LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17380, 31 January 1920, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

IB! support.will be extended & fVny gfl'-ei al support will be extended = iKfo'the soldiers in their effort to hav* \ |ppiac-Day observed public ; :folii I , day. Ansae Day has become , the soldiers! , I day, the day on which New-.JSeSlajid'aniJ-Australia do homage 'lb their heroic dead • I \jjot only those who fell on Gallipoli, | )U t j: in every theatre of war. It is already our I " t truly national day, and only its formal pro- |. cjamation as a public holiday is needed to p. give it full recognition. ' '." >" IffeS'-The announcement that the present prica |gof sugar is to be maintained until the end Mof June, should have good effect in in|f teasing available supplies!'; It may. be .that g-ijrar has really been scarce•but- if gpercutio were asked to guess the causes M shortage he would place high up amonjr' 1 them the fact that every one of us believed that the price would be increased 1 r; on April 1. Quito naturally and 'properly H we all tried to get a ! little stock in hand, | "according to our means and our consump-i-1 lion. The consumer pulled at the grocer Ifpe- grocer pulled at the wholesale ; merchant and, the merchant pulled at the .-.Sfgar Company, who pulled in its own interests against th<j lot. Now. the- Sugar 'Company and; the Prime Minister have I twanged that the present prices shall hold-' : . until the end of June, so that the first of -'April will be a sort of pleasant All Fool's i jgjfpiy for the lot of us. With three month* I .'psce we can all take a breath arid give wgmti grocer a breath, while "we consume .v little of the stocks in the cupboard. v * v I While on the subject of sugar it deserves to be arid that the Sugar Com- ' : pany is doing its best to belie the (, general §I?character / given, to monopolist*. --Cfem- [,, f 7jed with the world's\prkes. for, sugar I i%4ttfs has been, and is, cheap. • That Sugar % Company is not a benevolent T but ' it has during the war and since im the >"ew Zealand public what Mr. : laesey vould very rightly describe as a '! square ||^eaaL H .... '.':*-. ",' '{-.'*«£ ?:■■: .An American viaitev, Mr. L F« Burton, 'ggi&s '-bam fetauzag wv«y heartily for Ipy-ifriendliESoS to the UrnKi States. jPerhaps W9 j'Xi oroasionallv Jet. ourselves go ».- on - the sul fact- of America and' Vm . Americans, " b\iti has Mr. Burton ever' =refleeted ©a the ensue of it? Do we in New Eg ?>eala\!d, ; for instwicey display. as \ much, hostility ft» she United Stales, either in ! volume, proportion c* bitterness, >aa '"]■■.. 'Americans do to Britain? If do someI* •;, times snap back on behalf of the family. p^'- r ts3 Mr. Barton or any Ameman good ■ : ground for complaint? '.M*. Burton apparently tliiakt fait occasions for friction )'!.. between the United States and Britain are' Yy. none of our, business," which only shows s"'. Unit he did not stay here long enough %'• -to learn much 'about ua,. . - . ' l|p There is room for a littSe lecture on thu *0^ cvtrHearing attitude of many of Mr. Bur--11 ton's cotritryrcen. Tv.ej some and wish to push Americsr. manure, easterns, methods il^esd: ci'garisatioas diwa our throats and )f% whwa we hint that we think more of our own they.i-iyfer} and say, \that^e'axe' a t *, petty", people, insular and ignorant, Ws seed to be Americanised :or on soul's sal- ['/.'' - ration. It-it, ■to ttj thci lutasb of , it, is ( a •r ' Lttlt'irritating: Alio, there is the "wo ri_ --.-on the -war" attitude, which sometime!) te raises our gall in spite of our efforts to II take hold of ourselves,' Moreover, sine* K**we' v are accused of .talking, igriorautty ; ojs such subjects as the Webb-Pomerene Act, |f .and'the action ci the United States ■Sentejate' on the Peace Treaty, can it be said |§' b* ' anybody, whether American *or ; New K • Sibalahdear,; that car talk or our, ignorance St on these topics is in any way equalled by i. American talk and ignorance- on such subj««ts, say, as the Irish quegfeioD and the right of the British Doraraioiis , 't>(jf;i tote in the Leagua ;of Nations. These; matters upon which Mr."Barton' ought to' reflect upon his way home, and if -he. is as candid and as outspoken -with his own I people as he was with us—well, we'll I forgera him and say it -was all'perfectly true and all thoroughly ' deserved. [It is somewhat galling to New '2ealanders, particularly those living in parte affected by the drought now happily broken, ' to to ! told that the Davis Cup matches cannot be held in th» Dominion because the s climate : is* too uncertain. It ; is^ true that!; Australians • always ecoff at . Our " droights." With their. monogoly of real icording, .parching,* and bilking droughts they profess to hold our ' spells : , of \ dry I weawer in contempt, ■ and certainly we I cannot compete with the , great h thirst I which i agricultural Australia ~-sometimss I -acquires.' At the same' time we have I. surely enough sun J during the past f fail months to dispose, of the suggestion s that we have no tennis '.weather. Wil). : scatecne please .vrite and tell Mr. Brookes f An interesting table is given in the imI migration returns for last year; showing! I the birth-plaies of all persons; who arI rived in the Dominion during 1919. A I satisfactory feature is that 19,650 were %. nativts of countries within the British Em-' I pile, and only 1281 of foreign countries. | Thfc latter included four mates and seven I females' bora in Germany, two persons Inativus of countries within the British Empire, and only 1281 of foreign countries. Thf. latter included four mate* and seven females born in Germany, two persons born in Austria-Hungary and three in I Turkey. As a matter of fact, natives of enemy 'tduntries have been arriving throughout the.war period. There were 37 Germans in 1915, coin 1916, and 15 in 19.17 and in the three years, 24 persons born in Austria-Hungary. The official returns do not disclose the sg-.j or tie political status of these persons, nor do they show the corresponding numbers leaving the country. It is therefore possible that all these Overmans and Austrian* are naturalised British subject * of I unquestioned loyalty to the E*P" thai; they were merely "birds of passage wh.- have long since passed into more congenial communities. Sir Joseph Ward has announced that he ■ will not seek election for the present ParLament, and he' doubtless means l'.. Will, i; is only fair to warn Sir Joseph that he most be" careful. The charm ol ParUa^ ■- sent lingers, and absence often rapes the heart grow fonder. It is difficult to an €x-leadar of a party to keep out of Parkalient, or at least to refrain from seeking election. Mr. Asquith is a Case in point. He hag in staying out of Parliament for a year, but tho strair has been too great. He has euccumbei to the blandishment of Paisley, and is now doing his bat to make the conquest reciprocal. Sir Joseph Ward had better hav« a care lest some antipodean Paisley capture his heart. j" The Englishman has not been a very conspicuous figure in New Zealand politics since Mr. Reddon's time, and the recent ■' change in tne Opposition leadership bnngj him into n> greater prominence. An Irishman bo:? in Victoria has been (Succeeded by i Scotsman born in Victoria, and a Scotunan born in Ireland remains .Prime Minuter " Mumpui" writes: "an the city authorities (f pervaded to provide improved conditi'ins f--.r the .»m;»!]er Town .xall coni'*n.F': When trit- concert hall tvas firft used it served its purpose well. .But with the coming r ! trams into Upper Queen Street there his hei-n a sad alteration. Just '-'tj,M an artist playing some instnime it, i-laiiisfim-iin juft ~audible Strair..'—and the audience straining its ears to listen, with a tramear just then thunj derm; j.apt ,n,il Hi'.Anuig even* sound. r That ha i "<i»>f. thing while concerts ; '! We be.pc .-'.•{ • , the hall, and it occurred .;?. over and ■'>: aj.in mi the course of the :;-, great rKiin.l.n mu'i.- entertainment of ; { Monda\ ..I:-';. n I have also witnessed ,% the Mine k'i:d of Interruption at public | meetings. Tlii- (.wins a favourable time I to raise the ■ j».*^ti^.n . for it is understood -|: thai add ti-,;).,; nffice acrommodation will if have t» ip pr 'vide.i almost immediately J, by thi- nn-ii-ipal authorities, either by II ■■ ■• enlarging :■. prespnt block or erecting l|' , anotlicr !".i,'lr' in the neighbourhood. g-i;. ' Would it n. I lie possible when that if ft- being done to cut up the present concert i\'-~ chamber into offices and provide a subII stitute in a quieter part of the building?