OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 678, 25 October 1921, Page 5

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

THE DEPUTATION CRA*£.

(From Our Own Correspondent). Auckland, Oct. 21.

If uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, the lot of the average Primie Minister is perhaps less enviable, and amongst his minor worries may be included the receiving of deputations. During recent years the deputation habit has become extraordinarily pronounced. All sorts of deputations turn up in Wellington when Parliament is in session (not a few of them from Auckland), and presumably at considerable expense to the local bodies or organisations which they represent. Ministers complain that their time is frittered away in listening to grievances that might be better expressed in writing at the cost of a twopenny stamp, and unkindly point out that deputations are always more numerous when there is a big race meeting or some other attraction on in the Empire City*

THEN AND NOW. I was looking at a photograph in a city photographer’s window this week. It was labelled “A Relic of th<* Past,” and vividly recalled) days that have been. This picture showed one of the old horse-cars that formerly ran between the city and suburbs. The car was about half the size of the cars now running. It was drawn by three horses, two abreast and one in front. Perched on the back of the leader was a small boy. The front platform of the car was crowded with passensers, so much so that the driver was almost invisible. I remember those cars. They had an, average speed I should say, of about four miles an hour. They have been improved off the face of the eaxjh for about 20 years The cabs -hat were formerly so much m evidence m this Queen City of ours have almost all m)ne, too There are only three or four of them) left. It used to be considered quite the smart thing to drive about in a hansofmbut the hansom,, like the “growler, is sel dom seen now-a-days, and the time may come, perhaps, when S these vehicles will be exhibited in the Museum with a placard questing visitors “not to touch.

FILTHY LUCRE. The condition of much of the paper money circulating in Auckland is so filthv that one really hesita/tes sometimes about carrying it in one s pocket A single drop of water.“j an ordinary pound, when exhibite under the microscope will show countless hidteous creatures wriggling and struggling together—a mass of horrible organisms bred from foulness and dirt. What a section of a bank-note Such as is frequently tendered in payment m this city, a fragment, say, the sjze of a shilling, would reveal under miscroscopic examination, I don t know. It makes one shudder to think of it I have on more than one occasion (Declined to accept payment of these blackened torn and evil-smelling nojtes, which may not improbably distribute the germs ot sickness and disease, and are, in any case, in too disgusting a state to be allowed t° do dut Y an y longer. Of course I know that the banks cancel any quantity of worn-out notes every year—l believe one Auckland bank alone destroys paper money jto the face value of £60,000 annually—but even so, the evil complained of exists to far too large an extent, ', and further steps should certainly be taken to remedy a state of things that is becoming intolerable. Of course a return to gold currency would be the best way out,” but there seems no prospect at all of that happening for many years to come.

JUST A SNACK ! The occupants of a stall in cne of the Queen Street theatres were not unnaturally annoyed the other night when from the circle overhead there descended, at brief intervals, a perfect shower of well-picked bones. Some of them , fell on the dresscoats of the stall-ite, and others tumbled on his head. Ajt last he indignantly complained to the manager. That functionary was sceptical at firqt, but when he accompanied the complainant back to the stalls, just in time to receive a bone, with a piece of skin attached to it, on the back of his own neck he became convinced 1 . So he proceeded), to investigate. On reaching the circle he discovered a lady of generous proportions seated . |n the front row and busily, engaged in eating a. stuffed rabbit. She was plainly enjoying herself. She would tear off a joint, gnaw off the flesh,' and then toss (the bone overboard. When politely requested to make herself scarce this lady was highly indignant, and quitted the theatre, leaving a quantity of stuffing on the seat. Theatre caretakers are a long-' suffering race, and accusjtomed to remove barrow-loads of peanut shells and orange peel from the auditorium, as all in the day’s—or night's work. But, if rabbit eating becomes popular in fhe theatres there’s bound to be another strike!

THE APARTMENT HOUSE INDUSTRY.

During the hearing of an application for possession of a tenemeiyt, at the Police Court, a day or two ago, a solicitor remarked: “This tenant pays 30s per week rent for a ten-roomed house, and was charging my client 35s per week for accommodation. She must have been getting from £5 to £6 per week from different sub-tenantfs.” I should say its highly probable. There are landladies of apartment houses in Auckland at the present time who are netting a good deal more than £5 or £6 a week. I know of one house the rent of which is £3, and' the clear profit about three times ‘ that amount. Rooms that formerly let at 12s or 15s a week now command 25s or 30s. The cost of many things has come down during the past 12 months, but rents are still soaring.