LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20620, 19 July 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

DY MKRCITTIO.

Xf * the latest body of educational reformers have their way, scholarships yarded bv. competitive examination will foon be no moit'. It may be a necessary change, bin tli"se who remember how the winning of jx scholarship was the objective set before an ambitious boy or girl, w hdi efforV was put forth to that end, an d what real sacrifices a family sometimes made'so that the bright one might ]iave a chance will feel there will be loss en if there i; gain. Some schoolmasters, too. may be <»KI fashioned enough to regret tliP days when they used to count their sehol/ushijj scalps. Lest the old scholarship .system be too hastily condemned,' lei i'. lie remembered that it did open the way for some bright people who did rather /well in the end. Sir Ernest: Rutherford was one.

A good tlo:11 It.is been heard from time jo time about drivers' licences, but it Jias a" refirin! to drivers of motor-cars. The suggestion -has now been made that golf timers ought to be licensed. The jdea is that there ought to bo something documentary ihat could be endorsed. One tan think of ['layers very liable to have jheir licences tagged for serious slicing or habitual hooking, persistent pulling and misdemeanours like that. 'J'he practical value of the system is not very obvious, (hough it should have a good moral effect. But even on the practical side some use might lie made of it. A couple of endorsements might lead to the culprit being prevented from playing unless at least two holes ahead were clear i.f other golfers. Three or more tags might mean prohibition from appearing except on a totally empty course; and fo on. Hie bona lides of the suggestion have to be suspected, though, because came from a disillusioned gentleman in ji cynical mood. He had concluded, he said, that golfers were a nuisance anypay. If they were not, cluttering up a perfectly glod course and spoiling the view, they were perpetually talking about their game. It may have some basis of truth, but a frame of mind like that makes any proposal touching the game immediately suspect.

By official decree deer have censed to he imported game. The law is a wonderful thing and, as some people have occasionally remarked, more in anger than in Borrow, regulations and orders-in-council can be. even more remarkable. When, however, by the stroke of a pen constituted authority can change imported fauna into native, the limit of wonder has surely been reached. But the conSequences of this action are even better worth considering than the procedure. Presumably restrictions on selling deer meat, or offering it for sale, will disappear. Some people might say that if the deer meat were only spelt a little differently, it w6uld be hard to prove there tvas.ever any restriction on the sale of it. Very likely someone will. There are a dreadful lot ot cynics about. However, Is venison to he anybody's meat now ? Kew Zealand is supposed to have more trout and better trout than any other country of equal, or any, size in the world. Yet »n the ordinary way you can't buy an ounce of fresh trout over the counter No doubt the reason for this is a good ont\ but it seems strange. ■Again, in 'spile of the many complaints about too runny deer, venison has never been plentiful or cheap. In fact. !? a census were taken of the New Zealandevs who had ever eaten it, the result would hot be imposing. Perhaps this will rhang?. Perhaps, too, the Indian method of curing deer skins will be adopted, and deerskin coats for motorists,. golfers and other outeoor folk will Appear as evidence of a new local industry. M'pre likely the skins will lie exported, to' bo shipped back again in same strange guise and at prices that arc pimply unrecognisable; like the rabbit fckins. It is most likely since deer 'theinfcelves are no longer to be imported game.

Always something now and strange is foming from Canterbury. The latest is the inexplicable action of a country school committee, in refusing the monthly capitation grant offered by Hie Canterbury Education Board on the frivolous plea that it did not require the money. Perhaps not, but by failing to find some way of spending it this committee has also failed to measure up to the standard «jf conduct' expected from a New Zealand public body; unless, ot course, the refusal is loaded somehow. The board would be wise to wait and see before handing over the cheque to tha Canterbury Muslim for preservation. This action by a school committee raises conjectures, if not exactly hopes. There was a time when the school committee was regarded as the starting place foist career ot* public usefulness. The future M.P. began his training by securing election as a committee man. That first hurdle surmounted, the long road to becoming Prime Minister stretched clear ahead of 11tin. 'i he routine is not quite tne same now. But the school committee, irom this example, ini»ht be the stinting point for something cise, not less desir able. If this is the beginning of a movement by public bodies and others to return to the sender money for which no immediate can be found, plenty of people will be in favour of it. The ulti ntate development would come when the Commissioner of laxes began to remit payments on the ground (hat. a surplus already assured mennt that the Treasury had no iit: r i.l <,f fuit 1 it-r funds. When that day arrives flip members of the (,'anteibuiy School LWmjltiw, jointly and severshould have .statues erected in their honr>.j» i„/t (Ik. srulpior need i;ot be engaged yel a while.

»-oms Ciiinc."" living in Wellington rle-P-iiiig to ar..| ;i* idiuli of homo to it fnr (t.Atutit lahji t !!•■'! to import two Chinese 'J'toiscs 1 ill; f 1!-.11 !J I-f;s a >,■ I Ved Without im.Mclvtnfii■ I.iii, -.tony.hearted authority *>enietl tin-m ;me,. ()1 t] )U country. J trliaps tJi!- i,, formality of obtatnjnK a |j(!riu:f • {.,/ u'it,.y Ii o departure UU been oWhatever tho grounds jr the (irni <!<• -ti:«» (i! exclusion, there t-eems to I.. .n a deal of dis(U.iMon pre ■'■' li.',? it. Naturallv the proper tlassificai tnrtois.-.s as livestock wouli] In. ~ i.i i!!...i of some difficulty. lu h:' uh.'Jtt a- ;ii)s the story, winch deserves n-v-v.i', rj| ( . p,issi'iii;cr boarding train at. a., I'l:s)I rural station, and P'"P"-,! r, y., I. ,!•:<• v.;tb him a pair of Jj'uiiKa a' 11! a couple of tortoises. - port ir u, . uas asked about P/'yt'o th• • j"i lan -, lie had never had a similar <;•>■■ o, handle, and did not find n 6 'i'lles very helpful. Fiti•"'.v, Sol - .ii! ,(i <|ien d judgment thus: _ hmnea | .. : - p.^. ( ami must lie paid ,or as *••• '• : ': 'iTto'.nes is inseeks and travels tY.-iI'ill >|y the Wellington authonla , i!.v -1:i11 the Chinese tortoises v. ere ely, ai,fl ;u buch could not he allowed t-, ,

imh-vej- i '-f. r-iny 1.0 said of the reflunks trr-rj l A(l:nii:> aliout that footh'lll in.it- ij ; t ; 'i rii, it cannot Lo denied ha.i a liiic in them.

It is it tune nf Ihe year for New Z«'il ui.l | u be short of water, touniiy i.i?k in Xclson are' reported to ' ie suffering tli.it way. The cause, as usual, is lark of rairi. Auckland could 'Pare a !r,t,. especially any that nuiy conerujilati' f;it|;riy or Saturday.