LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15504, 10 January 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

lit MEBCUTIO. J'HE summer has come in upon us with t ho usual rush. Kiom Mack skies, repeating rams and heavy winds, the season B pun suddenly round to the sultry days Bllf | cloudless skies which make holidays •movable. Auckland at such times is ~ *,„ host-. Needing something to (•rumble about we concur iu calling the weather 'relaxing.' but this is a very minor drawback. Judging from the pasSIOU f„r athletics which distinguishes young Am Wanders, there is nothing physically demoralising in our most "relax,l],'" day-, any more than then- is anything depressing in our pleasant winter months. Taking it altogether, the Auckland climate is as ideally perfect as there is to be found in the world. Our wet mini; »a.< » boon ,0 the dairymen and die drv weather is barely enough to piea-so the haymakers.

That we grumble at tho weather is only 0 natunJ characteristic and is doubtless due to the superstitious feeling that if we confess ourselves contented some evil will ix'fall us. Nobody admits being superstitious but everybody is, more or less. Few l.ke to sp:ll salt and many have a faint notion thai coming events cast thenshadows in teacups. So we grumble at, all weathers. Tho most satisfied in' man 1 met recently reluctantly ad hutted that tho weather was "not bad." Having gone so far ho laughed somewhat shamefacedly as though betrayed with untimely enthusiasm-

For "not bad" is, alter all. a colonial superlative. It is cue of the idioms by which we prevent the mere foreigner from acquiring th<> key to our language. There is nothing more to be said when the colonial has rendered a "not bad" verdict. It is a comment which brings a flush of pride to the cheeks of the campcook and enables the pretty girl to understand that her summer frock leaves nothing to be desired by the most exacting lever.

The Auckland peach season is now in full swing and the public can have their choice of such fruit as in the London market would be worth shillings apiece. The season commences here with the Sneed, Walch ripens early in December, but as a cynical grower remarked, anyone can sniiko a better peach than the Sneed with cotton-wool and kerosene. The Brigg's lied May is really the first of our good early peaches, and when ripened on the tree lias a delicious flavour. The Alexander, its close cousin, is akin in flavour, and finer, perhaps, in colour and fixture; but Hales' Early surpasses both in all that makes fruit attractive to the eye and to the palate. Just now Hafts' Early is in its prime, but the city people rarely see it for it is too delicate and too »hy a bearer to be grown commercially. If, however a peach lover wishes to know how good a good peach is he should seek a sheltered orchard where the Hales' Early hangs its large crimson globes, and should pick one that has just been narked by the "silver-eyes." These little birds have a line taste in fruit. After Hales', the midseason peaches come in and their name is legion; as to which is best who can say where so many are good :

The difficulty with peaches, as with v Mi cr fruits, ie that a large percentage of the crop is from inferior varieties, poorly cultivated, and badly pruned. Some day the inferior varieties will be weeded out, and careless growers will have learned better. Then we shall hear less of the peaches grown by the Maoris, which one of the early pioneers described in a book as "fairly good for culinary purposes."

The Exhibition is naturally the standing topic of interest, and many suggestions are made for improving its value and attractiveness. The suggestion that the national flying machine should be brought up has been readily and promptly adopted. I congratulate both the executive and the Defence Department upon thus meeting the public in a matter of extraordinary interest. J

Another suggestion made to me is that a plan of the •' palace of industries," snowing passageways, courts, and stalls— marked with proprietors' names and character of exhibits-should be printed for free distribution. This would certainly assist in unravelling the maze in which visiter find themselves. It is hard to find the way out from the "palace," and harder still to find any particular exhibit or Mall.

_ The Exhibition authorities may also be interested to know that 1914 is the centenary of the discovery 0 f the principles op, -tography by Daguerro and Nieper, although the discovery was not well developed until 1838, when they received an «muity of 1000 francs from the French government. Mr. W. Harris, of Te Kowha, suggest* to me that •'an interesting exhibit might be gathered at the ExMtatwn of photographs and apparatus Covering the century." He offers to con WW -« of the - carliPßt lv n p - dated ,'V. J 1 '"* ar '' »n profile and black on white background, one being of a bov "me ,«»„ of age and hi, sister of 13 ' Souftn™ kn " W f ' ~e girl who " flhe was about "0 years of age. winch directly connects the present generation with the hrst to be recorded '" photography. The sug«boo J 8 / 1 " attractive one-if there is 5;;,",! '-mmittje took the matter em ■•.siaetically m hand.

It iii strange '" think that only 100 years *&<> he phoU-graph » a „ unknown. ' Tond t? '" " v,r - y h " u *''' iri 'very room. News 1 n ? w M»r*n. like the Wkekly Prominent. To be photographed ">ndT ,V themselves and to their •• i 1 ""V, w '\". t.mes and pla.es. «nd in*? '' xhll),t Wollld i»t«ra»l thou,tractivT «'" "'^-ttable that such an atyear ago ' *''"' not l )Ut forward a

, fcmpl ant is '''"'" l " m „ that neit}ler * L ie S? ir f ',r taping are kept Bath'rl .on" " V B **' '^thing-place. broken „!?""" cul thp,r ft ' et "» «Uu„f 8 : l " ! »' 1 ' "»'"uH not be there. i-tC-fitrr:.'' 1 ": rasi "" aI «»"• ""<•<' • J »liu „' u, R "' ' ,u " »■"■«• that the .St. a " d unseen .' "'i'" "V """' h **« Mention d r r: *••"? " PPrl to have their P">mr,t raW " '" tllp situation to make vision. q ""' y r "" ' *«> "wewary pro-

H^u!7bou f t.T'' U ' '"'hli-hed in U»e *««i to i, •";"'* "«"' drftw u1,1i,; "fcataiul ml ' ar '' lc "snesß with which >n nj ° h '' r ' I" «ere then handled Welv am . V I 1" " 1"' '""sumption. the^d,Uo i ; , t , i ; ~lt Ilf tl'i* "<*< "iptfon of ?IVft| l to tl„ "' fining, powers were >' aJ. M ""'! il,,l ," lliw " to insist "**•. hotel 1 " , ,l "'>"l"'<-"- in butchers' ''P'W nla, i.V™ U,nr ' 1,,t '« Miens, and * hi <"Cn .""' " ff "' l " ,f lh " "v-laws I " a "" '" f-'ebruaiy, 1912, has cla «»« i n " .J': ""Provoment. .> *KoUflf yI; ' HS , "'" vif,, ' s that b ;,"" '"•"rnal openings (of khail Ste, V <"<'"-' »ith\,lLs ?. ;,uw - wa! ,' ""'■''■<' *'th wire >«i' M |'i Ai«. oi dust, and , .•"Btess and egress. *•

The last direction is not being scrupulously observed. There is one shop fitted in front with the regulation glazed window and wire gauze door which afford a fairly effective protection against flies and dust; but during the greater part of the day the. back door is wide open for tho admission of anything that notices this obvious breath in the defences. If neglect of this character has developed in one spot and is allowed to continue unchecked' there are probably other instances in which a little inspectorial activity is necessary.

The residential areas of the city a.re outside its legal limits, and very many households receive their meat supplies from shops beyond the jurisdiction of the city by-laws. Little, attempt has yet been made by suburban authorities to incorporate the wisdom of tho city in their load ragulations, so that the general condition of butchers' shops in the suburbs is very similar to that which the city bv-laws removed. Cleanliness in the handling of food stuffs might be used effectively as an argument tor Greater Auckland even if the main object were not immediately achieved. There would be a direct benefit it the light of public criticism were turned into some of the dark, unwholesome spots in which food stuffs are bandied before they reach the suburban kitchens. A butcher's shop in summer is not particularly attractive, but the comparison between almost any shop in tho city and almost any one in the suburbs is a convincing instruction in the advantage to be gained by concentrating commonsense into by-laws