to almost all pleasures in the present age, but it would be hard to show more virtues in the earlier system, under which the chooser of the “ Queen of Beauty and of Love ” could be required to defend his choice against all deniers of her. superiority, and bones bo broken for his purely arbitrary judgment. The New Zealand competition has beau a pleasant interlude between graver matters for thousands who have shown their interest in it without over-estimating its importance, for the patients in hospital whom the “queens” have visited, and not least for the girls themselves. They will not need to bo reminded that “handsome is that handsome does,” or that good looks, though they are something, are but a small part of the equipment of life. We are glad that “ Miss Otago ” has won the competition, and that will be the general feeling of her province.

A cloudburst was experienced in Sumner, Christchurch, between 6.30 and 8.30 o’clock on Friday night. In some of the streets the flood waters spread right across the roads, and passengers off trams who had left the city in fine weather stopped into water over their boot tops. The Richmond 'Hill gauge registered a total fall of .95in. Keith Geary alias Kenneth Guy, aged eighteen years, who stole £24 from his employer eight months ago, and disappeared,, appeared at the Magistrate’s Court, Christchurch, on Saturday, and was admitted to iprobation and ordered to refund the money. On a charge that in September, 1925, being an employee of the Government, he stole postal notes to the value of 6s, ho was remanded to Wellington.—Press Association.

An inquest was held at Christchurch concerning the death of Mr Walter Hill, who slipped and fell on the concrete steps at Riccarton racecourse during the progress of the meeting. A verdict of accidental death _ was returned. At the funeral on Friday there was a large attendance of representatives of local and other bodies, the cortege being over a mile in length.—Press Association.

The annual New Zealand band contest will begin in Wellington on February 22, 1927. The test pieces, which are sent out specially from England, are distributed to all nominated bands three months before the contest, and on Monday next the two test selections, quickstep, solo, and quartet parts will be available. Competition is very keen, thirty-seven entries having been received, there being thirteen entries in A grade and twenty-four in B grade. No entries have been received from Australian bands, which financial reasons prevent from competing. Added interest is taken in the coming contest, as four Jiandsmen of the Argyll and Sutherland Band have returned to the dominion as arranged, and have joined up—two with St. Kilda (Dunedin) and two with the Wellington Tramway Band. These bands will make determined efforts to secure championship honors at the contest. Eight A grade bands out of thirteen will compete from the South Island. —Christchurch correspondent. Paul Linklater, who was missed from Christchurch Hospital on Friday, was returned to the hospital on Friday was returned to the hospital on Saturday afternoon. Linklater was staying with relatives at Kaiapoi. On Wednesday night he was found by his brother-in-law with a gunshot wound in the chest. He is a married man with four children, and is living apart from his wife.—Press Association.

St. Kilda Municipal Band played to a large crowd at the St. Kilda beach last evening, every item being well received. More seating accommodation will have to be provided before long. The band, under Mr Dixon, gave a fine programme, and requests were received for several of the pieces to be repeated next Sunday evening.

“No side shows” is the.edict issued and enforced yearly by the Taieri Agricultural Society. At the annual show on Saturday several men arrived and asked for permission to run entertainments, but they were promptly refused. The president (Mr J. Dow) informed a ‘Star’ reporter that the society intended to keep the show clear of any possible undesirable element. It was an agricultural show, and the society did not want side shows on the ground. In the past the society had found that the, attendances were not affected by the barring of itinerant showmen, and the policy was to he adhered to in the future. The executive of the Farmers’ Union (Auckland province) passed a resolution expressing strong disapproval of the methods employed by interested parties to nullify the wish of the dominion’s dairy farmers in their desire and efforts to stabilise marketing, and urging upon farmers the need for standing fast and giving the Dairy Control Board a fair trial.—Press Association telegram.

South Dunedin can boast possession of someone who is quite a humorist. On a shop window yesterday appeared the following ‘Star’ extra:—“Miss New Zealand” Beauty Contest: Miss M'Millan 1, Miss Wilson 2. And the funny one, mindful of how the newspapers record racing news, had written underneath, Ig g ligs#

Our Clyde correspondent wires:— Shearing is now fairly general, and fine weather is being experienced. The clip promises to be a splendid one. The first of this season’s wool arrived at Clyde railway station on Friday. “Do you go to the races?” asked the senior sergeant of a maintenance defaulter, who appeared at the City Police Court this morning, charged with having failed to keep up his payments for a child in an institution. “The races have been established by the Government, and surely'l have a right to go?” retorted the defendant. “ I take my amusement in the daylight,” he added with vehemence, “ and I’m not like some people wfio wait until the stars are shining.” Many people have been fooled over the radio, but probably the limit was reached on Saturday night, when a Dunedin listener, having heard the vague announcement from 2FC, Sydney, that that station would tune in with a London studio, accordingly stood by till the announced time. At the appointed hour the listener heard the announcement from London that a procession was passing. London then switched over to the Wembley Stadium, where a band was heard playing. And so it went on for five minutes or so. The enthusiast evidently did not listen any further, for if he had he would have heard the announcement from’the Sydney station that it was in reality all on a gramophone record.

The yachting season is now in full swing. On Saturday night a meeting was held in order to arrange the preliminary details in connection with the Macandrew Bay annual regatta. The various officers were elected, and a committee was appointed to draw up a programme, which will be presented at a meeting next week. The hulk Monowai arrived at Gisborne this morning in tow of the steamer Katoa.—Press Association telegram.

The effort that was made hv a returned soldier to repay money advanced to him by the Welfare Committee of the Otago Patriotic Association was related by Mr J. J. Clark at this morning’s meeting of the executive of the association. A returned man who had been ill, and whose family was in distress, had been advanced a sum of £8 by the association. Last Saturday he came in with this money, and expressed his regret at being so long in repaying it. He and his family had made enormous self-sacrifices to pay the money back, and it was learnt that he would bo left with only £1 to carry on with. It remains only to add that the money was not taken back, the man being told to regard it as a gift—not as a loan. Mr Clark used this instance to show how the returned men_ who had been assisted were doing their utmost to make good. “How silently they do their work.” Such was the comment of a young American sailor, made some years ago, as he sat out at the end of the jib boom of a sailing ship, and watched the billowing sails on a moonlight night in the tropics. The glamor of the 'sea and the sky, with its thrill and its impetus, became focussed on the idea of work, and the, doing of it. It was the work and the doing of it that occupied the attention of a number of young sailors as they cast adrift for drying purposes this morning the sail of the big four-master barque at Port Chalmers. An unusually large number of motor cars yesterday at Port Chalmers—the special attraction was the big sailing ship. At the Port Chalmers Court this morning Archibald M‘Kay was _ fined 10s for drunkenness, and a prohibition order was issued against him by Messrs A. Cable and W. Morgan, J.P.s.

An Auckland Press Association telegram states that William Thomas, aged thirty-five, was charged in the Police Court with the theft of jewellery and goods, valued at £6l, from three dwellings, and also with breaking and entering another dwelling. He was committed for trial.

The postal authorities advise that the steamer Marama, which left Sydney at 4 p.m. on November 19 for Wellington, had 134 bags (including ninetyfour from beyond Australia) and fortythree hampers of mails for Dunedin. The lot will come to hand to-morrow right.

On Sunday afternoon, the Botanical Gardens presented quite an animated scene. The hillside and Gardens were crowded, and, judging by those who were present to listen to the playing of the Band of the First Battalion (Otago Regiment), the public appreciates the difference between a military and a brass band. A very appropriate programme was given, the playing was of a high standard, and the enthusiasm shown by the public should serve as a great encouragement _to the _ young members of which this hand is composed.

Application was made to the Arbitration Court at Auckland this morning for amendment of the cheese and butter factory employees’ award. Ihe employers’ representative contended that there was a defect in the clause relating to holidays. Three weeks’ holiday on full pay was favored on a seven-day week, but not where the working week was of six days. He urged the deletion of the clause and the substitution of the two clauses which had been in the previous award. Neither party had asked for the new clause. The employees’ representative suggested that the companies which had wanted a seven-day week, now wanted six days, and at the same time to penalise the men to the extent of three weeks’ holiday on full pay. His Honor, in announcing that decision would be reserved, said that if there was a bona fide mistake in the award it could be amended by consent of both parties.—Press Association. An Association message from Palmerston North states that John David Mitchell, a young man who had pleaded guilty, at Ohakune, to a charge of carnal knowledge, appeared in the Supreme Court this morning for sentence. In reply to counsel’s plea for probation, which the report of the probation officer recommended, Mr Justice Reed said: “ This is a comparatively venial case of this class. The girl’s mother attaches as much blame to the girl as to the prisoner.” His Honor admitted Mitchell to probation for twelve months, and ordered him to pay the costs of the case.