LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18333, 24 February 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MERCCTIO. .' Another instance of the Railway Department's thoughtfulness is furnished by the absence of refreshments at Frankton Junction on Sundays. At first blush, the omission towy look liko an additional effort to prevent overcrowding on the trains, a thing to bo sedulously discouraged,'of course, as it is very unpleasant for passengers to be inconvenienced for lack of room for their feet and other personal luggage. But a little consideration reveals the department's solicitude for the general public. It is well known that fasting has gone sadly out of fashion, and that medical men and clergymen have been exercised not a little over this modern lapse from the virtuous habits of other days. Therefore, the Railway Department, with its characteristic care for its patrons' well-being, has ordained that they shall observe a religious rite of undoubted benefit. It is understood that the embargo on Sunday meals is to be extended to other re resliment-room ■ • that the publics complain"m gives proof «' the disciplinary effecSpits, be made on the Sunday trains, in order to ensure a deeply religious fee - inff being engendered among the travel- " , without exception. The regulation •', plained by the department on tho 13 5 that to open the refreshmentS"! Frankton <°« not pay. „ This is modesty at its extreme Naturally the department does not wish to make a parade of its highly laudable concern for the spiritual benefit of tho public. It prefers to do good by s'cealth, and may now bluish to find it fame.

It is wonderful how manv things a human boing can do without being aware of it. Auckland has been informed during the week that the people of the Dominion consume almost two tons of coal per head every year. And until so informed, hardly any of them knew it! One can imagine the dweller in the distant back blocks, who strolls outside with an axe to levy tribute on the abundant bush for firing, scratching his head and wondering how ho manages to do away with his. share. There is a bit of a fascination about the " almost two tons." Bearing in mind the scandalous stories told about «§•, the methods of coal-dealers one can only ||i' conclude it 'is a case of short-weight 2r »gain.

The absence of many local body engineers from the conference held in Auckland this week was quite as regrettable as the president and the Mayor described it to be. The reason given showed a surprising lack of vision 011 the part of many local authorities, which were to blame for not granting their men the necessary leave of absence. Poor though it was, it is just as well that the reason was given. Otherwise, considering the weather this summer, and some other circumstances of which most people are aware, it might have been thought that these engineers had been held "up by the impassable condition of the roads in their districts.

Many people find a difficulty in estimating the »siz«) of hailstones. Thosq that Tell .at Dargavilie last Saturday night, are described as being of immense size and all shapes, some being as large a* hen eggs. As hen eggs are of various sizes, from the substantial sort that perches perilously on the top of a regulation egg-cup to the bantam variety that cannot, be eaten with any satisfaction unless one holds a lorgnette very steadily in locus, the description lacks precision. As they perforated window-glass and corrngitcd iron, they-/ were riot unnaturally likened to bullets; yet even that leaves ft little to the imagination. In this sort of difficulty it is well to have recourse to the loose and non-committal judgment of the man who described the hailstones he saw as varying in size from a shilling to eighteenpence. Stones of any kind are hard to measure with the eye, and comparisons are elusive. " You saw the prisoner throw a stone at the complainant?" asked the magistrate of a boy giving evidence. " How big was it ? Was it—let me see— it as big as my head?" "It was as long, Your Worihfp," feaid the boy; "but not so thick 1"

The Minister for Customs, when challenged in Parliament, had to make a fight on behalf of the man who censors books and sometimes forbids them entry into the country. The much-abused official, ■who modestly remains anonymous, cannot reply on his own behalf. Mr. Downie Stewart offered a unique reason in his speech for the defence. " Sometimes, under the law," he said, " the censor has no discretion." The gravamen of the charge against him had been that he had proved himself indiscreet in banning books. Now his Minister, for his proI , tection declares that the much-maligned ft, guardian of our morals—guardian, from ||| literary contamination that is—was forced |v by the law to be indiscreet -His reward f has been castigation from the platform and in Parliament. It is a hard world for censors.

It may not have been in the mind of Mr. Winston Churchill (our Winston) when he wrote his Memoirs that there is another Winston Churchill. At all events, as readers of to-day's Hebai/d will see, he chose as a title for the first chapter of his Memoirs, " The Crisis," which happens to be the title of perhaps tho best-known of the novels written by the other Winston (America's Winston). It is a natural and appropriate title and strangely enough it would not have been inappropriate as readers will see on Monday, had Mr. Churchill followed further m the footsteps of his American namesake, and called his second chapter "The Crossing."

The financial soundness of water-power development has been much discussed during the week. Auckland is very properly growing into a " Don't you say a word against Arapuni" mood, with active support and encouragement in that attitude from Putaruru. But why argue about it ? There is proof positive on the general proposition to be had for the, asking. Very soon after the Zionist migration into Palestine was begun one of tho settlers who had hastened back to the land of his lathers obtained a concession for the development of water-power from the River Jordan. There was, it may be recollected, quite a pother in the House of Commons about the business. On the face of that, fiS ero_ is money in water power or imi. ' ns^ea d> if water runs down lull!

It is dangerous for a taxi-driver to be too fascinating, or at least it is in Wangap.iu. Witness the man summoned for exceeding the speed limit, who pleaded in exienuation that his fare, a Maori lady, put her arms round him and wanted to kiss him. He said lie lost his head, a calamity not unnatural in the circumstances. Ho could hardly be expected, in tho midst of his embarrassment, to remember the borough by-laws. There seems ? lcicnc y ' n t, ' 10 regulations, which tailed to cover the case. It was only the driver who had to answer the accusation of being too fast. The lacy apparently could not be charged with the offence. *et, as the magistrate inferred, she should have been.

.. Italy pursuing peace " was a headki Pl )ea " n S ove r a paragraph in the cable news tho other day. It was quite I" fi appropriate heading for the item over *toich it appeared, but it gave rise to * a d reflections more or less. So many fe Vi 08 are pursuing peace, so few seem (.y. able to overtake her. If somebody does |y ; |B°t take heed, the combined pursuit will Iv 'Jflt peace 08 the earth altogether. 1