LOCAL GOSSIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22006, 12 January 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP

BY MERCUTIO

Araateur photcgraphy, it is reported, has been experiencing something of a boom this holiday season. Well, at least the condtions have been good for the eager snapshot artist, so that the great army of those who press the button and leave the shops to do the rest will have plenty of mementoes of sunshine and freedom''and the great out of doors. There are still superior persons about, of course, who say that this isn't photography, the.t the amateur should develop his own negatives and then print them, producing the results with an " Alone I did it " air. That may be so, but even with such ardour and labour the process may not be photography either. It all depends on how you define the t?rm. Besides, for the absolute beginner, there is sometimes enough uncertainty and excitement about the mere b jtton-pressing method. One humorous gentleman once explained that when he began to wrestle with his first camera he mistook the little red window at the back for the lens. The result was six photographs of his own vest, none of them perfect. So it appears there is something to learn even in the most elementary litages.

As a sort of cheerful, just before ftew Year, mpssage to the public, the Minister of Finance talked of this era of cheap money and the benefits it could be trusted to bring. That same publ:c will doubtless be prepared to take his word for it. He ought to know, and, anyway, it is nice to be told about a benefit in store, even though the effects of it cannot be felt. But this matter of cheap money demands a little more examination. Since money is not actually bought or sold like cheese or beef steaks, its price has to be measured another way. When money is cheap, the chap who lends it • gets a low return for his kindly accommodation of a fellow-creature, while the borrower pays little for the result of raising the wind. On the surface, it would seem, therefore, that cheap money is beneficial because the borrower is a worthier person than the lender. It is nice to believe this, especially as one gazes at the mortgage on the old home; but is it necessarily true? It is impossible to say. Of course, at first sight the Minister of Finance should rejoice at cheap money, because he owes a terrible deal. But he is also owed quite a tidy sum, and what he gains on the swings he may lose in part on the roundabouts. And we, each one of us, if we happen to have £ modest deposit in the savings bank, or a life insurance policy of any worth, or a stake in a superannuation fund, are in exactly the same position. Consequently, are we called upon to rejoice ■with the Minister when he glories in cheap money, or are we entitled to mutter maledictions about the low return on our hard-won savings? That is one of the little questions each one of u«i has to determine for himself. It's a nice exercise J r or the quiet evenings now the holidays""are past and gone. It may" help someone to forget they are gone.

Report says that most of the fishing at Taupo this season has been dry fly. This refinement of the angler's craft is a profound mystery to the uninitiated, who is left wondering how you can hook your fish while the fly is dry; it sounds like the admonition of the anxious mother who told her offspring not to venture into the water until he had learned to swim. But perhaps with modern dryland instructions that isn't a joke either. Anyway, in this mysterious fishing business it is likely that more than the flies have been dry, for Taupo has had some of the hottest days experienced for many years. * Never mind, perhaps the anglers don't have to be as dry as the flies. In that event they will be able to make provision accordingly; and, unless they are a much maligned race, they are not bad at it

A suburban police court had the rather unusual situation the other day of father and son appearing in a case on opposite sides, the father prosecuting, the son defending. It was remarked that they referred to one another by the usual 'court description—" my friend." It may have been true, because even in these days of the revolt of youth it is possible for father and son to be good friends. The full term, of course, is " my learned friend," a graceful description which was once explained as meaning that neither believed the other to be learned, and they were not friends. Does the form of address, therefore, fall into the category of legal fictions-' Whether it does or not, the conventions have to be observed, and in a court of law more than elsewhere. Of course, the very old one, implying that a judge knows no facts except those explained to him, breaks down sometimes. Human patience has its. limits, even on the bench. It was not long ago that a judge in the South interrupted a prosy description of a cotter pin by saying, " I know what a cotter pin is. I had two on my perambulator." All the same if he had been fully alive to the traditions of the bench he would not have known what a cotter pin was—nor a perambulator

Lawyers, before they reach the bench, are not supposed to be so innocent of the world as judges sometimes pretend to be. Indeed, some lawyers, especially the younger ones, are prepared on occasion to appear bold, bad men. For example, a few years ago, one of the hopes of the-Auckland bar was examining a witness about the amount of liquor consumed on a certain occasion. Said the witness., " 1 had two halfhandles. A half-handle is"—but he interrupted by counsel, who said, 'You needn't explain. I quite understand." The child in its innocence and its misunderstanding of a word or phrase sometimes stumbles on a great truth. Consider that charming story, told from a Methodist orphanage, of the uttle yirl who. in making her nightly supplication, said; "Forgive us our Christinas us we forgive those who Christmas against us." What one of jj s i regarding what the season ot gilts •Wought forth, and uneasily remember,ng some of the objects hastily acquired *t a busy counle;r and despatched in default of something better, will not _ struck hv the aptness of the Petition ? is 111<■'rf not many a tie, or calendar, or manicure set. or box of Soap or (he like that needs a nioH of •Tgivoness? The worst of these offends is (hat the* arc so often mutual. r,,e - there are mitigating circum,'nces. To .demand that all Christmas B'tts should he original, typical of the sender and appropriate to the recipient *°iild be asi f ing too much of suffering Humanity, Perhaps to send nothing at • ftt v,' -^ e ot ' l typical and appropriate; but it would not be original, and it would reouire more courage than nmyiy peoole possess. No; -vjft ' s much merit in adopting the a 5 /vi I? raver -. hoping tp be forgiven Christmas and doing our best to ; TstP v e those who Christmas against us.