THE COMMON ROUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18468, 1 February 1922, Page 2

THE COMMON ROUND

By Wayfabeb. There is ft great rush of candidates for the late Mr Tudor's vacant seat in 'the Australian Federal Parliament twenty-eight nominations having been received.—Cable message. Another sign of the acuteness of unemployment. Mr Massey says that applications are reaching h,im from all parte of the country for legislation of one sort and another. Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. • ■ . i T'ho plaintiff in a case in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland last week claimed damSges from the defendant for deprivation of the society and services of his wife. The plaintiff alleged that defendant made a practice of taking plaintiff’s wife out A couple of remarks in a play by Anthony Hope are, recalled: “ Marriage is a trial and an opportunity.” ‘.‘Hear, hear!- A trial for the husband • and ” The Council of Applied Peutofogy in England has decoded tnat while there is no need to give a professional status to a ratcatcher, still, as his duties demanded a degree ot intelligence and skill not always appreciated, he would be better described as a ‘‘rit surveyor.” On the same principle we may have toe humble trapper described as a rabbit, engineer and the boys who dispose of sparrows’ heads to. county councils may become known as avian surgeons. The gang of motor Car thieves whom the Scotland Yard officers have been rounding up have apparently owed their escape from arrest for so long to their cleverness in disguising the cars they have stolen. A periect Rolls-Royce manner is apt to-be betrayed, sooner or later, by a -strong Ford accent. A producer of plays in Australia protests against tne “puritanical” view that girls on the pantomime stage in Sydney and Melbourne are insufficiently and indecently dressed. He quotes irom a letter from one .Maggie Dickinson, recently written from Paris, with reference to the stage there:— . She said it was “common in revues for the girls -on the stage to have no covering whatever above the waist-line, and as often aa not very little below.” Apparently the altogether. Hardily suitable tor the summer climate in Dunedin; Flattered by the compliment paid to them, men in public life may not realise the possible disadvantages ot having race horses named alter them. They should beware. Sighing for iresh Worlds to conquer. Sir Ben Fuller is said to have developed political aspirations, and to be contemplating candidature for a metropolitan seat in the Legislative Assembly of New'South Wales. It was disconcerting, therefore, to the manager of one of his theatres in Sydney to hear a patron, calling maledictions on the head of “ Bon Fuller,” the hope being expressed off-handedly that he might become crosseyed, knock-kneed, and short-winded, and; that if ever he ran again he might expire in the effort. “ What has the chief ever done to you—Sir Ben Fuller, I mean ?” the manager asked. “Sir Nothing!” was the reply. “Look at this!” And the patron held up the report of a race in which the placings were:—Youendah l, Salvini 2, Ben Fuller 5. He had lost a tenner : on the namesake of the knight Excepting about half a dozen Members of Parliament, he would be willing to select six men who had passed through the Workers’ Educational Association's classes, and. let there be chosen six of the remaining members of the House, and if his candidates did not obtain higher marks in political economy he would make a substantial contribution towards the work of the association in Auckland.— Hon. G. Fowlds, at the University Senate. Not a very eporting offer. Any six men who have passed through any class should be able to secure higher marks in their subject than an equal number of members of. . Parliament exclusive of half-a-dozen picked Parliamentarians. • - ■ - • *• The temptation to surf-bathing on an afternoon like yesterday is no doubt considerable. But there is reliable authority for the statement that the temperature of the water was distinctly low. There is a story of a man, who. juji November . comes down ,i to. breakf astrrubbmg' his -hands and bdfistihg of his “cold tub. In December, being a truthful man, he"refers to it as his “bath.” Tn- January ho informs you that ho miss his sponge-down for nuts. In February he ia eloquently silent. It is something like the story of the shopman whose window displayed the notices: “Newlaid Eggs”—“Fresh Eggs”—“Selected Eggs”—“Eggs.” The Duke of York, the second son of the King, who was saying nice things about Australia and New .Zealand at the Australia’ Day luncheon last , week, is not credited with the possession of the savoirfaire that is one of the great secrets of the popularity of his elder brother. To the average young man of 26,,t0 whom outdoor pursuits make a .strong appeal, the obligations that are imposed upon the members of the Royal Family would be regarded as extremely vexatious. If the. King’s sons are greatly bored, by their having to undertake the ’ duties which 1 their rank forces upon them, they succeed admirably in concealing- their feelings. By nature the Duke of York it rather shy and reserved, but -once that shyness melts, as it very quickly does, he is said to be a charming conversationalist, able to talk informatively on almost any subject. One of his personal friends has described him as full of character,' a shrewd judge of men and affairs, a great imperialist, always eager to take some active part in the promotion of the well-being of the Empire, arid yet at times full of spirits that are almost boyish. Mrs Asquith, having achieved notoriety,, ifr not fame, by the publication of her “Reminiscences” eighteen months, ago, ' is now publishing her diary, beginning with an account of her experiences during and after the general election of 1882. In them she describes the impression made upon her when, in Glasgow, for the' first time she. heard Mr Asquith deliver a public-speech^-in support of the candidature of her brother. Mr Edward Tennant, afterwards the first Lord fUenconner, for the Partipk division of Lanarkshire: ; — I had never heard him speak before, and listened with the greatest curiosity. His bead makes up for what Bis figure lacks in impressiveness, and he has a fine voice.. His vocabulary is uncommon and never strained, and there is a note of intellectual scorn in his speaking which I admire. He told me that he had spoken 24- times that week, and felt quite without ideas, but I should think his idea-less utterances would be better than the speeches of most men. He has all the qualities of a great orator; lucidity, .grip, and a short, forcible way of expressing himself. In spite of being rather set in manner, there is movement in his brain and none of the legal level which chills an audience. Sir Edward Speyer, whose certificate of naturalisation, wtas revoked lately as the result’ of the inquiries mode by the Certificates of Naturalisation (Revocation) Committee and whose name was in consequence struck,, off the list of members of the Privy Council, may be Judged to be a trj|! Hun with a colossal assurance. The Cdmmitce which conducted the inquiry satisfied itself that Speyer had shown himself by act-and speech to be disaffected and disloyal to his Majesty and had during the war unlawfully communicated with - subjects of an enemy State and associated with a business which was to his knowledge'carried on in such manner as to assist the enemy in the war. He affected during the war a tone of pained contempt for those who thought so meanly of him as to consider it possible that he could be disloyal. On May 17, 1915, he addressed a letter to Mr Asquith, who was then Prime Minister, saying that for nine months he had “treated with disdain the charges of disloyalty and suggestions of treachery” which', he said, had been made against him. but he added:--“I consider 71 due to my honour as a loyal British subject and my personal dignity as a man to retire from all mv public positions.” Confiding Mr Asquith replied that he understood “the sense of injustice and indignation” which prompted the letter, and that he had known the writer “long and well enough to estimate at their true value these baseless and malignant imputations.”