LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16657, 29 September 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

||t ** MISRCUXIO. ami'

■jig many ears the family is at last the recognition which is its due. * h< ! war ' which has Placed so many re- , pities 111 their true perspective, has taught I .:||.he lesson. The terrible sacrifices of lifo W the great cause of humanity have led I v jto a pw estimate of national manhood, ! jind the family is no w appreciated as the i'lgone foundation of the social fabric. New Zealand has admitted the errors of the ■Ilf-P st, > "' is taking steps to reriir them The department dictum thai s.ecial con-pd-ration for the family in taxation, in fcp's-'ation allowances, and in pensions jnust be limited, has been swept away, ' 'and these concessions are now made y for e\ery child without restriction of ' - number. A bold step forward has been • , made by providing a special allowance to y ,the mother of a fallen soldier's children, ;V hv virtue of her motherhood alone. This special pension of 10s a week— a year f-. —is th:> finest thing in "baby bonuses" 'that has vet been attempted. It is a ; JV very proper recognition of the State's duty ;|y to the mother of children. The childless y widow is tree to go out into the world again and to supplement her pension by p her own efforts. Her sister, blessed with children, must bo a home-kaepor, and the ... extra 10s a week is a provision against her s| greater responsibilities. y The good work is not yet done. This J t 'discrimination might well bo made in tho i .-'separation allowances scheme. There are ; v still anomalies that are no less unjust '. because they have been sanctioned by | T-long usage. The law forbids the employ men of a child under 14 years of £ age. and the pensions scheme defines as ;,y-infancy the first 16 years, yet railways X and tramways and theatres exact adult '[;■ fare for the child from its twelfth birthy day. The ordinary "widow's pension" pro- -> v rides for four children, but no more is § allowed if there are five or a dozen. X; The new war pensions scheme is a ser- | mon preaching the gospel of the family, I'o- and the fathers of the nation, having |! borne in silence all manner of exactions, |H are encouraged by it to renew their | • claims upon the State. The logical result I# of this new movement, is the taxation of is, the bachelor, and Government and Par|§liament, having renounced the unwise y policy of the past, may yet b« persuaded V • to take this final step in support of the y family by curtailing the privileges and '\C the comforts of the man who shirks the irresponsibility of home-making. ij.j/ It must be well known to our leading y; Cabinet Ministers that- a prophet is g without honour in Lis own country and J||jn his, own house. . Yet they risk it. gf The Prime Minister has within the past y few weeks dipped twice into the future, wj and has told the whole country what he H fees in that great unknown. He predicts IJ- the end of the war cheerfully and the H| effect on the value of land in New Zea- §;• land dolefully. Since we can't pick and M choose, let us hope that Mr. Massey is II #gkt. Let us have the end of the war, |||; and the German:} well beaten, whatever iH is the result cm the price of land. But many people will have Mr. Massey wrong If both ways. To go a month or two '.y further back, Sir Joseph Ward told -us, soon after his return from Britain, how ||H cheap money is to be after the war. p||'Nobody believed him. In fact, it would H;, be difficult to quote a case in which a ©for wast was more generally discounted, jgpiiwhii-h only emphasises the prevailing lack Miof honour for prophets. m ...

."- Some remarks were recently made in ; this column regarding the use of the .description "Made in England" on -safety matches, the argument being based > on the fact that one brand, formerly sold : ' "as a British product, is now offered as a • ■ Swedish manufacture. An explanation is •offered by an Auckland firm, with experi- '„' ence in the handling of safety matches. These merchants state that prior to 1908 the largest portion of safety matches used in New Zealand came from Sweden. A few '•■ years before that the late Mr. Seddon's preH'. ferential tariff was brought into force. This induced the owners of the Swedish factory to start a match factory in England, with the result that during 'the last nine years the manufacture of safety matches has | been established in Great Britain. The English factory imported the timber in , . bulk, and the whole of the manufacturing was cone by English labour. About a ' year ago the Imperial authorities re- ' quisitioned the output for the Expeditionary Forces, and since then _ orders -.have been passed on to the Swedish factory, jjhich originated the brand.

is The esprit de corps, as well as the true ' British martial spirit, that exists among . the New Zealanders on active service is admirably illustrated in a letter received by the last mail from an Auckland sol- \ dier, who wrote from a hospital in ! France. He received, as he expressed it, , "a bit of a crack in the napper" at the "'., battle of Messine?. When writing last he . had almost recovered, and was eagerly I looking forword to rejoining his unit and • again "arguing the point with Fritz." „ ' "I shall be glad to be back again among my mates," he wrote, not because I like the war, but for the simple reason .' that one gets very lonely away from the boys he has gone through all sorts of cx- ' periences with. One either wants to.be ..back in New Zealand or in tie trenches. H You would be surprised if you knew the '■<: feeling that exists between us boys oyer here."

'.'••'•'-'. A correspondent writing from the front '■ "quarrels very seriously with a derivation of the word Anzac, ' published in this : column some time ago. He sends the ' .only correct account of the origin of the • name— at least, so he claims. Lut that is just the trouble with the various ' derivations of Anzac. Like the latest and inmost fashionable political panacea each claims to be the only true, correct, and ': ' dependable one. However, the man at i'i 'the front gives some solid evidence in ! ' support of his derivation. The word, he ; fays, was coined in Egypt before the if Anzac corps left for the exceeding Ivin- ■- hospitable shores of Gallipoh. When '-General Birdwood first took over the : . army corps there arose the necessity tor / a cable We address. A discussion, ho " raw, took place among the staff, and ':■ I upon the suggestion of an Imperial officer the word Anzac, taken from the initial . letters of the Australian and New Zealand ■i : Army Corp., was adopted registered, /■and "used for some time before the cmT: barkations for the peninsula. Beyond the ;:- few engaged in handling the cablegrams ; ' addressed to the corps headquarters, howI ; "ever, the-word was not known until the -■-.. exploits of the corps against the turns ' caused it to leap into prominence.

• Anxious parents in the Dominion will •Vf be SeVd in the following tract I . be interested in of « Auckland bo „* ■ . from the letter of an Auckland boy a P4 front— "People in New Zealand think i that thov kvc cause to worry PerhF h they have; anyway, I guess the worry ''•■:' a great deal more than wo who go through !{■ '-4 "' l "* fighting- I" a w push like , .the acfual fighting, in a >-b r , . - : that of MeKines none of us worry beforei ■ hand We know that soon something will fced ing, and when the actual tag.^ - to go over and interview the old man : ■ everyone is quite unconcerned, and goes I over the top as though he wewjout to ~ accept an invitation out to dinnerNo We cares; we simply defy the haid ■lead and metal. We know how far we have got to go, and once th.order ,» ■given every man moves_evor onward until ■lloTi?mche4. That'B the secret of M ■ fiuf success*"