LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14465, 3 September 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY HERCUTIO. However Hh one may be to entertain the idea, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that the Government, are deliberately dis- j favouring Auckland on every occasion that j presents'itself. Notwithstanding the fact j that the city is without, a single member j of the Opposition, and that its represents- ; tires can always he relied upon to stand i i by the Government, in a. storm, Ministers ; feel instinctively that the people of Auck- j land hold them in very small estimation, j : B nd would not be sorry to see them evicted , bag and baggage. Nor is it in the least j • degree surprising that the relations of I Ministers and the Auckland public should be what they are. The former realise that they are aliens in the North. They know the" country, but only as an English tourist may be said to know it. Their affections Bre " not centred here. They have no private interests in this part of New Zealand, They j arfl net. concerned with its development, or j the things which its people regard as of j vital importance. 1 heir lives have been j spent in the South. Their homes are there, j their businesses, their sympathies, their | friends and cronies, theiv sisters and cousins j • a nd aunts. To them the South is New j Zealand, and the North a negligible quan- j tv something standing far oft' and aloof that thev need not worry themselves about. We cannot perhaps blame them. These men are Southerners, not patriots. They j lave always " their ain midden" before their eyes. And the people of Auckland, good, easygoing folks that, they are, are only just j beginning to have a dim consciousness that | none of the good things on the political j banquet table ever come their way. They are only now discovering that all these years j thev have been sitting below the salt with ; the common herd, and feeding on coarse I fare, while on the dais at the top of the i table the Southerners have been all this time firmly seated, and feasting on the titbits and delicacies provided at the public expense. Aucklanders may lack pride and spirit, but they are not going to put up with this humiliating indignity for ever. Already they are growing restive. They are asking themselves why they should be forced to drink the thin wine while others quaff the rich vintage, and why all the scraps should bo sent to their end of the table. This is a good sign. It is the beginning of the end. If you are content with a bone you are never likely to get any meat. Auckland has been gnawing at bones long enough. It is now demanding neat. This is fluttering the upper end of the table, where the South sits, full and fat end particularly well satisfied with itself, like a glorified Mrs. Gamp. Hence the attitude of the Government towards Auckland. It must be punished for its presumption in asking for more, and for its audacity in claiming a share of the good things that the South has been so long accustomed to regard as its very and exclusive own. .Auckland is not to have a monopoly of the revived San Francisco mail ser- ' vice. This is meant to teach her a lesson, just as the attempt (not yet abandoned, by the way) to deprive her of Government House was meant to teach her a lesson. If this kind of teaching is continued long enough I am afraid that even independent candidates will have no chance of election in. Auckland, however popular they may be ■personally. We are all getting " full up" of this sort of treatment. The Government's own supporters are beginning to resent it. But the Government apparently think they have got Auckland's measure, and ignore even the protests of their own friends, knowing that these poor critics, when the general election comes round, will bawl or bray the loudest for the nominees of the Government. They are making a mistake, however. A change has come over Auckland. It is no longer what it was— docile and indifferent. It has been roused, and means to have its own. Let the Government beware. When a few telegraph posts get blown down, as happened last Sunday, completely cutting off telegraphic and telephonic communication south of Auckland, there is still a- way of getting a message through to Wellington, or any other place south of the interrupted area, though the process is a very roundabout one and costly. If all the wires should be broken between Auckland and Hamilton, say, and one ■wanted to send an urgent message to someone in the latter town, lie could do so at a cost of about a shilling a word, and it would reach its destination within ten minutes of a-quarter of an hour after transmission, over 3000 miles, by this route: — > Auckland to Doubtless Bay, by telegraph ; thence by cable to Norfolk Island and Southport (Queensland); from Sout-hport to Sydney to La Perouse (Botany Bay), by telegraph ; from La Perouse to Whakapuaka, by cable; and from akapuaka to Wellington to Hamilton, . by telegraph. Often when wires are blocked north of Sydney urgent messages are sent from that city to places in Queensland by way of the cable from. La Perouse (south of Sydney) to Wakapuaka, thence through Auckland to Doubtless Bay, and from there back to Australia again, landing at Southport, south of Brisbane, and going over the land lines from there to the place of delivery. * . I-^ ea r Mercutio, —It is to be hoped, in the interests of the community at large, that J*our warning re a " land boom" be taken fcnously. It was stated in the House a few days ago that a certain land agent in Christ church has 500 farms on his books . for sale and he asserted that the owners of the said farms were asking prices far above the real value. Sooner or later the price of rural land is bound to come down to its true economical value, i.e., with money at . five per cent, per annum, 20 years' purchase on the real annual letting value Yours faithfully, George Wilxs. ° UtS _ ,Some passengers on board ship are hard to please. The other day one, bein" fond of delicacies, asked for some Bombay" duck Which he observed on the bill, of'fare, and afterwards complained to the captain'that Instead of receiving a succulent ..slice from the breast the steward brought him some dried fish! A correspondent, who had advertised for i position as housekeeper, sends me the following "memo." which .she received in "ply "Re your advt. Locality: Two to three miles from — Duties: To take charge of all the housework of every kind. Must be able to cook, get up early, and economically manage. Number in house: Average from 10 to 12. No young children, balary: At the rate of 50 guineas per year, payable weekly." My correspondent, commenting on this, says : —" lam looking for work and am prepared for it, but to be a white slave I certainly object-. Is it any wonder that there is trouble and a scarcity . of domestics when one is asked, as lam in enclosed note, to do the work of three persons for the paltry remuneration of 50 guineas per annum." , Sunday last was the wintriest day we - kave had this year. Its effect on church attendance was very perceptible. I was £•>. reminded of Burns' lines— V' As cauld a wind as ever blew, ■°r i ca uld a kirk and in't but few, V '' A. cau'ier. minister never spak, f; " they'll a' be b.et ere I come back. . . we cannot, or won't, warm our churches ' 111 c°ld weather preachers might endeavour, /- when hail in beating on the roof, to use >- burnt words, iSsi" • ite'. ~ ' ....