LOCAL GOSSIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22262, 9 November 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP

BY MEBCUTIO

English hosts are surfeiting the All Blacks with entertainment. In the circumstances 'the constant complaint of London newspapers that the visitors' play is not entertaining seems unreasonable. The entertained cannot very well turn round and entertainno good-mannered guests would dream of such a thing. And, after all, if the All Blacks' playing performances are voted drill by Englishmen, is that not the usual feeling when the other fellow is winning?

The New Zealand Alliance has been congratulated by a kindred, perhaps even an affiliated, body on having liquidated a debt of long standing. Sounds queer; if tho alliance is to bo congratulated for having dono a bit of liquidating, the* felicitations should surely come' from the other, not from the same sido in the great controversy.

The business of teaching teachers' teaching, is po be resumed in February. In the last few years, according to Johnrii6, too little attention has been given to this important part of New Zealand's free, secular and compulsory system and toe much to tho cheerless task of instructing him. He and his fellows think it would be some compensation and also poetic justice if they were allowed to visit tho training college to see the teachers taught. They would also be glad to devise some novel methods of testing teachers in the subject of class discipline.

A headline to be seen in the week's political news was " Labour in Eden." It deesn't seem quite right, somehow, for it was not until after the expulsion from Eden that man was condemned to earn his, bread by the sweat of his brow. Whether Eden will accept this as a tip on polling day depends, of course, on political leanings of the Edenites. It may not be wholly relevant, but the grumble of a suburban householder last week-end can, perhaps, be added. Gardening, he said, was the first punishment imposed after the fall of man; and it was still first among punishments.

Mr. Coates says that if the Democrats are elected there will be a gap of £22,000,000 to be bridged. That settles it. There has been enough bother this last four years bridging that infamous gap between costs and prices. When the Government and citizens en masse h£ive not been toiling at that task, they have been exploring avenues, climbing out of the economic morass, turning corners, getting back to norjmal, paving the road to recovery, cushioning the shock of falling prices, establishing a new and sound basis, restoring ...equilibrium, setting inquiries afoot and making thorough investigations. After all this, electors will ask to be excused from bridging any more gaps, even at Mr. Hislop's behest.

With vast number 6f election candidates opposed to the Government, and with the very varying opinions expressed by them —even by a number belonging to the same party —it is surprising none has yet blamed the Goveniment for the defeat of the All Blacks at Swansea. Never mind, there is l still more than a fortnight of the campaign to go.

The flying timber that hit a bus in Wellington must have been one of those one hundred and forty-four boards Mr. Hislop complains of. They are bound to break loose at times and do something—unless they can be nailed down and made into a political platform. The Democrats prefer councils, according to their leading counsel, but the reason for the preference is obscure. Most people would be puzzled as to what more councils could do, but any home carpenter can find a use for boards. '

A gun club has been charged with supplying liquor to members and others at a shoot, in such circumstances that the law may have been broken. The charge was dismissed with tho suggestion that proceedings might be taken against individual members. Apparently the gun club should not have been charged and was therefore discharged, the judgment leaving open the other question whether it was lawful to risk members being shot at a shoot.

The Wairarapa unemployed are to matched' against tho Wairarapa rabbits. Those who have wartime memories of Featherston and Tauherenikau will not feel very sanguine that tho will ever be fought to a finish, « Mr. Rabbit's finish is intended. The riverbeds, the gorse, broom and tenwee of that windswept terrain provide happy nibbling grounds and endless cover, But if the problemj is to provide permanent jobs for tho unemployed, then the board has hit on an «verlasting answer.

The retjred general is appearing as Wa r correspondent in Abyssinia, and a v ®rv suitable correspondent ho should *nake, provided ho does not forget and * r y to rim the show. The old war torse we read in scripture " paweth in the valley " and " the glory of his snorting ; is terrible." Furthermore, he swalloueth the ground with fierceness and rage, neither believeth he that " is the voice of the trumpet. As oft *s the trumpet sotindeth he saith 'Aha !' ■nd he srnelleth the battle afar off." would almost think that Job's •"ographep, had Mussolini in mind. How?yer.' there is little doubt that if an •Italian general should make too big a ttess of things some of the ex-generals «' At r ,ress w '" " paweth " and shout Aha!" and snort.

In one pkrt of tho town the birds not sing on the morning of Novem•®r P- I'oor things, thej T probably Imagined that the noise of the night be•mU* if tl,nos gunpowder with *uioh small boys and big ones celeC 'i a hasty even t in history were battle, and that all was over barng the occupation. In the night a ran Ko bourning noise was heard in house, evidently caused by a be- _ ■ . erG< l, panic-stricken bird flying JJJ 118 ! the power cable. A big dog, inally most valiant, insisted on coma Ko'i ors hid quivering beneath *k ,^" e n «rvy patient tried to read but found it imiwasible to make eye and brain synchro- „ &nd set about having a bad night, was glad, however, tnat the young enjoyed themselves.