LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20851, 18 April 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY J/ERCUTIO,

It is coming nearer; conditions are now announced for the despatch of mails from j, T ew Zealand to London by air, or most of tho way by ail'. If this does not foreshadow the day when the New Zealander '(with a holiday to spend will be able to slip away to London, enjoy its delights and return in good order, what does it portend? Two things will be necessary, a good long holiday and plenty of the wherewithal. Because, in spito of the achievements of speed kings, London will still be rather too far away for a weekend to suffice for a visit, at least so far cs can be foreseen at' present. As for the other condition, if letters are to bo Charged two shillings per half-ounce for aerial transport to London, what is tho passenger fare likely to be ? Tho twelveetono man will .have to be something of a millionaiie beforo lie can even consider the prospect.. However, it is a wonderful thing to be living in the present ago with all these marvels being made manifest. ' First telephone conversations with London, then air carriage of mails—ollo simply must ask what next? The aviation side of it has been long enough predicted. Tennyson wrote of i" aerial navies grappling in the central blue." The reality was not quite like that, but was bad enough for a repetition to be avoillcd by every means poseiblc. Tho world has had enough of it. Now that tho progress of aviation is being put to more peaceful' uses, its development can be accepted more placidly. ]3ut witty it all, how much happier is the average New Zealander than in the days when mails took anything from three to fix months to 'reach London ?

?' Cheer Up " week is upon tho community. By bunting on verandah posts, many lights in the streets and other signs it may be known. There is force in the suggestion that to hold such a function, thus admitting tho need for cheer, is a confession of weakness. What of that? If to bo depressed, even more depressed than /circumstances warrant, is weakness, then the community has been weak. Tho aim therefore is to make, it strong fpr a Aypek; strong and cheerful. There is an underlying hope, of course, that the one week will effect a permanent cure. Perhaps it will. It is to be hoped so anyway. At least the programme is ,a fair guarantee that there will be no 'reaction calling for another week in which to recover from the effects of Cheer Up Week.

A feature ,<bf tho municipal elections round about Auckland, mentioned to Mercutio, is that a number of returned 6oldiers are to be found offering their services on various public bodies. That

is to say, map who went to the war as untried youths are now appearing in the arena. This is'true of several suburban

districts. It is rather long after the war

for their status as veterans to make any / special appeal. There are peoplo voting now who but dimly remember the hectic ] days of 1914. Soon there will be plenty of fully qualified citizen electors who remember nothing of the war at all. Alas, for the years that have fled, it is so. The beginnings of the Great W T ar are more remote from the present day than the South African War was from 1914 — and it seemed a dim enough memory then to all except the participants. Still, though the connection between war service and service on local bodies may seem Blight to some people, there is the con-

necting link of service. And incidentally, should any of the candidates happen to reach a mayoral chair, he may revive the " v,-ord of command " of years ago to silence an unruly member of his council. It would do no harm on somo .councils. ' /

A severe fall in price seems the fate Of all products of the soil. If it were not enough that' wool and meat and butterfat, in the production of which much capital, care and toil is necessary, had crashed, tho mushroom, that appears in the farmers' fields, must needs fall as well. It is recorded that, these delicacies—to some people, abominations to others—have been selling for from to eightpence a pound, compared with two shillings and more at tho same time last year. It is possiblo, of course, to cultivate them, and since mushroom can be bought, presumably some people do so. But for the most part lolk depend on nature's unaided efforts, and very often on other people's property, to supply their needs. And naturd'has been very bountiful this year, with the result that the bottom lias fallen out of the market, comparatively speaking. It is very sad, but hardly anything can be done about it. There is too much amateur competition for the of mushrooms to be able Jto dictate prices.

A certain differenco of opinion lias arisen on the question whether New Zealand can or does or could or should grow "willows for the production of cricket bats. Some say yes and some say no, but that i.s characteristic of any difference of opinion. 611 one point there is agreement, that any old willow will not do. It must be the proper variety before it v.'ill yield bats a Brad man would delight to wield! On general principles it would he a good thing if willows could be tturned to 6ome real account in this country. They grow readily enough, but beyufnd helping to block streams and aggravate floods, they seldom seem to achieve much. But just a moment; yes. they do. .They serve as the basis for the legend that they are all descended from slips from the tree that used to bang over Napoleon's grave at St. Helena. This story was once told mi American forestry expert, with the specific reservation that it mightn't be true. His response was terse. I have never yet teen to a country where the willow was not indigenous," he said, " without hearting that story about the origin of all the willows growing in it." So there J'ou are. It must be like the legend of the man ill the moon, common to all laces. If/ it should happen to be true New Zealand, the man who took these cuttings should have left Napoleon's tomb alone and gone to some place where "willows that would make cricket bats vero growing. A deplorable lack of foresight that man showed.

It has been recalled that it is just 100 years/ since the first white man landed 3n Whanga-nui—that place the ignorant pakeha persists in calling Wanganui. He "was a trader in dried human heads, and Vas accompanied by four others. Trouble arose with the natives and only two of the party left Wanganui. Possibly the fther three went into stock.