LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MERCUTIO.

"Well, it's conic and gone now, and what does everyone think of it all ? Various shadows which are generally agreed to be brooding over this land could not. survive, surely, in the golden sunshine of some of (he holiday days. A real old-fashioned day or two at Christmas time—and nobody can deny that title to Boxing Day anyway —should put everyone into a better humour with himself, the world and the outlook. It" times wero hard and money scarce that fact was very successfully concealed. The pleasant habit of giving presents seemed' to flourish like the less pleasant accident of acquiring sunburn. At least 0110 Auckland lady has testified to having received so many gift handkerchiefs that she can blow her nose from now till next Christmas and never use Ihr same handkerchief twice. The abundance of such small and simplo tokens of remembrance, coupled with the lrfrge number of Christmas cards exchanged, seems to suggest that people set out to f.|iow their friends (hey were not forgotten while at the same time paying due regard to tlio need for economy. A very good habit, too, that of making tho tokens simplo and inexpensive. It would do no harm if it were made permanent, ruling in the most prosperous times. It is easier to start a kind of competition in giving expensive presents than to stop it, and it can easily bring hardship and embarrassment in its train. So perhaps these discursive remarks on the holiday season can best end with a suggested motto for next year, tho year after, anci nil tho years to come—" Give simpler presents."

A whole-hearted eulogy, very pleasant to read, has been penned by a Dunedin man whom fortune brought to Auckland, whoso rye was delighted by what he saw when here. The pleasure to an Aucklander should be not so much in the praises he put on paper, as in the spirit of cordiality that ran through his remarks. In fact, even a thoroughly patriotic Aucklander can have a twinge of doubt, wondering whether this traveller from the South has not exaggerated a little. True, Auckland, from some vantage points, seen under some conditions of tho sky, appears as< he describes it. Ho is quite insensible tc beauty who can stand on Mount Eden .or One Tree Hill on a fine, still day and view unmoved the vista of greenery and red roofs, the stretches of blue water, that Bro spread beneath him. But does Auckland always look like that; and is it the tame from all angles? Sadly must it be confessed it is not. There aro grey days and drab days, there are mean streets mid sordid streets. But the Dunedin man had eyes open for things to praise. He saw them and he praised them. It is for this spirit, considering the carping way people from one city often speak of another, that he is to be welcomed as a man and a brother. And in return must this be said:. Though Auckland and Dunedin may sometimes say hasty things of one another, lie is no true Aucklander vvno does not find in'Dunedin much to admire, much that lingers in the memory long after lie has left that sturdy city of tho South. • So, not merely as a polite exchange, but because it is meant, the good Aucklander should answer his Dunedin brother, quite seasonably, w dh, ( lhe same to you and many of them."

Hnlidav-makers on that popular Dunedin •beach St" Clair were interested the other .day by the spectacle of a. large seaelephant on the rocks. It had to be something new and strange to attract attention. Tho spectacle of other creatures on the rocks is already far too familiar. In short, in being on the rocks tho seaelephant did not have it on his own; no, not by a long chalk. And then, when he left the rocks, ho found himself all at sea —not a new experience either. Oh, yes, it was a good thing it was a sea-elephant. Nothing less exotic could have caused a single thrill.

A new form of enterprise was shown last week-end by one or more of those resourceful gentlemen who do not consider bliving or hiring a motor-car an indispensable preliminary to enjoying a little motoring. Having luted a car fiom Epsom, he, or they, drove it a.good long way, then abandoned it at St. Heliei taking another in its place. Th s J shows how the possession of a conscience cramps the style of the honest man Not owning a car, or not being ableto hii-9 one, he is reduced to using a tram c'" or a bus, or in the last desperate resort to walking. Even if he does enter the motor-owning class, either suddenly by „J, nr slowlv and painfully by me s, is 1 vehicle unless hei is so p of acquire several, lie otnei ui i under no, such limitations Should he fancv a little motoring, he P lC >* sr&ftsa limousine, hj« just scouts around »».. hf,„J3 one that .s» t he Bets locked, nrnl olf I eg v;ith mver a tired of it, he (an ic . rec;u lations thought of garages o pa k.ng f or anything. He just pici<s wQrlc| _ to proceed . without a cat F, another an.l an coated fo.m of the difference between {ql , it waits for a thing until he ca " P. y stem the one who thinks I >e c gratification oi Ins whims.

"Try to meet the farmer wlicn his requests are reasonable and you will hjxe the backbone of the country behind y » Jifrf a member of a deputation to a the other day. bom \ I Mould have been tended l mediately that they would like to met ss -u r™ rss>' That would not l.e tactful Minute , nor incidentally would it be just ine farmers who mk. '"'rt'VZS Z not, representative ot all Uir e •, often 1 of many laimers. But they no much more noise than the they sometimes seem to be the ies • jipart from that, the statement ; - «»mr one. It the Mmiste _ i ~.iii Itm vo Ihe backbone m iriiv'W'w Yrtif" he't ".c'b" kbine <•( Ifc. «».»W in front of him, f 1)0 !' e , ;; ,Stei As a matter of fact this shouUL As backbone of the metaphor n.bou., t - never count, v should be droppe ■ >» ™ be used without f r l ' rT, | ® and dantort ions that would ('.,)! the farmers and let, it go at that

the Hawke s ,Bny there, the wrath of sonic of t' l o a " . ( foo k 1,, poems thr-y are shown how to^^ tomatoes at Is 6d « l P HI " ' * s ; vc things, and other mora or less exp ■ jjttlo while, to quote one en u \. ,1' (f j r i s is done in the way of teaching the . i ™„k a 8 c,n,1 , J relevant objection, even , ( ] )an a .will go roun<l is more nll l ! T()] ' I];lt0 „ s and square one those days. . uith bananas, forsooth! u1 y /, must; and potatoes,, i tl.o J » « ij»jt bp I auglit all about fruit . r ' \'i p ,.j a '] s bints of luxuripiis methods and i « ■ engender suspicions that Ibe e.ic. g riot, be sound iri other ways, i • H conceivable for instance, that ins may begin with "Take a clean d h when every housewife knows J< more often necessary to open i - S by taking a flirty dish and clea . R If these girls are not and Roundlv, none ot them will bo ' proper" wife for a sailor. Remember, one ft the test questions nTI J?° ' T?illv "Can slid cook a bit o' steak, limy Roy ?"