LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

I BY SIEBCTEO. I. MXRftrno. 1&' What has happened to the Auckland iiif.'dnnate ; It is a well-worn topic, the lip-- weather, but really its vagaries the last I ! few week ends have been enough to rive the comments on it new vigour and lift' colour. A church organisation in Christchurch has come oat as an advocate of daylight saving, of putting the clock on $&;, an hour in summer so that people will W be deceived into going to bed earl--1% jer and rising earlier in order to $?;'■/ make better us® of the daylight and ;fV fQQshine. That is all very well, even •A if not so simple and free of objection as it sounds. (Ask the farmer.) But what 'I? Auckland seems to be needing is some manipulation of the calendar -which will mate the week-end fall where it is now - sod-week. If to-day and to-morrow are n; not better than the two previous weekend intervals, the wisdom of such a course will be beyond question. It w-iil }>« necessary to use strategy' to circumvent the malifice-nt clerk of the weather. Complaints about birds robbing rural ii letter boxes of their contents have come from Ekatahuna. It is said that a star- % jug pulled a copy of the Auckland I Wekklt News out of a box. The morals of. that bird may he doubtful, but there $: was nothing wrong with its intelligence; ft knew a good thing when it saw one. So determined are some of the resi'dents of Point Chevalier to have another Bam? for their suburb, that their motto seems to be " Point Chevalier by any ether name would smell a great deal tweeter." I A New Zealand Jersey cow which has If vjgt, put up an Australian and New Zealand record for butter-fat production reI: joices in the name of Pretty's Flirt. She I' aeems a useful and industrious sort of flirt anyhow. But. if an Americanism is l permissible, she might be called " some 1;: batter-fly." Bowlers are no-ted for their wrbole- ?■:' soaied devotioo. to their pastime— some £ - cases it can roost be said their occupation. Therefore it need not cause undue surprise to hear that one devotee, who found a malformed finger interfering: •with the proper delivery of the bowl, | promptly had the offending member amputated." It is to b» hoped that the resultant benefit to bis game cooopansated him for the ordeal he underwent. i* There is a French proverb which, very inadequately trusted, runs: "to be beautiful, it is necessary to suffer." It seems that to be a bowler entails suffering sometimes too. It is a good thing the absence of a foot need not necessarily help m keeping one foot on the pi mat, otherwise, inspired by this example, there might be a concerted movement §?:. of enthusiasts toward the operating theatre, However, a little non-expert |, advice may be useful to players who find || difficulty la keeping to the irreducible minimum of one oil the mat. Let- them try staying longer, and just _ a little i longer, on the green each evening when | they are there If from households where ideas about punctuality at mealp times ar-i entertained, they may find themselves with both feet very definitely t§. on the —when they get home. las |$\ practice ought to be invaluable. | Defects in the telephone system at Cbristchurcb have been traced to consumption of the cable inrolation by | moths. Well, well! All sorts of epithets | ' have been applied to the Auckland system, % but no on® has pnbfirfy described it as | moth-eaten.} But it B»y be. The judicious use of - camphor or some 'similar f ... specific in the .able oonduits might work; - wonders. >-It is notable that- the Christ- | church report also complained that there I ' were : not enough operator* in the ex-; change. It is * temptation to suggest 5" - that the trouble, therefore, is too many S T-nths and too few butter-flies; but that would be hardly fair. For, though irate |t.-r subscribers sometimes imagine that the telephone giri spends her time in gossiping, listening to conversations not meant I for " her ears", arid otherwise turning her hours of work into & sort of moving picture star existence what we imagine >v. that existence to hethis is not true to 0 the facts. The girl in the exchange * . follows an arduous, exacting and nerve- '- ■ racking occupation. On a busy switch£f hoard daring rash times she can live C through years of worry and bustle in the J.'-*" - course of* an hour or two- No. all things - considered, bntt«r-flieo won't do. PerK; haps it is better to say too many moths and not enough busy bees. That ought I;. to please ever/body. Woo starts the periodical rumours about new political parties being formed? They # all &eem to run a similar course. The ii story comes out, unaccompanied by details: a little later a name, or names are .• ' mentioned in connection, with it; some- ,/'• ... body in a position to know denies that the parties named have anything to do M with the business: the rumour dies • sway teanporarilv, onlv to be revived in another E form a little later. The way a rumour ©nee bejmn flies is a most extraordinary thing. When the war was on, the rumour- ' y "*cnper had his open season. Tall 1 • stories probably never had freer circulation than on troop-ships- far at sea, tritli sources of authentic information practically non-existent. On one such ship, the continual and unofficial news-service was sr. unfailing, the yarns- so circumstantial and vivid, that people became curious as to their source. Finally the Major's batman confessed that he started i \ most cf them. He said he always woke \ at reveille, but did not get up for 20 j; minutes or so. Therefore, as ho lay in | }'■> his bunk, he evolved the great thought "; r for the day. and put it into circulation :.f/- • as soon as he turned out: this may have I |been true, or it may have been the rumour IBr for that day. Anyway the stories came from somewhere, and as they spread they grew and grew. As for the political I %■. partv Tumour, it- mav be a case of workI!' ing to precedent. Most people remember §:' * what happened ..when Mr. Massey 'was I absent from New Zealand once before I'' and what ripened when lie came back. |f_ " When the Cat's Away " Things are not always what they seem. A smiling face sometimes conceals an | , aching heart; at least, so it is said, though few people actually. and anatomically wear their hearts anywhere near their faces. It would be much more consistent with I ordinary bodily structure, and equally indicative of fortitude, if it were said thai a If- Rniling face concealed an aching tooth. | But that is a digression; things not being | always what they seem, some folks are | aggrieved • because the large and luscious I wherries at the top of the box do not 1 necessarily indicate fair!v the quality of I the fruit underneath. They sre suggestI: ■ ■ ing regulations to rectify this uijdesirable 1 -v' state of affairs. It is a very worthy can- | pi]grj f serving of oil support When | fruit of firmer teiiare is packed in cases. *' f. ■ the jzrr.w*a- who, believing that the small I I-. stuff ' must be 'marketed somehow, yet |W- wishes to keep up appearances, nuts a I f£;* Isver of specially attractive quality top I and bottom. He provides the I |.y case being opened either way. This is p {■)-. SOT acre -with strawberries, ft is an 3: % awkwaid and possibly messr job getting E|i . at the bottom layer, and the experiment 1' %■ does not improve the fragile berries. I ||; Therefore the purchaser is not even riven ij $£. the cession of two superfine strata, 1 like tie buyer who takes a case of I -Vr. 1 peaches. apples, plums or apricots. ConIs It sequent Iv it is to be boned the campaignk er?' will succeed in establishing the P rrr lj K i',) Hrfe of hir-fruit all the way. or small 1 m berries on top: if they are small under. 1 Death.' It is » "simple job: they are only K .0 asking for » fundamental chance in human § m xaivi All ■ things' considered, tbev nad 1 W> better agitate, for'the marketing of straw'j|l .aar berries * in- - glass'• containers very -ransj| Sr. gannt gjasj. '