The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1933. “NOTHING IN THE PAPER.”

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 2 December 1933, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1933. “NOTHING IN THE PAPER.”

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna,' Te Kiri, Mahce, Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Whennakura, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremers, Fraser Eoad and Ararata.

“More British (than Britain” though Nejw Zealand may bo on a statistical basis, the temperament of New Zealanders is very akin to that of the English people. With thorn we share, a pride in the right to “grouse” and 1 , like them, one of the things we most commonly grumble about is the lack of news in the papers. It is the prerogative of the head l of every New Zealand household to demand that the daily paper shall 1 not bo dissected by various members of the family until he has reaid it; and it is also a well-establish-ed tradition that ho may, if lie feels so disposed, fling the newspaper aside, after perusing it for anything from a quarter of an hour to an hour, and inquire of high heaven why there's never anything in the paper. It might be thought that the exercise of this right of British citizenship is calculated to make life difficult for the people who earn their daily bread by the production of newspapers; but newspapers still appear daily and newspaper people, like old soldiers, never die.

With, a view (to fathoming the carious discrepancy of opinion that lies between the praise .that is lavished! on the New Zealand Press by overseas visitors and. the age-old ‘ ‘grouse” of the (newspaper reader, we determined that w r e would review the news that has appeared in our columns during the current week. With a determination that this survey should be nothing if not thorough, systematic and conclusive, we began by taking last Mondays’ issue of the "Star,” intending to scan each column 1 of that and each succeeding day’s issue of the paper, noting particularly those items, if any, which could reasonably be regarded by a reader genuinely on the look-ouft for nows as worthy of his interest. The first item that caught the eye was a small cable message from Moscow announcing that within the previous 24 hours 32 small boats, containing .150 persons had been overwhelmed by ice. In an adjoining column Paris announced to the world that the French had been again indulging in their favourite recreation of turning out the Government and electing a Prime Minister. At the foot of the column was a local item stating that' 47,000 young tirout had been liberated in Streams near Hawera. Here, apparently, we were "getting hot” in our search for news, for no matter how blase we may be about overwhelming ice and French Premiers in these days of spectacular movies, there is surely still a thrill for the angler in the information that 47,000 young troult) are busy getting ready for his next season’s sport. Passing on ,we found that in Washington they were still doing .things to the price of gold, but as no one has an'y gold nor expects to have any in this generation, we were inclined to agree that perhaps Washington had failed us. Ini London, we noticed, according to one cable message, a general and a bishop had been warning public meetings of the horrors of the "next war.” With a silent thought that it would have perhaps been more fruitful of result if those speeches had been made in Manchuria or Berlin instead of in a London suburb, we indulged ourselves for ten minutes in a perusal of an address given on the burden of mortgages to a meeting of fanners ati Okaiawa. That article delayed the progress of the search for news considerably., but bearing in mind that there was a cause to be served by the task we had undertaken, we tore ourselves away from the pleasant prospect of a land flowing with milk and honey and’ not even a bill' of sale to spoil the view and glanced quickly back to the cables of the day. In Philadelphia, we noted, a .Senator had got himself into a whole lot of trouble because he had been careless of the company he kept. Apparently the cable sought to convey the impression that the Senator would bo occupying one of those extremely hygienic cells in an. extremely efficient penitentiary for the ensuing year and a half. A St. Johns message had a sad story to tell of the finances of Newfoundland and some nasty insinuations wore made about Newfoundland politicians. Pleasanter news came from London where they have been making some experiments with the object of adding talking pictures.to such other amenities of the modern bungalow as hot and cold water and' sun-porches. In EL'thani, according to sv neighbouring column, there had been a conference of Taranaki Mayors. We regretted having no time to read that article, but presumed it was a story of pomp and pageantry. A message from Admiral

Byrd’s ship, despatched by ■wireless from raid-ocean, was followed by an account of a frontier tragedy brought about by a Gorman soldier crying “ Hail Hitler” at am indiscreet moment —there were numerous Austrians just over the border. A man had confessed the murder of his wifo in Chicago, to the embarrassment of the police, who had already obtained a confession) from the victim’s mother-in-law; from New York came the bare result of a 1 fistic encounter between Tony CanzoneTi and one Kid Chocolate, and from Greymouth the story of a mine tragedy. More, much moire, there w T as in that day’s paper, but, unfortunately for the high purpose with which we set oaiifc on- this task, we became engrossed in the sporting page and its recital of the doings of horses in Sydney, Melbourne, London and Levin.