LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20716, 8 November 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MEUCUTIO.

The superiority of the tui as a singer over the nightingale has been proclaimed by no less an authority than Mr. Johannes Andersen. If anyone wants to claim that he knows more about the song of jsjew Zealand birds than Mr. Andersen does, let liini step forth, and not allow any false modesty to restrain him. No answer? Very well, that's settled. Now, in making the comparison, Mr. Andersen referred to the song of the nightingale as recorded. If that is the sole evidence, the tui has it without the jury leaving the box. One hopes, for the sake of many poets, major and minor Keats was perhaps the most ecstatic of them—that the reproduction does not do the blithe creature justice. But it must be remembered that so enthusiastic a bird-lover, and so experienced an observer of their ways as Viscount Grey of Falloden, has dared to say the song of the nightingale has been over-praised. If memory serves, ho prefers the thrush. Anyway, it would be an article of faith with all New Zealanders, whether they had heard the nightingale or not, that the tui was its superior, if they felt that way about things native to their soil. But they don't, except as regards footballers —and sometimes racehorses.

" People must realise that a fine is inflicted as a punishment," said a Wellington magistrate in an epigrammatic mood the other day. Perhaps the explanation was necessary, though tho disposition to consider it a mark of esteem and regard tendered by tho bench to the man below is not very general. The remark, however, was prompted by a request for time in which to pay. To this extent it was justified perhaps, because having imposed the fine as a punishment, the bench is frequently .asked to soften the blow by spreading the payment over a considerable period. If the magistrates as a body aro going to set their faces against the practice, the courts will perhaps become the last stronghold in which rash paynient survives the instalment system.

Some remarks about the weather, not meant to be complimentary, that appeared in this column a week or two ago, had at least one good result. They drew from 8 gentleman whose years and experience demand that his words be respected re-, miniscences about the changing seasons which were pinned clearly and definitely to circumstances within the direct knowledge of the writer of them. As he was long engaged in handling seasonal produce, he is able to show by the evidence of such sensitive crops as strawberries and gooseberries that the spring comes much later now than it used to do. By way of compensation, winter comes later, too, so that the chances of a fine Easter ar9 much brighter than they were, say thirtyfive years ago. The upshot of the testimony is that, while it fully supports the contention the climate is nob what it used to be, the unique featnre is that it shows a gain as well as a loss. This is meteorological history •that is worth while. It is human and friendly, and is pinned to things we all know about in a context_ we all recognise. Quite seriously, it is worth a volume of charts and graphs and tables of rainfall, sunshine and the like. If any dry-as-dust scientific chap, sad but erudite, springs up to say it is all wrong. Won't believe him. Pin your faith to the man who rcrttembeTS*becaus6 he has been associated, with the soil and the products of the soil- Tho modo.cn scientist is all right in his way, but he must, strike his colours sometimes to those who go by the signs and portents governing the weather that men read and interpreted centuries before modern science was imagined. It was a delightful piece of history of the ancient kind, this letter, and to its writer, Mr. Thomas Dawes, many thanks!

A motorist has been not only prosecuted but fined for splashing mud, or muddy water, on inoffensive foot passengers. More power to those who haled him up R nd punished him! This sentiment is not uttered because he was a motorist. The mere fact that he used a car inconvenience and distress other people is c]uite immaterial; because this brand of thoughtless, inconsiderate fellow would have found some other means of being thoughtless and inconsiderato if he had not had a motortar. There i 3 a tendency among people who do not own and drive cars to classify all who do as being of the breed | of the motor-hog. It isn't just and it isn t true. It amounts simply to objecting to anybody having anything, regardless of whether he is entitled to it or not. A thoughtless man in a motoroar has so many more opportunities of being obnoxious and getting away with it than the thoughtless one on foot that tO' have one brought to book is a very good thing.

They halve made a great deal of pother itt the Imperial Conference about a new tribunal they propose to establish before which disputes between units of the Empire can be heard and determined. It has bcei'i made plain—and quite rightly, too—that such things shall not be referred to the League of Nations. That would be too much like taking a family quarrel to the law courts. Let there be a special tribunal by all means. But where are the disputes? Nobody seems to have heard much of them before, and is there any evidence they will arise in future? Tliat is to say, New Zealanders may have their own views about the wav Canada bangs her inhospitable door in the face of people who may be .ooking for a job, but nobody proposes going to war or to law about it. Such grievances as there may be am not likely to be referred to the League of Nations or anv other /tribunal. As a matter of fact, this careful, deliberate planning of a court to hear inter-Imperial disputes is. in present circumstances, highly rem.niscent of a couple of chaps who have no . r,u ' , / n . in being, or in prospect, going to look for a nice smooth piece of tir they could fight in comfort if they happened to fall out.

Wang'jnui often seems to add a moif>ty to the gaietv of this country-arid usual y sets abo.it it so seriously too Lh latest story involves a school bu khnß which'seems likely to have two • tion stones. One has already been laid by a Minister of the Crown. But since a new Minister has decreed that tne building is to cost £32,000 instead of £IB.OOO, it is proposed to have another s'one, to be laid by him. -I this is done, whiit is to become of the s one already laid 1 Somebody says he who laid the first should be invited 1o ay the second , but that would hardly Suit the folk who want a second ceremony, bo far as can be judged from the evidence. It. seem.-; very much as though they want somel>c<W elso to appear as the sole hero and benefactor. This is the - way nice little rows develop, and Wanganui seem 3 to be having one. Yet the way out is so simple.. Tho gentleman who laid the first stoti J should bo asked to appear and officiate at a solemn ceremony of unlaying. , flien the other and later favourite could lay a new oob In this way all partis could have a bit of the limelight, ani the real reasons beneath the affair cotiVl be given adequate publicity. In the United States there used to be a good old Custom which meant that when a new panty came into office a great many officials wfere sacked and replaced by others of a different political colour. It may obtain vet. , If New Zealand could set about changing foundation stones after « change ,ol Government it would go far toward re-establishing its reputation as • country politicaJ innovations*