LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BT MEttCUTIO. It wasn't such n bad Easter after all. If Good Friday was a bit wet, and Saturday and Sunday overcast, Monday compensated for alt. What if people whose blood ran thin did find a sharp nip in the air out of the sunshine? There was plenty of warmth in the golden rays, and anyway the hint of freshness was a direct challenge to get out into the sun and take a little exercise. The weather should always bo tine for Easter. So it should for Christmas and New Year, of course; but if they are not good, there is- always the consolation of hoping for better things when Easter comas along. With Easter there is no such comforting reflection. Nothing but the grim vista of winter, with gloomy skies ana chilUng rain, otters itself thereafter, and precious few holidays to break the monotony of working for a living. Yes, a tine Easter is an absolute essential. It rounds off that period of the year the out-of-doors calls to everyone. With a fino holiday, the yachtsman can lookforward equably to folding his white wings for another off season; the oil bottle can bo got ready for the cricket bat, and the tennis player can steel himself to saying farewell very soon to the turf, and either taking to asphalt or putting his racquet into the press for a good long rest. Now that the tepid bat lis have become tepid once again, it is not quite so necessary to fold up the bathing suit and put it where the moths will not test its salty flavour. Still the beach will have to be left out of calculation. Easter certainly should be fine enough to reconcile the sportive to all these bereavements. This year it was, but only just. . Auckland City, it appears, is properly armed, despite assertions to the contrary. Its coat of arms was signed, sealed and delivered according to all the forms and requirements of heraldry long before the City Council began to put it on tramcars and other suitable places. The Mayor, answering criticism, was properly emphatic about all this. The whole design, said Sir James, was in keeping with the motto, "Advance." A very good motto too. It doesn't err on the side of wordiness. It* a suggestion could be made, ever so respccttully though, that motto might be extended just a little, for the immediate future. Just a temporary alteration; having regard to the Civic Square proposal and one or two other little matters of municipal moment. What about making the motto. "Advance; the Security's Good" ? It might be quite useful. It- is reported that the grou.se recently liberated in the Tongariro NatVonal Park are establishing themselves successfully. So those who object to heather V'iH h;.ve something new to grouse about. The tail; about a fax on hob!\?d and shingled heirs.-* continues; it woul\ be a poll tax in the s>~LiLest sense of the term. How much would it lie? bob y bob and a shilling a shinglo seems a -r:.r proposition. It was a kindly thought of the motorist who suggested that when guests were being bidden to the opening of the Rangiriri deviation the "chap who used to haul us out with his horse" should liot be overlooked. To remember in prosperity friends made in the days of adversity is a magnificent trait. The whole cult, sport, diversion, disease, obsession, or what you will, of motoring has been raised to a higher plane by that proposal, nearly high enough for aeroplaning, in fact. The emancipated motorists should not neglect their erstwhile rescuer. They can afford now to spare him a kindly thought. For him the heavy sucking sound of balloon tyres leaving the clinging clay will no longer sound happily reminiscent of the profit of rescue work. There will be no inducement to search the sky hoping for a friendly shower to bring the track into a nice moist condition favourable to business. The old horso will have to go back to the plough, the cream cart, or whatever was his other occupation, and life will bo ever so drab. The chap with tho horse certainly ought to be invited to the jollification, and so should the horse. They both deserve it. It has been noted in Rotorua that the deerstalker is as reticent and retiring as the angler isn't. Fishormen please observe that Rotorua is directly responsible for the invidious comparison. Mercutio enters a decided disclaimer. ' Assuming it to be true in both particulars, there is a good reason for it. The deerstalker s license is for a given number of stags, which number ho must not eyceed. So it is possible that ho does the icss talking so that he may do the more stalking. While offering a civic welcome to folks from all over New Zealand, the Mayor said that Auckland was proud but not parochial. It recognised that there Were other cities and towns in New Zealand, and that they were making a -.'dative amount of progress. '1 his was a graceful disclaimer, gracefully made. It was a timely warning to Aucklanders, too. I*er. however swiftly this Auckland of ours may grow, however much it may i~joice as a strong man in his strength, we must not forget there are others. v\ e may be the boulder on the beach, but there ajre pebbles, too, <vnd some of the pebbles have substantial claims to boulderhood. It. is well for Auckland to.look upon itself and feel glad. But it is well to cast a glance abroad now and then. The eyo which is turned inward all the time tends to fix and grow that way permanently. The result is neither decorative nor conducive to clear vision. For many reasons Auckland should not be too selfabsorbed. As a final one, see to what absurdities that policy leads some of Auckland's rivals! It is very nearly time that tho daylight express which Mr. Coates promised vVellington and Auckland began to run. It was noted a few days ago that the Railway Department is now offering pillows for hire to passengers by the night trains, or arranging for them to be offered. When the daylight service begins it should have a stock of telescopes and binoculars ready. If it is going to be up-to-date it may as well do the thing thoroughly. The pillows, by the way, were presumably meant to recline upon, not, it must be supposed, to relieve the tedium of tho journey by providing the weapons for a good old-fashioned pillow-fight. There are worse ideas than that though, even if the process would bo a little hard on the hired property. A local body expert suggested a fewdays ago that county councils should send some of their young engineers to California and other furrin' parts to learn about road-making. If some of the county roads really reflected the competence of the engineers—which it is not fair to assume, considering what, county finance is—tlie councils would bo justified in sending their old engineers much further than to California, and telling them not to come back. A man and his wife have left New Zealand after a stay of some 14 years, without having patronised the New Zealand Railways during that time. Considering tho conditions of travel which prevailed during the greater portion of that time, their judgment has been good. Now, when things are on the up-grade, they shake the dust of the country off their feet. It seems a pity. Ytt, possibly they are proud of their record of abstention, and fearing that it might bo spoiled by the growing allurements of railway travel, perhaps, they have fled from temptation. Well, despite the undoubted improvements shown of late, they need not have been afraid.