THE COMPETITIONS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 78, 8 May 1914, Page 6

THE COMPETITIONS.

A STORM OF CONTROVERSY.

REPLIES TO TOUCHSTONE.

When in doubt lead*"trumps—but never trump your partner's trick. —From "The Ark."'

[ [Contributed.] I Christehurch is indeed in the throes I of competitions;, some, people in. Christchurch are also in the throes of com- [ petition. It is so easy to criticise, esipecially when you do»'t sign your | criticism; just push in some rotten, cheap innuendo, fired at those who are daily Before the public, and who are known to everyone who cares to pay 1/to go to the competitions or who cares to read the papers. So easy. It is true that it is better to have played and failed than never to have played at all; but some people do not seem to be able to realise that they have not won. For a man to rush along and say that a gentleman lacks cultivation, that his ideas (of a, kind) are embryonic, and that he, the gentleman who holds the important post of judge of the competitions, is deliberately cheating so as to curry favour with the local people, is pretty hot; and when it is considered that neither party has "the pleasure'' of each other's acquaintance to any extent, the above quoted statement gets warmer still. '' These facts are deducible by any man of taste. . . ." "For the trained-

critic and qualified observer. ..." not difficult to guess .'who the chaste; immaculate, trained critic with all the taste is; though heuis more or less in disguise. His very phrases give him away, he is so versatile that he cannot ait his opinions incognito. Who is He, pray, to rise up •on the horse trough, emulate, the- pouter, and; say to the judge,," IJe. simply does? not know?" How comes it that this connoisseur in literature, temperament, delicacy, subtlety, refinement,- and true' creative ability is jjot taking a part in the^judging of these,, our competitions? Such' would be a nobler part than wandering about endeavouring to dig spurless boots into working people. Any dullard can hunt Webster for loaded adjectives, and many a cutting phrase 1 may be culled from Koget's Thesaurus; such, arrogance" is easy. I saw it first, and I 've got my • gates locked. . '

TOUCHWOOD.

A GUESSING COMPETITION. To. the Editor of THE S.UN. Sir,— May I suggest that you open a guessing the subject being the identity of your contributor, "Touchstone." I would; suggest that you offer a prize of £5 for the correct guess. In order to get a mortgage over the amount I forward herewith my guess—the name of a person who is a Bayard among critics^—chivalrous, fair;--minded, refined in thpught and word, an arbiter on good, and bad. taste, and the last word in critical journalism. The only trouble about itiy "schfeiiie, I is, that there would-i)B too many first prizes.—l am, etc., ■ . TOUCHMUD.

r FEARLESS CRITICISM. To th« Editor of THE SUN. I, Sir,— As an interested reader ,of THE r&UNj.aind a£ One particularly interested in the present competitions, I admire, | and must .congratulate ypuk on your-pubr lieatibq of a contributor's fearless Criticism of aiid I, 'foi: one, woiald be pleased to see other elocution sections evien more fully dealt Wit!?. Only detailed, .unprejudiced (even scourgiiig) criticism will unplaced competitors' of undoubted ability receive encouragement. Nambypamby criticism by-;-a--judge is worse than useless. —I am, etc., . SPARTAN. May 7, i9li.! <

NOT POSSIBLE! To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —I have heard at the Competitions and outside the hall in whieh they are held, very pointed suggestions that the article signed "Touchstone" in THE SUN to-day was written by Mr C. W". Baeyertz, the well-known and powerful eritic. ~I wish, therefore, in public to contradict that impression. Of course, you alone have the secret of the writer's identity, but I, want to point put that the idea of Mr Baeyertz being the author is absurd, lie has the interest of the competitions too keenly at heart to do anything that would give rise to rancour among the .competitors. He is too good a sport to strike at a competitor and a judge —he has been a judge himself—from behind anonymity. He is too fearless to'shield himself from attack by a non de plume. Only a coward would do a thing like that —Mr Baeyertz is not a coward. He is interested in Miss Carey-Wallace's success in the competitions, and that alone would prevent him attacking any one defeating her in such an unsportsmanlike manner. I have admired Mr Baeyertz's fearless and trenchant criticism in his paper, and I cannot refrain from writing in his defence against this imputation. —J am, etc., L.E.T. Riccarton, May 7.

«'A WELL-KNOWN CRITIC." To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —A contributed article which appeared in yesterday's issue of THE SUN, written in the egotistical and bombastic style of a certain wellknown critic, who is popularly supposed to "effuse" with the aid of a much-'bethumbed and always open dictionary at his elbow —to the immense gratification, be it said, of a certain section of the community, which prefer its thoughts ready-made —was most aptly .headed with the following quota-tion:—"So-so" is good, vtery good, very excellent good; and yet it-is not; it is but so-so. To the writer v it seems surprising that a man such as "Touchstone," who naively and modestly confesses that he is the very personification of delicacy, subtlety, refinement, taste, and discernment, should descend to such a cowardly and unprovoked attack pn the elocution adjudicator, Mr J. H. Hopkins. The remarks contained in this article are in such bad taste, and are so obviously written with the intention of boosting one particular competitor, that at first one feels disposed to ldt them pass unchallenged, 1 but 1 iii fairness to our Australian visitor, and incidentally to the Christchurch public, whose sense of fairplay has been questioned, it is only right that some of the statements made by "Touchstone" should be refuted. The assertion that Miss CareyWallace should have secured first place in the Shakespearean recitation is ridiculous. To name one glaring fault. As the Duke, the gestures of this lady rather suggested an intention by her of illustrating the looping of the loop by an aviator. Certainly, her performance in the humorous recitation was a meri-

toriaus and extremely praiseworthy one; it was unfortunate that this competitor met siich a formidable opponent in Miss Saunders. As to the. ability and qualifications of Mr J. IT. Hopklp little need be said, except that he is generally, recognised as holding the premier position in the ranks of Australasian adjudicators. The imputation that Mr Hopkins is a popularityf hunter, who is influenced by the ignorant applause of certain unknowing , s.ouls, and that he is aware that IfiS decisions in favour of the -local product! meet with the : wishes of the public, is as petty as it is libellous. '' Touch-* stone," while """ m'&lcing' 'the' previous' abominable insinuation .anent this 1 year's adjudicator, charitably suggests* .that perhaps after all issimply; ignorant ,of his business., should advise "Touchstone" to obtain, the opinion of the editor of - the "Triad" and. a former Christchurch competitions judge. One would imagine* that Mr < Baeyertz would be somewhat, bitter At his claims being passed overin favour of Mr Hopkins.- \ This,- -Jurnfr ever, is not so, as this gentleman on W number of occasions at the beginning bf v the present contest congratulated seve-i ral competitors (of whom- the writer was one) on being so fortunate in s'e-" curing such • a cultured and splendid adjudicator as Mr J. H. Hopkins.I am, etc., " . COMPETITOR.

SECOND SIGHT. To the Editor of THE SUN. f Sir,—l knew it was coming. When a friend with whom I journeyed into- the city yesterday morning pointed. him ; out* and said, "There he is.: the mountain will be in labour to-day," I knew it was coming. And lo! the mountaiiihas been in labour, and here we have—the mouse.

Sueh an exquisite of taste! Could anyone but "Touchstone" himself have given us anything like it? We.- Christchureh people are dull,lethargic, and devoid of taste,' we know; but then we don't see as much of "Touchstone" as we should like; nor as much 'as Duhedin, for instance, : does. If we could only induee him now to take up; liis abode in 'Our midst, to come into- the boSom of otiV families, and out the abundance of his wisdom to scatter us an occasional pearl,.: there-would then be some hope of our some day developing, not the' Sweet bloom of "Touchstone's" taste —that were too much,, to look for —but some sort of taste,. anyhow. What a gifted person "Touchstone" is, to be sure! All there is to know of art, literature, music, and—everything else —he knows. How ,it comes about ; that New Zealand has not yet discover-, ed his magnificent talents, I cannot comprehend. When it does, as some day it' must, then goodrbye to your Miasseys and your- Wards and the rest. \ Then will the country rise to a man, and exclaim, '' Touchstone, for God's sake, run us!" ' '

And "Touchstone".is a logician, too. Did you not observe how he one, two, threes it? That is the sure sign manual of the logician. He would not suggest that the committee would bring pressure upon Mr: Hopkins to favour the local competitors —-not he. He just takes care to plant his sting firmly and deeply, and then dismisses suggestion No. 1. And herein lie shows himself the true artist, for, "Ars est celare artem," you know, and "Touchstone" does it well.

X hope Mr Hopkins will not despair when he learns that he lacks cultivation. It could scarcely be otherwise since "Touchstone" has it all. Nor, let me hope, will he lose any sleep over this precious communication of '' Touchstone 's.'' Christcliurch won't. It is very good natured towards people oi this kind, remembering charitably that "We call a nettle but a nettle, and the faults of fools but folly."—I am, et °'' RICHARD DOBBIN. 315 -Montreal Street.

To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —That any lady who recited a raw, crude, shallow, and outrageously hackneyed sketch telling how a bad wife a young pudding should earry off the laurels from another lady who recited a delicious satire with a delicate and charming humour seems incomprehensible. '' Touchstone'' has hit the nail on the head. His statistics and percentages as to the exact amount of humour in the audience are most interesting. Furthermore his language is delightful. Any judge, as he says, who is bull-Blind to the allurement of temperament, delicacy, subtlety, refinement, ability, debility, docility, tranquility/ and all those other necessary adjuncts, qualities, attributes, and characteristics of a judge should not be one. —I am, etc., ENOS.

O RIGHTEOUS JUDGE! To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —Such of your readers as have a sense of humour must have chuckled mightily when they read the contributed article by "Touchstone" in last night's SUN. It was the wail of a stricken heart. The sort of wail .which induces inextinguishable laughter.- How Miss Carey-Wallace liked being wailed over in public I don't know, but she gets my sympathy all the same. 1 should imagine that most competitors would want to reward such an admirer as "Touchstone" with a half brick, straightly and forcibly projected at his solar plexus. A more one-eyed appreciation of a competitor, a more soggy depreciation of others, and a more vulgar attack on a judge I have never read. It was a raw, crude, shallow, and'outrageous attempt to browbeat the

judge into seeing Miss Carey-Wallace as the first prizewinner whenever- she steps on to the stage. What are our competitions coming to if this .sort of thing is to be allowed? Most people who feel a partiality for the work of any performer manage to conceal their chagrin when the judge disagrees with them.. It would be intolerable if they rushed into print, at a column a time, to extol their fancy and abuse the judge, The audience, even, does not escape—it is too pigheaded to enjoy subtle humour! Alas that " Touchstone" should be so dead to humour as to write what he did. The public is laughing at him—probably because there was nothing subtle about his effusion. He was too obvious.—l am, etc.,

AUDREY.

THINLY DISGUISED. To the Editor of THE SUN. • Sir, —Some years ago there was a detective who used to '' disguise'' himself by altering the tilt of "his hat. Yesterday there was in Christehurch a "critic" who "disguised" himselfby signing an article "Touchstone.", It would be all quite funny if it were not rather pitiful to think of an elderly, man making a fool of himself—and not drawing pay for the performance. If only the judge would reply now, saying exactly what he thinks of the ' ' critic" the public- might learn the value of each; and for the future refuse to purchase the services of either.—l' am, etc.,

TRIANGLE.

- MIXED FEEIJNGS. To the Editor of THE SUN.

a regular and appreciative: reader of your paper, it was, indeed, with very mixed feelings that I perused * the contributed artiele'in last -eveiiiiig's ' 5 " SUN, which purported to deal eritie&Hy • with the local Competitions, but which was—ais , must, bq apparent—written ; • wftti a very different object. Many. ■ aeapie ;aivait with interest the pulslTca : 1 jtiop .pf THE. SUN in order to obtain a "" faithful account of the.proceedings, But *1 ifeiik I am -quite justified . iU' sayingwill Jftin" me ■' iii-r the* -.regMffciV your an :opett.fieEl opinion, you have-allowed to be prostituted . by' an" Op&iiy .bitter and cowardly personal: attack upon one' of the judges. - Bitter* "* Shaybe,! because it is obviously the wail - v of ia disappointed aspirant for judicial.. honour^—and the accompanyingemoluments. Obvious, too, 1 because the writer has • made no effort- to conceal that' 'grandiose styles *whieh has, /in the past, caused qiiite a lot of amusement-' ' those who have ehaneed to come across a copy- of one of the dominion's few magazine publications. —-I am, etc., ' " ' ' "NAINSOOK."

GRATIUTOTJSLY INSULTING. To the Editor of THE STJN. • Sir, —With respect io the Competr- % tions article in yesterday's SUN—a ; graceless- effusion, gratuitously, insult-- ' .»• '•?-> ing, and jaloquently suggestive of ; those > qualitieSf go to sjiake up thesbal-.; J lowly-cultured critic (who • can be sueh ; . a,. 4 Jboiihdfer")— I wish to' enter a pro- : ' H< 'test; and- at the same .time express the that there is but. one fellow<? in -.r ■;New!)Zealand who v could ■be capable, of f aich an offence against Mopt < decent people have run across him one ; > time or another—he takes fine ..care , not to be overlooked in the .little world ..he so despises. Probably this article- is one of Jtiis little ways of advertising himr , self—fce • is. a ttterary - '- .of ; ; j some tonnage- ■' .-.I, 1 - . v : > ,u- ---. sneer at the ,me to ask ,If, it ; is-oiot a fact,.(if iny"' .. surmise is t correct).: that this person: (I, ", J ' . enclose his name-r-he is his own advance .. agent) • is , not particularly. intent-" ." I ,'. Ed in the work, of .. the. ypung. ' woman on whose behalf he has taken up ctidgels? - ; V Sir,.- 4 ' Touchstone.''... offends me gnev-; / Vusly, with his mixed metaphor (that ■ "'embryonic sence of humour . . . he will Isdt : bleed, when prieked with genuine., ..." humour") and with his ethics. The. latter " are reminiscent- of a London 'bus driver • e who has been raised to the peerage. Have I made myself clear! —I am, etc., TOUCH NPTHING. ;