LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13325, 3 November 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

'Let me have audience for a word or two." —Shakespere. Mr congratulations to Christcliurch! The great event has taken place. The Exhibition has been opened. And the impressive and imposing ceremony seems ii> have passed off with complete success. The foreign. Consuls, it is true, - absented ' themselves from the function, and foreign exhibits a.re looked for in vain in the Exhibition itself. But that only serves to emphasise the truly Imperial character of the Exhibition. It is the shop-window of the British Empire, and from all accounts it is a wonderful and instructive display. If 1 had my way every boy and girl in the public schools who has passed the fourth standard should have an opportunity of seeing the Exhibition, it could not fail to open their minds to the ingenuity, the skill, the versatility, and vigour of the race to which they belong, as well as to the marvellous resources of the Empire which is their heritage.

But let me, " right here," as our AmeS rican cousins say, point out that such a visit would fail in its real purpose were it unaccompanied by an appeal to something higher than the mere glorification of materialism. Admirable as the speeches tit the opening were they were all silent, with the exceptic. of Sir John Gorst's, on this jJI-iniportant aspect. The commercial spirit of the age threatens to destroy the higher ideals of religion, of art, and of literature. The worship of the golden calf, which, under the name of mercantilism, is spreading everywhere and among all classes, is deadening our souls to the ennobling influences which such ideals exercise. If we are to build up a greater civilisation our" young people must be taught that " busi- . ness," the pursuit of gain, is not the alpha and omega of life, and that to leave behind ■ them a great book, a great picture, a great carving is better' than to leave a colossal =.s'" fortune. . .-. . '. ', ' ' i v The papers have contained frequent references lately. to the disagreement and squabbling . between Chief Commissioner Munro and his co-commissioners. At one time they seemed to threaten to almost wreck the Exhibition, but happily that ca•H tastrophe has beefi. averted. All the same 1 fancy that* whatever their nature they have done the Exhibition no good. I don't know who is to blame, but'as MivMuriro /:;;■: has retained hi:? position it locks as if the „ Government, at all events, considered him -■~;■,"■■ in the right. In these circumstances it is ■ ■/' perhaps excusable that he should regard the .; Exhibition as '"all my work." If yon uhould ask whose canning brain Conceived this wondrous show of shows, - you would not. have to ask in vain— 'Twas Chief Commissioner Munro's! ■'';■:■-■ .•■■ The Anglican Synod hr 9 come to a close, = but -I cannot conscientiously say that the .";.. gaiety of the community has in consequence '. been eclipsed. 'Nevertheless it has afford- { ed us all a little amusement... It seeiw.to me that people at a. Synod say things which they would think of saying elsewhere. : They become confidential, and outspoken to a degree. Thus we have Mr. Beatty getting up - and telling his brethren-: that "all . vfeV- bishops and canons and priests of Eng- ', ij&l, could not undo the evil that' has ; been- .,. done by the Synod here.". There is a fine -■>"'• frte sweep about this- assertion, but Mr. -'* Beatty leaves us in the dark as to the nature of the evil which the Synod has com- • mitted. I am not more curious than other' people, but I should like to know what Mr. Beatty has in his mind. . > Then there is Mr. Upton, who feels compelled to let us know that he has seen " no ' * evidence among his friends and acquaint- > ; ances of the great intemperance spoken of ' by the mover of the motion." I don't know /■'-■ what the mover of the motion said, but as ' - Mr. Upton is a very ; observant man, lam V prepared to take his word for it without reservation. I am sure, also, that all Mr. , Upton's friends and acquaintances will be '• V grateful *to him for standing up in the ■ Synod and publicly testifying in this man- ' ner to their sobriety. ■„•.,"..-• '-"•' ' The 'ornv-'anded have another grievance. v They are not invited to Government banquet'.-, and apparently when they are are put : below the salt and given beer to drink, ■ while those at the head of the table quaff champagne. Such',: at least, is the com- ■ • plaint of Mr. Hindmarsh, of Wellington, who thinks that such things show, ".the lamentable tone, that prevails m this countrv" No wonder he adds, with sorrow in • ; his voice, that.banquets have deteriorated in this colony. They have gone off alto- :-;•'. gether. . " A correspondent brings under my notice v ' : a plucky act of a Maori girl. Some of the schoolgirl* at Piriaka were; bathing in a shallow but dangerous place »i the anganui River. One girl accidentally knocked against another seven years old, and sue .•. fell into the deep part and was being rapidlv carried down by the current. A Maori girl, Tekura. ten years o'.d, showed great presence of mind. . She swam out quite a distance, and was able to reach the other before, she sank. Vive la. Tekura! I hope ■ * the little maid's pluck and promptitude will earn for her the Royal Humane Society s medal.

A Mangawhare correspondent tells me that: "The establishment which lias been known as a "post office for the last thirty years still bears the usual notice in front relating to hours of attendance, registration of letters, post office savings bank, etc, but inquirers for letters are told that . they must inquire elsewhere, as " there is no delivery of letters there. Tin* V ' may seem almost incredible, to some o <: '■■'• your readers, as such, an anomaly as a : post office where letters are .not-delivered £'"-■■■ on demand to the persons to whom they are addressed is probably not to be Mind elsewhere in the whole of His Majesty s dominions.". ■■ The situation is easily 'given, .if not :- very comprehensible. It is this: " People living on the beach road between Dar- •"' gaville and Mount Wesley, which passes through Mangawhare, have their ■ letters ■■■:■■ delivered to them .by the Dargaville lettercarrier; but those living a few chains back, comprising some fifteen families, on the road between Mount Wesley and Duck Creek and beyond, are left entirely in the lurch."' When they protested these people .-• were told that as the Mangawhare postmaster did not now handle correspondence they ought to get their correspondence addressed to a neighbour's. My correspon- "■»"' dent wants to know how to - get Ins let- % . ters . sent to and kept" for him at the •Mangawhare P.O. I give it up. Supposing he tried Sir Joseph Ward. ■;;v ■; I read that in Wellington families are ; giving up housekeeping because of the ' ".'.' scarcity of domestic servants. _ Things are not much easier in Auckland if all stories are true. The country and seaside hotels •and boarding-houses, with Rotorua, always drain the domestic servant market in the summer-time, and this year Christehurch is competing with the provincial "ttractione. Housemaids,' waitresses, ' cooks, generals—Christchurch is absorbing them by the hundreds from all over the colony. I have even heard it suggested that : the Exhibition is nothing but a gigantic plot on the part of Canterbury mistresses to solve,the eervant-girl problem. K solve, the eervaflt-girl problem. MiSBCUXIO. <■ ..-"'■ '■