People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 366, 7 March 1932, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

Agua Caliente is the Home of Gambling in Mexico : The Delights of Tramping on Banks Peninsula : An Oft TA nrm rl W/ rtf OP fl/f/ Ch) P. TTT P. .

JpOR twenty years now a certain Maori village in Canterbury has been sadly in need of an improved water supply—just a little matter of £3O and the creek in the next valley would have been diverted and the work done. Frequently the water pipe fund has almost been fully subscribed, but other causes have cropped up and eaten into the water account. When the matter was first mooted, agreement was difficult, but much oratory won the day. Scouts were sent out and the pakeha farmers roundabout contributed £2O. That was enough effort for the time being. The Maoris, well satisfied, tucked the money away as a nest egg, looked at the creek triumphantly—and went on carting water. Then came the war and farewells to young men of the tribe. The fund dwindled to £lO. A few months ago, the drought was bad and a bold call rang out for action. Why not have a bazaar, a big bazaar, raffles, babies, bran-dip, everything? The bazaar was. a red-hot success. Now the water trust account was fatter than ever before—£3o nicely entered and audited, and the wahines clamoured for action. They almost got it, too. But a tangi at the other end of the province, the village must be represented, and the Maori have no money. Ah! That £3O waiting in the Savings Bank. Out it came, and the honour and glory of the tribe was upheld. So to-day the creek still runs free to the sea and the wahines mutter every washing day. W W people say to me,” said Sir Francis Wylie, a former secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust, in an interview at Melbourne. “ ‘ How many Prime Ministers has the scholarship produced?’ That is absurd. I am prepared to say that, in my view, the scholarships are doing the kind of work which Cecil Rhodes hoped they would do. I do not mean in the sense that they are turning out a number of men who, as yet, have reached positions of importance in public life, but in the sense that the}' are sending back to different parts of the world from which Rhodes scholars come—whether it be the British Dominions or the United States—a number of men whose sympathies have been broadened and whose outlook on affairs is wider. “ And that fact is not one-sided only,” Sir Francis added. “ There is no doubt that the outlook of Oxford itself is wider than it was before Rhodes scholars began to arrive.” W $P ® WELLINGTON resident who has been spending an open-air holiday tramping and cruising in out-of-the-way corners of Banks Peninsula, writes:—“l am sure few Christchurch people know what delightful places there are in the little bays across the harbour, anywhere between the heads and Akaroa. I Called at ’ one particular spot and stayed for a wdek. For swimming, fishing and sunbathing, it equalled anything you can find in the Marlborough Sounds, and as a diversion there were beautiful walks to other inlets. The mornings were a revelation —first the sun gleams on the hill tops, then creeps down the valleys illuminating homesteads, patches of bush, green paddocks and winding roads. Slowly it steals across the sea, turning a grey, steely expanse into a symphony of dancing blue and gold. Banks Peninsula is one of Canterbury's gems.”

AGUA CALIENTE will be a centre of wild excitement when Phar Lap races there on Sunday, March 20. But that is nothing unusual* It is the exotic home of gambling in Mexico. A few hours’ run across the Mexican border from Los Angeles, Agua Caliente has but one reason for its existence —unrestricted gambling, accompanied by unrestricted drink! For here, within easy reach of the United States, is one of the most lavish casino-cum - racecourses-cum-pleasure resorts of the world. Gambling at Agua Caliente is carried

on wiin xne n a un, as they say, for here gather rich and poor, old and young, men and women, Mexican peons and American business men—all intent on a flutter, whether it be at the roulette tables, or on the tote, or with the bookies. Agua Caliente is not merely a racing centre. Racing is but a part of the general scheme, which comprises a luxury hotel, swimming pools, golf courses, long cocktail bars, pigeon shooting and anything else likely to attract people with money to burn or anyone at all with money. W W TTS STRATEGIC LOCATION, within easy reach of the United States border, explains the existence of Agua Caliente, for here the American citizen, debarred by the laws of his country from indulging in his favourite vice or vices, may “ go the pace ” with no hampering restrictions deter him. The grandstand overlooking tne racecourse is a glorious example of such architecture; the casino, with its beautifully laid out lawns, is open throughout the day and night; the magnificent hotel contains a ballroom where one may dance through the hours, and, on the outskirts, are the swimming pools, golf links, and spa, where the satiated gambler may for the nonce recover his verve and his luck.

It is characteristic of Agua Caliente, by the way, that the race will be run on the Sabbath, for Sunday is the busy day, the climax of the week-end—a long enough period to enable the citizen from across the border to “ take a run over ” and be back in his office on Monday morning. Not that the passage across the border is easy, for it is guarded by both Mexican and U.S. police, and after dark it is nominally closed. Nevertheless, if one arrives at the border after closing hours; the obliging guards, for a consideration, have been known to guide the late traveller to a

hole in the wall ” through which he may continue his journey to this City of Pleasure.

'J'HEY are not all poor in England. Early last month, one of the finest jewels in the world was sold to a London woman for £40,000. The merchant who sold it was Mr William Ogden, of King Street, St James, who said that the diamond originally belonged to an Indian rajah. “It is one of the most beautiful stones I have ever seen,” he said. “ There are only a few of its perfection in existence; it may be likened in its value to a Rembrandt. There is nothing surprising that a purchaser has been found for it in London. Perfect gems are so rare that they are sought after like great masterpieces of art.” This high-priced gem is a blue-white diamond weighing fifty carats and measuring an inch in diameter.

'T'HE CARILLON TOWER in Wellington has been relieved of its upper scaffolding, and now stands out as a striking feature of the landscape. It is situated on Mount Cook (a very diminutive namesake of the mighty Cloud Piercer), and is therefore well in the range of vision of residents from the Basin Reserve to Thorndon and Wadestown. The principal column is of grey concrete and it has not the elevated beauty that it would possess if it were built of white marble. The tower was to be part of a general scheme which embraced a museum and art gallery in the background, but it is unlikely that the scheme will be proceeded with until the financial weather clears. An English carillomst, Mr A H Townsend, of Croydon, has airived to hang the bells, and it is expected that their first official peal will be giv en on Anzac Day. 9 9 9 COME REMARKABLE REFLECTIONS ° on husbands and wives were contained in the summing up of Mr Justice M Cardie in a recent London case, in which a grocef's assistant alleged that his wife had been enticed away by another man. The judge described the case as an “ illustration of one of the few remaining degradations that rest on a wife in England, because she is put on just the same footing, whatever her position in life is, as the boot boy or the kitchenmaid. Just as a man can bring an action,” said the judge, for enticing away his labourer or his maidservant, so he can, if the facts justify it, bring an action for enticing away his wife. By English law the wife is permitted to leave her husband if she so desires. For the last fifty vears the position of a married woman in this country has changed in an extraordinarv manner, both by statute and by decision. I must tell you that a womans body does not belong to the husband. It is her own property; it is not his. A woman can leave her husband by her own will. She may choose her own occupation. She mav take her own political party. She may profess her own separate religious creed She mav decide whether she will bear children or not. and she may decide when each child shall be born. To sum up the position in words which I hope will make it plain—it is enough to say that no man to-day can make himself the owner of a woman under the guise of a marriage service. The married woman in this country has gained her freedom. She is a citizen, and not a serf. She can exercise her own judgment. She can choose her own part. She can decide her own future. SjS <fjp sjl? CIXTY YEARS AGO (from the "Star” ° of March 7, 1872) Northern Railway.—The Hon Resident Minister invites tenders for the construction and erection of station buildings and platform at Kaiapoi. The Ileathcote Swing Bridge.—The road board have decided to lease this bridge instead of hiring a man to take charge of it as heretofore, but a movement is on foot to have the tolls abolished. 'The net gain to the board is very small, and instead of the being derived chiefly from excursionists to Sumner, as generally reported, it is averred that considerably more than one-third of the gross receipts comes out of the pockets of eight or ten ratepayers.