LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16621, 18 August 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

ai MERCUTIO. Hie sun has been shining this week which 'V 1 thing so rare 35 to be worthy of comment. It spoiled the picture, one afternoon, but ;. otherwise, made us all : h ,e ' >• or a little, then left 1,8 again in the rain and the hail. On the whole, the Winter has dealt a severe blow at AuckUii.i s reputation for pleasant weather but .prrnc is coining at least we nil hope «• " hen i the sun shines—and we may soon t..r«t the winter that made so many dismal records. Probably, however, it will take sumo time before the Aucklander recowis his expansive style of introducing the Southerner to the climate and offering a share of it, as if to say-" It is all mint" but you can come in." It is an attitude that one cannot well affect. It comes of ri,N.' m and confidence, and the winter has br< ken all custom and shaken the confidence ant of US. leaving us doubtful w hell:. ! Auckland really has any climate to in ~.~t about. Another such winter, and it is ten to one we would all develop the h.i'u.i of the pioneer colonists and talk without, ceasing of the weather as it. used to l-e when the peaches grew to the size of w iter melons and were luscious beyond the conception of the younger generation.

The British Commission which has pointed out that the exhaustion of the moisture of the body caused by labour can be corrected by the pouring in of beer has utruik quite a popular note. The disease is so easily understood, and the medicine is so pleasant to the palate. Our own iency Hoard might well have taken the British recipe as a model instead of recommending that there should be no beer. and. inferentially, that we should all be allowed to shrivel up for lack of moisture. But there is still time for the Efficiency Board to retrieve it-self. Why not take tip the recommendation at the point where the British Commission left it off and classify the industries in which beer is esesiitial and the quantity required in each' It is stated that this exhaustion of moisture is caused by labour. If so, would it not fall naturally to the employer to find the moisture in sufficient quantities to replace what was lost in his service? Jho whole subject opens up a pleasant prospect. It might even make work popular with some people who now " toil not, neither do they spin," but who still seem to require moisture at frequent intervals and in quantities above the average- That, however, would seem to suggest that labour is not the only cause of lack of moisture in the body, a circumstance which it would hairdly be fair to ask our Efficiency Board to explain, but concerning which we may have further light wfei the full report of the British Commission comes to hand.

J 1 V ot 9 uit * clear why Sir Joseph Ward should have, in a manner of speaking bulbed Parliament into accepting without due consideration, his preferential sur tax proposals by declaring that unless the duties were authorised the Government would not be able to pay the " war bonus "on civil and Maori ..pensions, Provision for this necessary expenditure was apparently made in . the original Budget, which did not anticipate these i preferential sur-t-axes. However no one questions the justice of increasing pensions to our old people, and no one is likely to be much alarmed by the imposition of a 60 per cent, duty on clothing made to measure by an alien tailor. Now that the bonus to pensioners .lias been promised, I arliament should authorise its pavment without delay, and it is to be hoped that it will be continued as long after the war as high prices and their consequent hardships on old people remain.

As to the hasty disposal of important business, it is a bad habit which in Parliament- has become chronic. The House will talk for days over inconsequential trifles and then swallow at a sitting important Bills which few members have even time to understand. Everything that has been done this session has been done at a rush. It seems that the duty of the plain member of Parliament is being reduced to airing his views in the Address-in-RepJy debate or the Budget debate, and voting " aye '' or " no."

The operations of the oyster department in Auckland are evidently regarded with considerable satisfaction by the Minister for Marine, but, by a little carelessness in phraseology, Mr. Russell seoms lo have given a more glowing account of the business than is justified. He said that in the first four weeks of the present season, between 4000 and 5000 sacks of oysters had been sold, and the Department had

"netted " about £3000. On the. face of it, that looked a fair case for the application of the excess profits tax. Evidently Mr. Glover accepted the figure as a net profit of 10s to 15s a sack, and Mr. Russell's retort that the people were glad to get oysters at the present price aid not make the point any clearer. A second glance at tne statement, and recollection of an increase in the wholesale price, show that £3000 must have been the gross return ; so that we are still in the dark as to how much Mr. Russell has "netted" from his oyster dealings.

The statement recently published that the fastest voyage ever made by a sailing vessel from London to New Zealand was made by the Loch Awe in 1874, is challenged 'by -Mr. H. Cap less, of Hawera, who says: —"I believe that the fastest pas - ago ever made to New Zealand by a sailing vessel was made by the Blue -jarkit. Captain White.' My memory is the Blue .Jacket left Gravesend for Lyttelton on July 3. 1867, sighted tile Snares 60 day> out and arrived in port at Lytteltoii on September 6, with 850 souls on board."

1 lie C.crmarm who imagine that air raids will force liiigland to sue for peace would In' not a little surprised if they knew how lightly British people regaed •these murderous expeditions. he sad loss of ,life and the futile destruction of property are Universally deplored, but Mi'h mftln ds have only caused the people of J.ondi n and other towns liable t<? aeroplane vi.-itation to insist more determined !\ Hi.in ever on the complete defeat of i!m> liernians. One reason why the autho! itics hesitated to give public warning of approaching enemy aircraft w.i.> that tiny foaled the result would he only jpeatei loss of life. Instead of fleeing in |'iui-■ to celhii.-. underground railways. u::d other subterranean refuges, as the Herman reports declare, the people of London llor-ked into the streets to watch the raiders, and it was only when danger appeared" directly imminent that the people sought shelter —and it is not easy '~i , layman to judge the position o( an aeroplane living at a height of several iluusand feet. Immediately after the raid oti Folkestone and Dover, in which the casualties numbered several hundreds, insurance against personal injury. dire' I or indirect, from aircraft could h- retained from private companies in any put o> Britain for a premium of 2(h per annum on a policy of £1000. The full amount was payable in the case of death ; smaller sums for loss of limbs, and £1 a week for 20 weeks for disablement. That does not suggest that '* England i« tottering to her knees."