The Manawatu Daily Times The God of Glamour

Manawatu Times, Volume LIX, Issue 7486, 9 June 1934, Page 6

The Manawatu Daily Times The God of Glamour

One of the most pronounced traits in human nature is its worship of the spectacular. Away back through the dim corridors of time man has ever been prone to set up in adulation the doer of big deeds. Possessors of muscle and brawn, of licet feet, of reckless physical exertion, have always strutted to the plaudits of the multitude, while the thinker, the creator of big thoughts and real benefits to his fellow man has been left in comparative obscurity. There is still a lot of the animal in our make-up. Like the wolves of a pack we follow a loader who assumes his position by virtue of physical prowess rather than by mental or aesthetic superiority. Who arc the popular heroes of this age —of any age ’! blot the quiet, self-sacrificing men who devote their lives to the task of making this world a better place to live in; not the devotees of test-tube and laboratory; not the gifted surgeons, under whose skilled hands our painracked bodies are soothed and healed. Theirs arc not the deeas that stir the imagination or bring the world to its feet in hosannas of acclamation. Even to the child’s mind a soldier looms larger in universal favour than the scholar whose job it is to inculcate the rudiments of knowledge and learning. And maidens, like moths, arc ever attracted by the glare ! To-day, and for many days, the world—the British part of it at least—has been ringing to the praises of a youthful aviatrix. No one would dream of detracting from the merit of Miss Batten’s example of what feminine courage and pertinacity are capable of accomplishing; but judged soberly and unemotionally, stripped of its spectacular effect, there remains little more worthy of nation-wide homage and clamorous feting than should go to the credit of many unsung, unknown mothers and daughters in the backblocks of this country of ours. Not for them is the front page of a nation’s Press; but in many homes to-day quiet, unassuming mothers of men are carrying on a fight worthy of real heroines. It is a grim, relentless battle that calls for all the courage and bigness of heart that ever spurred their more adventurous sisters to deeds of derring-do. But it lacks glamour; it misses the spotlight of publicity—it is not spectacular.

In regard to an Auckland statement that there are 4UU unemployed Chinese in Wellington, Mr. Y’ue H. Jackson, Vice-Consul l'or China, says the number is between 150 and 200. The Chinese community in Wellington numbers about 500, including women and children. Practically all of those out of work are living with friends or relatives in shops or laundries, giving their services in return for their keep. In the summer there is work for them in the market gardens. Chinese are eligible for relief work on the same basis as Europeans. That the Enabling Act which made provision for more democratic government of the Church of England was based on the constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand was mentioned by Rev. C. C. Harper, vicar of Ford, England, and for many years clerical secretary of -the Wellington Diocesan Synod, when addrossing the Synod, at the invitation of Bishop Sprott, on Thursday afternoon. Making a plea .to tho members to realise the responsibility which rested upon tho Synod, Mr. Harper said that prior to 1918 the Church of England had no form of self-government, all power being in the hands of bishops, incumbents and churchwardens. For many years consideration had been given to the provision of an Enabling Act whieh would provide for the more democratic government of the Church, and the Act linally passed had been based on the constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand,

Advice has been received that the second prize of £4OOO in the Golden Casket (Queensland State) lottery, Grand Centenary No. 2, has gone to Opotiki. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned at the inquest at Wellington yesterday on a boy named Clausseu who was killed by a lorry after a fall from his bicycle. The evidence showed tho boy was attempting to pass a lorry when the bicycle skidded on tho surface, which was greasy after raiu. The Coroner said it was a pure accident, no blame attaching to tho driver of the lorry. New Zealand's Empire Games team was given a civic farewell by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. G. W. Hutchison) and a gathering of athletic enthusiasts at the Town Hall, Auckland, yesterday. Other speakers wore Mr. M. McCormick, chairman of the Empire Games Association in Now Zealand, who said there was a possibility that the team would visit Canada after England, and Mr. A. T. Davies, vicepresident of tho association, who expressed tho opinion that the team was tho strongest that had left the Dominion. Mr. H. Brainsby, responding for the team, said it was a small one and would meet with strong opposition, but it was hoped it would finish near the toJ. At the Mayor’s call rousing cheers were given for tho team, which comprises Messrs Brainsby, N. Crump, L. Smith, T. G. Broadway, F. Grose and W. Wharoaitu,