LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

' BY MEIICUTIO,

. So tho Tahiti is no more! A grave mis- ' hap in mid-ocean, a struggle against fate :4. until everyone, passengers and crew, had been transferred to safety, and then a plunge to the depths—thus can bo summed fit], u n the last moments of a good ship that had scon stitring times and, on at least / one unfortunate occasion, had seen tragedy. The Tahiti was one of thoso ten ships that sailed from Wellington ono grey October morning bearing away from theso shores the Main BojJy of tho Now Zealand s|' Expeditionary Forco. Something has been said of lato about tho need of war books and war films to show that modern , war is no picnic. Those who rushed to S' serve in 1914, it has been suggested, thought it'was. Did they now? If so, they did not keep on thinking it for very long. The trip they mado in the great convoy of which tho Tahiti was u unit would have disabusod the minds of greater optimists than those who sailed lift then. A grey dawn for the sailing, a grey fleet stealing to sea, and many days of grey monotony to follow. That was their introduction to tho glamour and pageantry of war. When the Australian fleet of trooper? was joined and tho great company sailed, away it formed probably the most remarkable expedition in the history of transport. Greater convoys' there may have heen when that system was adopted to baffle the submarines, but did any of like size travel so far in company or remtin so long together? It must have been one of tho sights of all time, except there were few to see it. A pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night might, have been its symbol. . But hostile warships were suspected of lurking by, especially tho Emden. So, if funnels belched too freely, a warship signalled in cold reproof "You are mak- ; -4jf.' irig too much smoke." Then engineroom crews had to answer a " please explain." So, too if at night an unauthorised gleam appeared, a lamp winked somewhere, and the offending light was promptly quenched. The Tahiti formed one of this great fleet, carried her men and horses safely to Alexandria, and fhen departed on her lawful occasions. She did much and manful work in tho later days of the war, before being restored to more peaceful pursuits. Now her end has come in a voyage which portended no disaster at the sailing. Peace to her old bones beneath the Pacific!

A good deal was heard in Parliament last week about the respective merits of voluntary and universal training for military service. This is not tho time nor the place to continuo the argument, nor has Mercutio any particular desire to do it. All ho wishes to offer is tho timehonoured suggestion that the difficulties might all be met by compelling everyone to volunteer.

'lho Farmers' Union has been protesting against the new taxes that will have to be fcftind somehow this year. They have nob been alone in that. It may have been noticed that many other people are annoyed on the sanio score. Tho farmers, however, have objected to necessities coming under tho whip of tho tax-gatherer.' This is not unnatural. It is not everybody who has reached the stage of , philosophy achieved by the gentleman 1 who said: "Give me the luxuries of life and ho who will may 'have tho necessities." Besides, some farmers don't know what the luxuries are like. So many stories to this effect are lojd that some of them must bo true.

A Judge of the Supreme Court 'has noted the extraordinary fondness some motorists have for the wrong side of the road. Leaving homo, a driver of < this kind takes the wrong side because he thinks that part of the road is better than the other. Returning by the same route he:.- might be expected to be right this time. But no. The wrong side rejected before now seems much more (desirable than the one on which he had previously travelled. So off he goes, wrong again. 01 course something can bo found to explain, though certainly not to excuse, This proceeding. The wrong side appeared the better, so he chose it. Having travelled pver it he knows it cannot be, bo he tries thV other, regardless of the fact that he is fracturing the law, the bylaws and the motor regulations, besides standing an excellent chanco of fracturing his own neck, and, what is much inoro serious, somebody else's. It need not be thought this kind of perverseness is confined to the motorist. It is more dangerous in him, that is all. Some genial philosopher—was it Dave ITarum or the Pelf-Made Merchant ? —said tho only really people were. those who were consistent in their cussedness; which piece of wisdom seems wholly applicable to the wrong-side-of-the-road motorist.

It is an old saying that there is nothing like leather, and though the proud owner of a full'denture more natural in appearance than tho teeth ho grew himself may doubt it as he wrestles with a grilled steak, in the general sense it is strictly true. For the purpose to which leather is usually applied, there is nothing like leather. Now, the community is assured, as the result of elaborate tests conscienti-. ously made, there is nothing like New Zealand father. It may not bo so beauteous in appearance as sorno imported kinds, but in tho things that matter, particularly in '.resistance to damp, it is claimed to bo second to none. This is very gratifying indeed, for tho tanning industry in this country is a very young one compared with its ago elsewhere. Leather is one of the ancient commodities. Indeed, it would be difficult for tho most erudite historian to fix tho occasion when the first 'I hide was tanned, in the industrial, not the disciplinary sense. And then this country has no very long experience in the production of hides, for the great pastoral industry is barely a century old., if that. Now it is said the cattle-breeders, the tanners and tho bootmakers o| the Dominion among them are succeeding in producing the best of nil possible footwear. It is a comprehensive tribute, except that a word might have been spared for tho beast that grows tho hide. Ho must bo a conscientious sort of chap, too. Anyway, it is good to find a Dominion industry lifting up its head and makjhjr a-claim liko this. Away with all inferiority complexes! There is a story told of Queen Victoria nrul an anecdote that, by Victorian standards, was a little broad. It was told in her presence,.but not in her hearing. Noting its effect, she demanded to hear it. The narrator protested, but was overruled. Havijig -heard tho tale, the Queen merely remarked: " We are not amused." And that, seems to sum.up exactly the attitude of thoso who will bo affected toward the now amusement taxes.