LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16895, 6 July 1918, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MEBCUXIO.

Tee Auckland climate may not bo perfect, but it has its points, as most people "will admit after reading of the snowstorm in the South Island. When all allowances are made for its defects it is a good climate. Sometimes it is uncomfortably -warm, and sometimes a little too moist, but neither cxtremo usually lasts Jong, and no part of New Zealand is Altogether free from them. The fine spell which began on Wednesday, with bright Sunshiny days and clear, bracing nights, Jiaa been accepted as generous compensation for the long weeks of wind and lain of autumn.

This is the season of the year when Parliament usually looms large before tho country with promises of new legislation and statutory remedies for all the ills to which man s heir. This year, however, there is calm in Wellington, the storm centre being London, where our New Zealand delegates are figuring largely in the press, and appear to be commanding (at least as much attention as any of the /other Dominions' representatives.

The shipwrecked sailors and passengers from the Wirnraero who reached Auckland last Saturday were a cheerful 108 of castaways. Thft»- joked among thempelves, passed badinage with those lining the rails of tho vessels they passed on jtheir way to the berth, and when tho relief scheme was explained to them by the deputy-Mayor they raised such cheers for the citizens of Auckland as placed the city under an obligation to see that pioney is forthcoming for their needs as Jong as the needs exist. But with all this good humour and appearance of casualness there was a certain nervous tension, and when relatives flocked on board it snapped. These people had been consuming their physical and emotional energies at an abnormal rate since the Wimmera sank, and when familiar pnd loved faces greeted them there came the reaction. Women who had hidden their secret fears under a mask of ptdcism till then, broke down, and wept Unashamedly, and tears dimmed the eyes t>: not a few men.

The spelling of place names in New Zealand as elsewhere frcquiMitlv shows strange discrepancies. This fact is brought into prominence by the landing pf tho first boatload of survivors from the ill-fated steamer Wimmera on the northern coast of Auckland. The British Admiralty charts give the spelling of the place as Tom Bowline Bay. The county maps of New Zealand and the Land Office documents give the spelling as Tom howling Bay. As a general rule, it is rather risky to accuse tho British Admiralty of error, even in the smallest detail, and its charts are famous throughout the world for their meticulous accuracy; but it was evidently not a naval sailor who was responsible fcr the name Tom Bowline, but some careless printer who did not know Dibdin's famous sea pong: —

Hore a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling, the darling of our crew; po more ho'll hear the tempest howling, for death has broached him to. pis form was of the manliest beauty, his heart was kind and soft; faithful below Tom did his duty, and now he'll gone aloft.

An instance of practical labour-saving Was recently noticed in a suburban blacksmith's shop. Two men used to work there—now there is only one; yet he is still Bble to carry on. To replace the muscular individual who used to swing the hampier, and who, perhaps, is now wielding a weapon in a greater cause, a mechanical striker has . been installed. Thuswise the Solitary blacksmith ia still able to fashion the red-hot iron, the anvil still resounds, and those who see receive an inspiration. This smith and his forge stand for the courage which knows not defeat.

Following the recent complaints about Jong delay in the transmission of soldiers' cablegrams, a message has been received by the mother of two soldiers, in which the time of handing in is not given, the 'word " Nil" appearing where the figures should be. The recipient is therefore denied information which is of the [highest importance. As one who has received cablegrams after letters written at the same time, she naturally complains bitterly of the use of the word "Nil," affirming that it deprives the message of its chief value. This may be an isolated instance of the omission of the time line, but if not its practice should be forbidden.

There is a tendency to regard all soldiers who have suffered permanent injury as unsuitable for settlement on difficult country, and while as a general rule such Ken should be protected as far as "possible from hardship, it should not be ■forgotten that the indomitable spirit of perseverance and courage fostered by hard campaigning is preserved in the maimed body. On one of the soldiers' settlements near Auckland there is a returned soldier whose disablement has been so severe that he has been granted the maximum pension. Yet this man has taken up a "bush" section, and in spite of the handicap of his lameness is proceeding with the felling of the timber, and is making very good progress.

A motorist who has done much travelling in various parts of the world has some trite things to say regarding the Auckland roads, which he describes as most unscientific. "My car here goes 28 'miles an hour," he writes■' eighteen straight ahead and twenty up and down." In the course of his comments he refers to the control of the vehicular traffic in Lower Queen Street, which he points out is allowed to draw up in Customs Street East on the line of the crossing used by pedestrians, compelling them either to wait or to diverge into Queen Street in order to reach the other side. A simple remedy would be to stop nil wheeled traffic on a line short of this. After all, his advice is quite sound, and pedestrians have certain rights.

A visitor to Auckland has devised a cseful way of remembering which trams go up Wellesley Street East. They aro those bound for Dominion Road, Onehunga, Mount Eden, and 'Symonda Street. Taking the capital letters, the word " domes" is formed. The Ponsonby tram goes up Wellesley Street West, and the others continue up Queen Street. Tins simple reminder may be useful, not only to visitors, but to many residents of Auckland who still find themselves in doubt about the new running of the services.

The reminiscenses of early Auckland I furnished by Mr. A. W. Gillies to the I Town-planning League in connection with his recollections of Mr. Swainson's old cottage in Gillies's Park, suggest that there must be many pioneers, or sons of pioneers, who could produce a wealth of information which would bo invaluable to posterity. Why should not organised steps be taken to secure the collection of such records before it is too late? The suggestion is one which migh'i with advantage be considered by such a body as the controlling authority of the Old Colonists' Museum.

Hero is one delicious extract from Mr. Gillies's letter, regarding Mr. Swainson's old Maori retainer, Mohi:-" Mohi was not always so spotless as when in his boating uniform. We boys used to know biß weak spot. It was shark. When we got a shark we brought it in at night, and Mohi would hang it up on a willow at the back of where the St. Georges Bowing Club shed now is. After awhile, Mrs. Street could not stand it, and would gravely call m Mr. Swainson. the result was that Mohi was granted leave for a few days, and we would see him gleefully, in his old clothes, take the shirk and di» appeal in the direction of Orakei r , ,