People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20274, 7 April 1934, Page 12

People and Their Doings.

The Sydney “ Bulletin ” has a Subtle Thrust at Mr G. B. Shaw About His Advice to New Zealanders : Nearly All Japans Leaders Spring from the Ranks of the Humble.

to Mr Shaw’s statement that New Zealand must not thrust her butter down Britain’s throat, but when she finds she is producing more than she can consume she must produce something else, the Sydney “ Bulletin.” in a subtle thrust at the playwright himself, says:— “ The ultimate aim, of course, will be to follow the Shaw Plan through to its final objective, when every individual is completely self-sufficing, the slogan being ‘ Every man his own general provider.’ We shall then see every man painting his own pictures on canvas woven on his own loom (manufactured by himself from his own materials), with brushes of camel hair from his own dromedary, and composing his own music, and playing it on home-made instruments of his own design for his own delectation. “ Art exhibitions, professional musicians and opera houses will be no more. And, of course, the theatre will be a thing of the past when every man writes, produces and appears in his own plays, written for his own private enjoyment, and reads his own prefaces explaining to himself why he wrote the plays. “ But, of course, it will be difficult to change human nature altogether, and when he reaches the age of Mr Shaw each man will probably still produce his own nostrum for the betterment of the other man’s world.” JVJAJOR LAGUARDIA, Mayor of New York, who has announced his intention to administer civic affairs on a non-partisan basis, is faced with clearing up the results of sixteen years of graft and waste under the Tammany rule, but during his public career he has demonstrated his honesty, courage and ability. He was born in New York of Italian parentage. During his first period as a member of the national

House of Representatives, his service was interrupted for two years, while he took the office of, President of the New York City Board of Aldermen. Returning to Congress later, LaGuardia won a reputation as one of the most independent and useful members of the House. Although nominally a Republican, his party ties have always been loose, and in 1924, because of a temporary break with his party leaders, he was denied renomination by the Republicans, but was elected as the candidate of the Socialist and Farmer-Labour Parties. si? si? JN PAYING A TRIBUTE to Dr James Mackintosh Bell, whose death has occurred in Canada, Dr Henderson, Director of the New Zealand Geological Survey, says that Dr Bell was director in New Zealand from 1905 to 1911, and he introduced the detailed methods of geological mapping that had proved so useful in America, and that had yielded excellent results in this country. Geologists on the staff of the reorganised survey included the late Mr P. G. Morgan, Mr Colin Fraser, now of Melbourne, Professor E. de C. Clarke, of Perth, Professor J. A. Bartrum, of Auckland, Mr J. H. Adams, of Thames, and the late Dr E. H. J. Webb. Among the topographers were Dr C. E. Adams, the late Mr R. P. Greville, Mr K. M. Graham, now Commissioner of Lands, Auckland, Colonel H. S. Whitehorn, and Messrs A. J. Whitehorn and F. FultonWood. The draughtsmen were Messrs R. J. Crawford, G„ E. Harris and O. A. Darby. During Dr Bell’s six years’ residence in New Zealand he carried out important geological work in the Hokitika, Parapara, Nelson and Waihi districts, especially the last mentioned. In addition, he explored the Landsborough Valley, and made extensive reconnaissance investigations in the then little-known Heaphy, Mokau and Urewera regions.

TAPAN TO-DAY presents the pheno- ** menon of a staunchly monarchist country with its leadership drawn chiefly from the ranks of the humble, says Sterling Fisher, jun., in “ Current History.” Of the six or seven more men who now dominate the scene, only one—Prince Kimmochi Saionji, the Elder Statesman—was born an aristocrat. The others are self-made men. Premier Makoto Saito, son of a retainer of a feudal lord, was once a page in a Government office. General Sadao Araki, the War Minister, began at a little soya bean sauce factory. The Finance Minister, Viscount Korekiyo Takahashi, born of a poor court artist and a parlour maid, first worked as a cup-bearer at a Buddist temple and then as an indentured farm labourer in California—a job that was little better than slavery. A poor stone cutter was the father of Koki Hirota, Foreign Minister, while Mitsuru Toyama, the leader of the most notorious of the reactionary ronin bands, was still poorer, and had to accept assistance from Hirota’s family.

& ’ 35 GIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” ° of April 7, 1874): Accident. —A serious accident happened this morning to a man named Robert M’Pheeley, a wool lumper, employed on board the ship Ocean Mail. He was engaged stowing and got jammed between two bales. He was conveyed ashore, and Dr Macdonald attended, and found that he had received severe injuries to his spine (the lower limbs being paralysed), and ordered his removal to Christchurch Hospital. Flood at Kaiapoi.—The Waimakariri was higher in fresh yesterday than it was ever known to be. It began .to rise at noon and continued till about 11 p.m., when it gradually subsided. The railway line is washed away for about a mile and a half, between Chaney’s and the railway bridge. The bridge is not damaged. The mails were brought up to-day on a trolly. All the stores alongside the riverside are flooded.