JOTTINGS BY THE WAY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3750, 1 May 1936, Page 11

JOTTINGS BY THE WAY

CASUAL COMMENT. NEWS AND NOTES FROM EVERYWHERE. (By lan Rosach.) Many popular fallacies are daily being shattered, or to be correct are receiving fresh evidences of their smashing. In offering congratulations to Miss June Howden, the winner of the aviation scholarship at the Rukuhia Aerodrome, and to Miss Turner, of Tauranga, on being a runner-up, one can say that they have given convincing proof of the fallacy of believing that the fair sex are the weaker, physically or mentally, .is some of my sex are. Their succors is all the more pronounced when oue learn 3 that the standard of all the finalists was of a very high standard. The unsuccessful ones also attained distinction by being picked from so many entrants, and it is gratifying to know that they acted up to the bett standards of the Knights of the Round Table and Sir Walter Raleigh by carrying the winner shoulder high after the results were made known on Monday. Here’s wishing the winner and all others engaged in learning to “fly” many happy flying hours.

The Minister of Education in New ■South Wales recently proposed the establishment of a special course in aviation in all Australian secondary schools. Mr Drummond's plan was to increase greatly the efficiency and scope of advanced instruction in aircraft design and construction at technical colleges, and to set up a diploma course in air navigation. The Air Force were to be asked to assist by lending their members as lecturers and instructors. The views of a number of headmasters of New Zealand secondary schools seemed to indicate general approval of a similar scheme in the Dominion in keeping with the somewhat restricted needs of our country in education. The Hamilton Technical College has had a marked success in that direction, for, I believe, four or five boys have proceeded to England to join the Royal Air Force in various capacities. John Masefield, the famous ' poet, wrote “Sea Fever,” known to practically every schoolboy, but its equivalent in reference to air-mindedness has not yet been written, ft is somewhat strange that the joys of winging aloft in a machine equipped with beautifully high powered machines have not attracted the attention of the major poets.

“It Can’t Happen Here,” the story of the rise to power of an American dictator, by Sinclair Lewis, is an outstanding book. It depicts very strikingly what would happen if a dictator should arise and rhe wholesale shootings of those who dared question the workings of the dictator machine are enough to shake America where shootings seem to be fairly frequent, into a sense of realising the danger of allowing such a person to rise to power.

While not suggesting that Mr Savage has any such designs, it is interesting to note that several planks of the dictator in the novel mentioned reveal similarity to those of the Labour Government. All finance in America, including banking, stocks, bonds, mortgages, etc., should be under the absolute control of the Federal Central Bank for the profit of the whole of the people; the ownership of all oil fields, mines, public utilities, and transport to be vested absolutely in the State. Other proposals were the limiting of all net incomes to £5OO a year, with a drastic .limitation on accumulated fortunes and a heavy taxation of all profits made out of the Great Wan ***** This week’s classic example of ihe truth of the old saying, “The mighty oak from the acorn springs,” is the statement that thirty men have made a start on the East Coast railway. ***** The average man who has to slave every morning, especially these somewhat chilly ones, will feel a degree of sympathy in keeping with the toughness of his sprouting whiskers, with the prisoners in Mount Eden who went on “strike” on Anzac Day. A holiday is not a real dinkum one if one has to shave and don collar and tie; perhaps that was the way in which the men in question viewed it. The “strike” also opens up great possibilities. Will the dispute be referred to the Conciliation Council and then to the Arbitration Courts as set forth by Mr Armstrong. If the prisoners form a union there should be no difficulty in enforcing the compulsory clauses of the award. They' should be well used to that aspect of life. And finally I thought that the advent of Mr Savage and his Government meant the advent of the new heaven oh earth; apparently all do not think so. Once again there is disillusionment “On the rooks,” read a headline in jny paper. Not news, surely, to quite a number of readers. The real news would be in telling us how to get off the rocks. Judging by the way in which Mr Charles Farrell, the film actor, was mobbed on the Frankton railway station on Tuesday night there is no need for that gentleman to ogle . the girls or say “Chase me girls,” for they did the latter most effectively. He was immediately surrounded by a crowd of excited feminines, who eagerly sought the actor’s autograph. Mere scraps of paper, likely to be cast aside within a few hours of being embellished with the signature, novels and autograph books were poked at Mr Farrell. In the end it became necessary for the visitor to lock himself in his sleeping compartment. Our American friend is no doubt estimable in every way, but what has he done to benefit humanity? I venture to say that if one of our great scientists, writers of statesmen (not our New Zealand product, thank you) were to be passing through very little notice would be taken. We certainly have some queer ideas as to the rela-

tiVe merits of persons and things generally. ***** To the serious autograph collector, the possession of a scrap of paper with a name hastily scrawled in pencil means nothing. Those persons who in the excitement of the moment besiege a celebrity for his signature, render ill service to the genuine collector. “Gee, I have signed about 40,000 autographs in Hamilton,” laughingly said Mr Farrell on the Frankton railway station. I remember approaching Mr Wilhelm Backhaus, the famous pianist, foi his autograph when he was surrounded by others such as besieged the American actor; he glanced at my book and advised me to give it to him when he would give me something worth while. The result is that to-day in my book there is a page containing an excerpt from a Chopin melody above the signature of the great exponent of Chopin. The illustration shows the, difference mention ed earlier in this paragraph.

Thought for the week: “No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another." Sir Thomas Browne, in Religio Medici.