BY THE WAY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20280, 14 April 1934, Page 9

BY THE WAY.

Some Collections and Reflections. BY ONE OF THE BOYS. General O’Duffy says the election will be decisive victory for his 100,000 Blue Shirts. If there’s any betting he’ll have plenty of shirts to put on. It looks as though those college students should study to be naturalists. One of them threw a kitten on a stage and thought it was a lark. They would not let the lecturere from India, Krishnamurti, be broadcast from YA stations. And this in spite of the plebiscite of the listeners that they preferred banned items. Mr Bernard Shaw has announced to the world that he is a Communist. Mr Fournier is going to burn his red tie. !*# tr* Mr T. H. Foster presided at the annual meeting of the Navy League. Their watchword is: “Foster a bigger navy.” Unfortunately they have but one Canon. A woman up north was brought before the court for allowing herself to be wrestled for a kiss. Christchurch girls are safe. At the recent exhibition of paintings at the Art Gallery it cost five hundred pounds to frame the collection and three hundred pounds’ worth was sold. Yesterday there arrived from England a collection of 250 paintings. This is no joke. * The Nazis insist that all letters shall conclude, “Hail Hitler.” Why “hail”? Would it not be better to vary it w-ith “Hitler Rains”? The Socialists could write: ‘ Snow good, Hitler,” and “He Would Not Be Mist, Hitler.” Our local shopkeeper agrees with Bernard Shaw that Communism is a good thing. The only difference is that Bernard Shaw believes in communism in milk and bread and not in play and book copyrights, while he believes in communism of books and plays and not in milk and bread. We cannot understand Shaw’s idea that we are Communistic. He cannot refer to the St John Free Ambulance because that cannot be Communistic with Sir Heaton Rhodes at the head of it. Nor free dental service in the schools, or Government broadcasting, for Gordon Coates is running them. Surely he does not refer to Plunket Society work, for that was founded by Lady Plunket. What on earth does he refer to? " You are an old West Christchurch Old Boy?” I said to Ham last night. “ I am,” Ham replied, “ and I will be there at the jubilee. Are Ambrose, Rowley, the Kennedy’s and Peter Menzies still living? I dunno. If they are I forgive ’em. How we get older and find that the ambitions of our youth remain unfulfilled. One of my great dreams was to blow up the school. It is still there. Toney Foster used to wear a long-tailed coat and he carried a strap in the tail pocket. Each master had a cane and could use it. Ah, me! They were to be boiled in oil. That was in my kinder moments. In my worse I had something more lingering.” There must have been happy times, though,” I suggested. Ham’s face softened. “ Maybe,” he #aid. “ Gee! There was that old chap that kept the shop. It used to make him mad when we rattled a stick along his tin fence. And there w r as an orchard along the school lane. Who do you think got the fruit? There was the boy who came to school in curls and another one who could dislocate his thumbs and still another who would eat a bit of coal for a penny. I spent a bob on him once because some liar told me he would have a fit if he ate twelve lumps. Oh, yes, we had some good times at the school.” We were not present when the delegates from different suburbs met the Christchurch Beautifying Association, but we know a man who had a friend there. He said the meeting was a great success. Mr Jackson, speaking for the St Martins-llillsborough Burgesses, said his suburb was probably the most beautiful in Christchurch. He would not depreciate other suburbs as people who have glasshouses do not throw- stones. The one flaw was the black slime in the lower reaches of the Heathcote. He asked the parent body if a few crocodiles could be imported. He thought they would look appropriate. Mr E. L. Hill, speaking for the Woolston Ratepayers’ Association, said that although the land was low-lying the air was the highest in New Zea- i land. He would like some humming birds to go with it. This brought Mr Taylor, of the Richmond Burgesses, to his feet. Hf challenged the Woolston smell to compare with one on the North Parade. Had the Woolston smell anything of a cabbage flavour? Mr Hill admitted that it had every other except the cabbage one. Mr Cartwright of the Diamond Harbour Improvement Society said Diamond Harbour was appropriately named. It was full of gems. A pearl set in a sapphire sea with an amethyst sky. Mr Sturrock, of the Papanui Beautifying Association, jumped to his feet. lie said Papanui’s rose garden -was so beautiful that Papanui husbands returning from festive gatherings always visited the rose garden on their way home. It was so beautiful it took their breath away. The Sumner Beautifying Association delegate, Mr Bassett, said that the beautifying society members had always taken off their coats and worked in the reserves. The blue and pink shirts with lavender and purple braces was the most beautiful sight in the borough. The New Brighton delegate said his suburb was full of beauties. They, too, held beauty competitions. Some of the Roses, Daisys, Violets and Daphnes were wonderful. Mr Prouting, of the St Albans Burgesses, said there was no need for a beautifying society in St Albans. The suburb had more aphidistras than any other place in the world. The chairman (Mr R. B. Owen) thanked the delegates for attending. He said their remarks endorsed his own that there should be a weir at the Antigua boat sheds and that the Boulevade scheme was a noble one He thanked them for their support.