LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18019, 18 February 1922, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BT JtSHCDTIO. Once more Mr. McCallum has been in $ f whispering gallfiy. It will he reniemiered that some months ago, in company T itb another Liberal memher, he visited Auckland and hoard a number of quite amazing things, among them that Liberal sentiment > n '-he North was never stronger jian at prwent. The Herald warned Mr. McCallum at tli.it tune against allowing his leg t0 llf l' ,I,lod iSO readily, but the ingenuous member fur Waimu has been at. it again. Hence his "charge" regarding the sale of iho Motulara estaitc and his exclusive information that the estate, TD ich lies north of Auckland, i s pumice (and.

Auckland has been remarkably successful in the field of athletics this summer. Representatives of tho province havo won the Plankci Shield, the tennis ihan.,)ionjhn, and now the Sanders Cup. It is certainly a gratifying record, and must, live bewildered our southern friends, who entertain suih exaggerated ideas about o ixr "eneivating climate." But in tho geld when' they pretend to yield us preeminence— political agitation.—we have failed —so tar. In spite id the powerful .Auckland "block" in Parliament, tlie 'Government has shelved the Arapuni scheme, and hung up a large section of jha East. Coast railway, while the dropping of the Highways Bill was a more jerioufl matter for Auckland than for any other part ci the Dominion. Were our jMtnbexs cit-manoeuvred, or were they pjnply too indolent to express in the House the indignation of their constituents.

The Auckland province is represented fcv 16 members, besides four Ministers. Bow many of the sixteen made apy ac»jve representation of the needs of the province during the whole session? There hrere a few exceptions, but for the most part, Auckland was represented by members whoso silence must have been regarded as acceptance of the Government's decrees. Probably if Mr. Wilford had carried his criticism of tho shelving of lArapimi to the point of a no-confidence inotion, all the Auckland members would have voted against him.

There have been two illustrations this »«.k of the appeal which the eame of BrtDghts make 6 to a Scotsman. Oik? was tha victory of a Scotsman in the world's draughts championship. The othor was more startling. Under the influence of a religious revival, the fisher folk of some villages on the north-east coast of Scotland made a bonfire and burned a variety of articles that had stood between them end grace. Can you, gentle reader, guess the first articles consigned to tho flames? No! You are wrong. Perhaps these fishermen were teetotallers; at all events your guess is not even mentioned. They Brst - burned draught boards, then followed ludo, tiddley-winks. playingcards, and dancing shoes. Very respectable vices these, but it all proves that there are more ways than one of keeping {he bonfire going.

The statistics of Parliament are as formidab'e as ever. The House sat on 80 days and passed 89 Bills, which is at the rate of E Bill and a bit a day. though, of course, most of the time was spent speaking to Hansard, and many of the Bills were passed in minutes. The compiler of these records does not say how manv billion words were spoken, hut it is good to know that 332 questions were addressed to Ministers, an average of over four for every memher, including the members who' never ask, and the members who are always asking, questions, Finallv, when one discoveis that the House' sat on the average 7 hours and 27 minutes a day—apart from holidays and special davs and week ends, on which it did not sit-or very little short oi the eight hours' standard for sitting days, one feeis thai democracy is justified by its institutions.

Should a journalist correct the Prime Minister's English? Sometimes he should not. and there was a case in point this W<>ek. Mr. Massev promised—or, perhaps, one should ©y threatoned-to refer the tllegations regarding the Motatora estate to the " most impartial tribunal m the countrv. Of course there are no degrees in impartiality, and as a matter of English it would have been better if this had read "an impartial tribunal." But though the literal sense would have been the same, the political significance would have been different. The emphasis with which Mr Massey spoke would have been lost, »nd though the English would have been better the reporting would have been less accurate. Poets and Prime Ministers are allowed a little latitude with words, but if any schoolboy is writing an essay on tie incident he had better stick to the ordinary literaly forms.

Sir Joseph Ward, being temporarily in private life, evinces a fine contempt for his old colleagues and opponents Ho told an interviewer that he would not consider entering the "wrangle of politics unto he was a stone and a-half heavier. It is evident that Sir Joseph Ward wishes to carry weight in public We when he does return-but why this reference to the wrangle? Mercutio was under the impression that the House of. Representatives had been a very placid place sirjoe the Opposition ranks were thinned But probeblv Sir Joseph Ward is thinking of politics in the cood old days, before the electors gave Mr. Massey a majority so large that all the wrangling in the world will not help the Opposition.

The advene conditions that are occupying so much attention nowadays are another illustration of the movement that was very generally visualised as ne "vicious circle" Some people suggested that the course of pr.ocs was an ascending spiral, and a great many accepted the illusion thai the corkscrew curve would continue winding upwards for ever. Probably neither the circle nor the spiral represents the geometrical form of the movement of prices, but an undulating curve, of which the sinuosities stretch far back in the economic experience of the world, and of which an unusually steep and high upward slope has been traced in the last few rears Everyone had a share in pushing price* up'the slope; sometimes those of raw materials went ahead, at other times those of manufactured goods set the pace, and always the wages of labour strove to gain the leading po»i tion. It is a pitv so little attention was given to the warning notices hy We way, lor when the oraftt was reached, it was found that the smooth path led to a rugged declivitv on which secure footWds were difficult to find. Inlortaately, the producers of law materials took the descent M one swift plunge, and the only consnlation for their bruises is that the other mountaineers are forced to come down the slopes also. Certainly they are picking their w av very carefully, but they are gettirg down aTI the same.

Some dav there mav bo a more cordial appreciation nf tlie efforts that have been jnade U. arrest the general adjustment to the new conditions. At present tho advantages are not unanimously conceded. Fur instance, the farmers axe complainin? of the disproportion between the prices of raw materials and the Cost of labour and of manufactured goods. While the farmeis are strug.-ling at the-bottom of the curve, the others are still nigh above them It is all very unfortunate, hut it is impossible to escape without a ■struggle from the tangle of Government contracts and arttficia! restrictions. What is rea'ly surprising is t"iat after practical experience of all the difficulties that have directly followed, these arhitrary methods of regulation, there should still be so much enthusiasm for fresh experiments of tile same kind.