LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15730, 3 October 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MEHCUTIO.

I wovpe". if there is any telepathic influence in great national movements. A friend of mine declares that he can feel distinctly the swing of events in France before they are recorded by the rabies. Ho asserts that during the retreat of our forces from Mens he felt an unaccountable sense of suspense and depression, and that "'i the day when the German army was driven ha, from the Marne, he 'had a distinct feeling not so much of elation as <"' relief. He Fays that ordinarily naval affairs do not seem to affect him, but that when our cruisers were torpedoed he had an intense feeing of irritation. If lie were of the emotional type, I should be able to say that be was wise after the event was known, but 1 know him sufficiently well to believe that he is perfectly sincere in his .statements. And there 'is nothing really unusual in this! It, is common enough to find people influenced in this way by much less serious matters. Fore.dings, premonitions of individual accidents have been recorded throughout all ages. When the fate of nations is at stake and movements are taking place that shake the world, surely it is not impossible that certain sensitive brains should feel their influence oven across 12,000 miles of land and sea.

Sump of the war correspondents have diawn harrowing pictures of the suffering of our men in the trenches due to exposure to driving rain and winter cold. Rut it is simply wonderful how quickly the human system adapts itself to conditions. If it had not been so, the human rare would have died out long ago. As a matter of fact, men and women too, can endure the most terrible privations without anything like the amount of suffering generally imagined. We know this by the record of survivors from shipwrecks,'from m»n lost in the hush. We know that fishermen will cheerfully wade for hours in icy rivers, that others will roam for long days through marshes and raupo thickets after wild fowl. We know too, that drovers and swagmen think little of camping-out in the open, even in winter time, and that bushmen and surveyors are wet to the skin from morning until night for weeks together. It is recognised even by doctors that warm rooms and faulty ventilation are much more deadly than extremes of heat and cold, and that comfort, as we call it, is more injurious than the endurance of great hardships. Even in the matter of hunger, experience teaches us that it is much worse j in imagination than in reality. Hi's ! average Englishman, and particularly the Englishwoman, seem to believe that if a j person misses a meal he is likely to be I seriously weakened. If he misses two meals he begins to stagger, and that, a j day without food is almost fatal. As a matter of fact there are plenty of people in this land of plenty who 'have been two or three, days without food and eomo who have not eaten for more than a week. To the ordinary man a day without food is really a splendid tonic, and two days puts him into fighting fettle.

None of the new patriotic songs produced so far has caugnt on with the New Zealand -expeditionary force. Whether it' is the fault of the song or because our soldiers are much more interested in showmg their patriotism by fighting than by music need not be discussed. The average Britisher believes more in the doing of things than singing about them. No doubt ii they were on the march, some of the men might give voice to "John Brown's Body- -and if a New Zealand song as simple and as effective could bo writtenwhy New Zealanders would sing it>-when they felt inclined. They evidently were not inclined to try a certain new production when they were in camp at Epsom. he band played the air and the conductor waved his arms, and called upon the 'boys to make a start, but only about three out of nearly two thousand lifted their voices. The request to "try again met with much the same response as did further requests, which - goes to prove that cither our soldiers are averse to ringing or that they require words and music which stir them. But although 1-ranch armies have been known to sing fju Marseillaise' and Germans seem to find expression in "The Watch on the Khine. English armies do not seem to Have adopted any particular air. One case is on record when an English army broke into song. It was just before the battle of Alma- and then the song was <( Annie Laurie." In France at presenl It s a long road to Tipperarv," seems to be first favourite with the British soldiers.

There are many false prophets in Auckland. Some of them at the beginning of the war .- ..red us that the clash of aims would bring disaster to our trade and thai great sums would be required for the relief of local distress. Two months ago there were people who could not see a silver lining in the cloud. It was useless to urge them to keep their pecker up worse than useless to ask them to keep their gloomy forebodings to themselves Fortunately, the majority of Aucklanders had faith in themselves, their country and their Empire, and the favourable state' of trade and employment to-day is due to the faithful majority. Had we all been pessimists storing our gold against the evil clay, we would not have had to look very far lor distress and unemployment. As it is, only 240 men were found to be reeking work in the week covered by the last report to the Patriotic League and places were at once found for many of them. When we consider the size 'of Auckland and the unavoidable checks to trade caused by the events of the past two months, we can only wonder that we are doing go well. If \vc can judge by the attendances at the theatres and the picture fhows. Auckland as a whole has not felt even the need to economise. As to the future the time of crisis, so far as trade and employment are concerned, is over. Ever, the prophets of woe have become cheerful. The Kaiser's plans have miscarried, spring has come in Auckland; who can be sad at such a time?

Now that the rate of pay lias been in- I creased, and the price of soda water re- ■ duced, there ought to be solid content- ! ment in the expeditionary force. - There ought to be, but there isn't. The fact is j there would he more joy in the ranks! over an order to proceed to the front than : over another shilling added to the daily pay, Ah for the price of sodawater and j writing-pads, these are small troubles j which assume large proportions becaur-6 of j the. general dullness of life here, and the distance from Europe, where, events are moving with sufficient rapidity to make j hie interesting.

The trucker who was so little affected by the Huntlv mining disaster as to smoke ' a cigarette in the Extended mine is typical of mine-workers all over the world. Miners everywhere are notoriously care- , less with lights. They are so accustomed to feeling safe in mines that the danger of explosion seems a far away thing, and i precautions irritate. In mines where safety lamps are in use the miner who has been deprived of his matchbox, and wants to j smoke a cigarette, usually knows a trick of getting at the light. Inventors have i laboured to make the safety lamp proof against smokers, but their efforts in the interests of safety have only made miners more skilful at tapping the locked light.