The Manawatu Daily Times

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7242, 23 August 1933, Page 6

The Manawatu Daily Times

Dress Only one topic could unite bishops, postmen, tennis enthusiasts,' conference delegates, dukes and letter writers to the Press in a common interest. That topic is dress. In Britain, of course, the policies of President Roosevelt and Herr Hitler each have their interested public. But the problems that are really exercising the keenest intellects of the country are, so far as one can learn from the Press: Should bishops (as the Bishop of Kensington is said to have suggested) wear leather leggings? and ought dukes to dine in evening dress ? The urgency of this latter question has quite thrust into the background the even trickier question as to whether a considerable proportion of the nation will manage to dine at all. Then there are the sartorial complications of the tennis court. Mr. 11. W. Austin has many admirers, but not all of them have a taste for slicing their trousers off at the knee, as is the habit of that distinguished player when appearing at Wimbledon. It’will be interesting to observe how many sportsmen this summer agree with Mr. Austin that tennis court trousers should be “court” trousers in both the English and the French meanings of the term. But it is the problem of evening dress that is causing the most earnest discussion. The Duke of Marlborough recently attended a banquet clad in a soft shirt and white suit, thus thoughtfully settling the vexed question of whether the Churchill family objects to white as a colour, or only to White Papers. The Duke’s action, however, filled certain theatrical managers, including Mr. C. B. Cochran, with alarm. Soft shirts at dinner, it is felt, will result in plus fours in the stalls. This, thinks Mr. Cochran, must be avoided at all costs. The theatre, he feels, is a social occasion, and everyone should dress for it, whether “dressing” means putting on a white tic or only a clean handkerchief. Driving his point home, Mr. Cochran quotes with approval the owner of a theatre who displayed over his gallery entrance, “No gentleman allowed in without a collar.” As yet the noise of battle is unabated, and no one knows in which direction victory inclines. Modem Trends That modern civilisation is “playing at a savage immaturity” was the charge made by Miss E. Strudwick, of St. Paul’s Girl’s School, Hammersmith, in her presidential address at the Association of Head Mistresses’ Conference. “Over against the ever-more amazing inventions of science we see a kind of childishness creeping over our thoughts, our modes of expression, our art, our music, our morals,” she said. “We talk in words from a very limited vocabulary, we produce pictures and statues of a more than ungainly ‘neo-primitiveness, ’ we croon nigger songs while we push one another round a room in dances that need no brain, no zest, and no vitality for their successful performance. Many of our buildings have as their chief merits the fact that they can be rushed up quickly and finished within a few weeks. We tear over the earth’s surface along roads of brick-box straightness, past rows of houses of brick-box exactitude and hideousness, in order to get somewhere, it does not much matter where, in record time. Finally, the novels we read, apparently with pleasure, for there are many of them, show men and women as ill-conducted children whose one concern is that which they share with the animal world. There is to me something grim and horrible in an essentially mature civilisation playing at savage immaturity when it knows better. Wo cannot go back to the beginning of things any more than a mature mind can change into that of a child,”

Arrangements aro now being made for the distribution this week of boots for relief workers in the Manawatu county, Polmngina, Tangiinoana and Tokomaru areas. This new supply will make a total of 1100 forwarded to Palmerston North for distribution. The quota this week is expected to reach 000 pairs. In the Wellington Competitions Society's festival district competitors have fared as follow in the various sections:—Contralto solo, “Sea Wrack"— Kathleen Sawyer (To Horo) 1. National dance, hornpipe, 12-10 years: Miss June Scott (Palmerston North), 1. The judge stated that Miss Scott gave some of the finest dancing sho had ever seen.

“Tho Park road ground is not proving very popular," stated tho chairman (Mr. A. W. Thompson) at last evening’s meeting of the Manawatu Eugby Union when tho attendance at tho first senior football match to bo played there this season was referred to. It was mentioned that there had only been a handful of spectators present.

It is understood that one of those in the syndicate holding tho winning ticket in the “Lucky Chance" art union is Mr. John Gladstone Biddlcr, who lives at 69 Hutt road, I’otonc. The ticket was taken out in the name of “J. Gladstone, 53 Bichmond street, Petone." Mr. Eiddler, who is a dental mechanic, is a single man, about 30 years of age. Under the will of tho late Mr James Henry Maxwell, a former building inspector for the Auckland City Council, a sum of about £IO,OOO has been loft to be evenly divided between tho Auckland Presbyterian Church Orphanages and Social Service Association, and tho New Zealand Instituto for tho Blind. Mr Maxwell’s will has been sworn at under £17,000, and about £SOOO will be absorbed in family boquests.

A deficiency of £5280 was shown by Kobert Brims, a bankrupt showman, when he met his creditors at Christchurch yesterday morning. His most recent venture was the conducting of Johnson’s fish ponds at Opawa, when a skating rink had been laid down. It was said that the’ cause of bis bankruptcy was the drop in land values affecting property which ho owned around the city. Tho estate was left in tic hands of the Official Assignee. Considerable damage was done to the building when a daylight burglary was carried out on St. Paul’s Methodist Church schoolroom, Broadway, on Tuesday afternoon. A complete pane of glass was removed from a large window to gain access, ana the intruder then proceeded to force a number of drawers and cupboards in search of cash, meeting with failure. Marks were also made on the door of the vestry at the rear of tire church proper in an attempt to gain ontranco there. Allegedly adopting a defiant and insulting attitude to tho management committee of the Otago Football Association on Monday evening when he was disqualified for the remainder of the season for questioning and abusing a referee’s, decision, W. Albertson, a Port Chalmers third grade player, threatened to fight the executive members. Ho was ultimately chased from the room by a member and was disqualified for life and warned off all grounds.

It was stated by Mr J. L. Hewitt, S.M., at the Assessment Court at Wanganui yesterday, that, although the Act provided that valuations of properties should be fixed by selling values, in absence of sales it was impossible to do this and valuations would have to bo fixed in such a way as to distribute tho burden of rates fairly among property-owners. It was shown that tho main street of Wanganui was paying one-third of tho rates of the entire city. Mr Hewitt stated that it would have to be considered if this was a fair ratio to the rost of tho city.

An uneventful year is recorded in the annual report of tho Polynesian Society, which was presented at the annual meeting at Wellington on Monday. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follow: —Patron, Lord Blcdisloc; president, the Bishop of Waiapu (Et. Bev. Dr. 11. W. Williams); hon. secretary, Mr A. H. Maclver; hon. treasurer, Mr D, W. Foster; council, Sir Apirana Ngata, Messrs H. B. H. Balnea vis, J. M. Ilot.t, J. C. Andersen, T. W. Downes, H. D. Skinner, W, B. B. Oliver and Dr. I. L. G. Sutherland; hon. auditor, Mr H. Baillie. Mr W. H. Skinner was elected a life member.

The following resolution was passed last night by tho South Canterbury Employers’ Association: “This executive views with misgiving tho tendency of some employers who are uncontrolled by industrial awards or agreements in taking advantage of the workers by publicly offering unfair wages, thus endeavouring to take advantage and exploit male and female workers in their existing distress." By eight votes to six to-night, the Timaru Employment Committee rejected a proposal by Mr. H. G. Naylor to recommend to the Government the payment of sustenance and the consideration of an unemployment insurance scheme in preference to tho presont system of relief work. How he was originally destined to be a bank clerk, and only took up teaching as a temporary expedient, was revealed last week by Mr C. H. Broad at a farewell function held in his honour at Nelson College. And he started to teach at the princely salary of £1 a week! Having begun ns a teacher, he decided to mako it his life’s work, and after a few years at Nelson College he was offered an appointment at the Otago Boys’ High School —a position that had to be filled at almost a moment’s notice. Looking round Nelson for a substitute on the college staff, Mr Broad came across Mr Frank Milner, who was sitting that year for his M.A. and the first section of his LL.B. “AH right," said young Milner, “I’ll take the job on, but mind you, only temporarily; I’m going to be a lawyer.’ * But he never became a lawyer, any more than Mr Broad became a banker. Mr Milner actually resigned his position at Nelson College at the end of 1899 to go on with his legal studies, but he was persuaded to sign on (temporarily again!) at the beginning of the next year, and the law lost him for good.