The Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18381, 6 February 1928, Page 8

The Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

'C'RANCE has completed the lawn tennis conquest of the ■*" globe. On Saturday, the players from Paris won both the singles championship and the doubles championship of Australia, so furnishing conclusive proof, if any were needed, of the team’s amazing proficiency and superiority in a pastime that numbers its devotees by the hundred thousand and has no boundary of country, class, or creed. Two of the men chosen to represent Australia this year in the Davis Cup contest, H. Hopman and .1. Crawford, were defeated by Jean Borotra. According to a cable message to-day, he showed wonderful speed, and volleyed and smashed perfectly. Australia may have ground for consolation in the fact that her first man, Gerald Patterson, is not yet numbered among the fallen. However, lie will be available for the tournament beginning in Melbourne this week, and, should the two meet, the match will be worth travelling hundreds of miles to see. Patterson has something to wipe out—the memory of a decisive defeat at the hands of Borotra when France and Australia fought a Davis Cup fixture three years ago. REFRESHED ill mind and body after his annual holiday, the Mayor has returned to Christchurch with an expressed determination to put additional vim and vigour into civic administration. We wish him a prosperous and profitable year. Perhaps it would not be out of place at this stage to suggest a few directions in which Mr Archer might with advantage employ his abundant energy for the benefit of the citizens: — Ending the chaotic state of traffic, control in the city and particuf larly congestion in the inner areas. Coping with a dust nuisance that is a growing menace to health. A better system of street watering is badly needed. Provision of women’s rest rooms in a place where they will not disfigure Cathedral Square. Putting into operation an up-to-date roading policy without delay. Abatement of street noise at night. A little supervision and cooperation would work wonders. Wider application of the principles of town-planning to prevent eye-sores in residential areas. If lwo-tliirds even of that programme were successfully carried out by the Labour Council in the next twelve months the people of Christchurch would, we feel sure, be distinctly grateful to Mr Archer and his friends. 1928, at least, would not end as 1927 ended, with a feeling of profound disappointment at the failure of municipal administration. GABLED DESCRIPTIONS of the impressive scenes in London at the funeral of Earl Haig show how widely the dead Field-Marshal was loved and esteemed. Representatives of the great nations of Europe, princes, diplomats, statesmen, admirals and generals gathered to pay a last tribute to one whose name will shine with lustre in the annals of four terrible years; but those famous figures did not mourn alone. Men and women of every class grieved at Ihc passing of a famous soldier, a true gentleman, and a liigh-souled patriot. Over a million people, it is stated, watched the pageant of poignant memories leave St Columba’s Church for Westminster Abbey. Elsewhere, despite the piercing cold, the route was lined with immense crowds. In Edinburgh similar scenes were witnessed. A sentence from a prayer at the family service gives one outstanding reason for this universal tribute: “Finally, we praise Thee for his constant remembrance of those stricken in the war, for whom he laboured to the last hour, sparing not himself, but ever mindful of them.” All over the British Empire, in hamlets as well as in cities, Earl Haig's unselfish labours on behalf of the demobilised soldier won for him a more abiding place in the hearts of the people than any victory in any war could ever have done. Truly it can be said that his end was swift but his memory will live and grow with the years.