LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BT MEKCDXIO.

'Another year is just about to write V Finis" at the bottom of its last page. Pcor old 1927 is on the point of being bowled, and 1928, pads on and bat in hand, is waiting in the pavilion ready to etep out to the crease. His score this innings is to be 366, for 1928 is a leap year. It used to be considered the ladies' opportunity, but nobody takes any account of tha.t nowadays. There will be no rush by the eligible males to get jobs as lighthouse keepers, or anything of that kind. The old legend of the languishing damsel who .waited and 6ighed and sighed and waited until some condescending male looked her way, has no place in the year 1928. The girls are not built that way now. It is not a change for the worse either. Miss 1923, who reckons she can have a good time, if necessary, without any male attendance, who is prepared to face a hard world and wrest from it a living, without looking to someone else to do all the proTiding for her, is a wholesome, refreshing, companionable creature, who by shattering tho old leap year foolishness has done something symptomatic of a more rational and saner relationship between the sexes. Marrying and giving in marriage—yes by all means, but none of the old time obsession with the subject, if you please. The New Year does not usher in the change; it dawns with the new era well established. And, despite the croakers who would have it that tho old world travels to perdition faster even than it used to do, let us all face 1928 clear-eyed and high in courage, as the maiden who recks not of leap, years faces life. May this same Ne\y Year, 1928, be bright, proslierous, and happy for us all; or at least, et us be as happy as it is good for us to be. Asked if he could say where mutton birds went when they migrated from NewZealand, Captain Bollons of the Government steamer had to confess he was not very certain. Perhaps they go where the flies go in winter time. The old question touching that unknown destination still awaits a succint satisfactory reply. The distracted housewife is more inclined just now, ho\vever, to ask where the flies come from in summer time. They have certainly come from somewhere with a vengeance this year. They are as undiscriminating in the choice of perching places and diet as ever, and just as prone to commit suicide in the milk-jug. Live and let live may be a good motto in some ways, but it should have no application to the housefly or his noisier relative. There is too much at stake to let them work their sweet will on the community. A sure and safe method of destroying them would be more valuable even than exact information about the place they—or mutton birds—go to in the winter time. "Oh to be in England now that April's there," wrote Browning in one of those moods when anybody could understand what he meant. Will any Englishman exiled front home, who happened to spend his Christmas and Boxing Day in Auckland re-echo the sentiment, substituting Christmas for April ? It is better not tc trv adapting the actual line, because it ruins the rhythm so completely, but the sentiment can be transposed quite easily. Now how about it ? A white Christmas, with snow and holly and rosy cheeks, and high spirits is all very well, but when you oome down to stern practical realities, is there not something to be said for the festival wher. it can he enjoyed with ekies such as Auckland had over the week-end ? This, of course, is rank heresy, disloyalty to the immortal memory of Dickens, "and all that sort of thing. Granted; but just for once, just for a little moment, drop the line of thought that has been laid down by generations ot writers and balladists, of whom Dickens was the greatest and most enthusiastic. Look the facts squarely in the face and say honestly whether the snow-clad Christmas is not better enjoyed on a Christmas card than as cold, indeed frozen, fact. Ihe Eur. is the great patron of holidays, and it nay be suspected snow is only acclaimed in circumstances such that it is useless to sigh for summer sunshine.

A few days ago pork was a seasonable substance; if not ordinary, every-day pork, ham at least was. And, just at this appropriate time, a benevolent Government came out with a nice Christmas box for the growers of pork, in the shape of a subsidy 011 all they export for the greater nourishment of the British Isles. So far as the argument in justification of the subsidy submits to analysis, it seems to be that pig-raising is one of the most valuable and profitable sidelines that can be indulged in by the dairy farmer; so valuable, in fact, that to pay hnu to pursue it is good business. The value of keeping pigh is that they consume the skim ir.ilk that would otherwise run to waste. Yet- if £30,000 has to be paid from the State funds in order that the pigs may drink their swill and fatten on it profitably, is it worth while saving it from waste ? None of this is set down in malice. The dairy farmer has not got a soft job by any means, and any little windfall coming his way is well merited, without a doubt. The only difficulty is that the economics of a paternal Government are so difficult to understand. It may be explained over and over again, but one bewildered mortal will find it hard to realise why such a valuable and profitable industry should need support to the tune of £30,000 a year. Perhaps giving Government subsidies is like taking drugs; the dose has to .be increased continually to produce the same effect.

Sometimes there is reason to think the State Forest Service does not like deer. It has said very harsh things about them and advocated the raising of all protection except that on wapiti and moose. Also it has invented for them a name that seems to give immense satisfaction for it appears in every reference the For-'-st Service makes to deer. "This pcSt;" there you have the term of endearment the foresters habitually use. It has appeared again, this time in the Journal of Agriculture, where the department finds a sympathetic hearing for its outbursts against th%deer, much more sympathetic, for instance, thar/ in the reported proceedings of an acclimatisation society. The reason for the animosity the service shows is that it appears to be an open race between the foresters and the deer, the one trying to make trees grow, the other eating them as fast as they are planted; the betting so for appears to be on the deer. It is perhaps natural that New Zealand should be a paradise .or deer, no natural enemies, no rigours of winter, boundless spaces where the interfering cultivator makes no attack on the delightful cover nature has provided for deer. It is the old, old story; the balance of nature has been upset, and nature proceed*, to exact retribution with remorseless logic; the lesson should have been completely learned by now, but there are plenty of signs it has not yet been too well laid to heart.

Through there being two streets of the isame name in Hamilton, the file bngace, receiving a summons the other day, went in an entirely wrong; direction. This might fcava been a very serious matter, but, as it has been philosophically noted, no harm resulted because tne actual fire was outside the borough limits, and there was no water supply anyway. This is a great comfort really. It is a wonder the same idea has not been applied to those places in Auckland where fchfl water pressure is bo low as to bo useless fog the Quenching pf fixes.