THE PASSING SHOW.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15353, 29 September 1923, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE PASSING SHOW.

COMMENT AND CRITICISM, (By “Free Lance.”) Our fame has gone out Into all lands. “I knew such things occurred in Hamilton, but I thought Timaru was beyond them,” said a doctor as the wheels of his car sank to the axles at one of the street intersections. At least that is what the Timaru Post says the doctor said. Taihoa, Timaru; when our latest reading loan has been spent we’ll talk to you. For the moment, however, silence is golden. Anyhow everyone knows that the main cause of Hamilton’s trouble is that reading has not kept pace with the town’s phenomenal growth during the past few years. * * * * V

If the law isn’t always “a hass,” some of its provisions occasionally strike the layman as bordering upon the ridiculous. At Blenheim the other day the Magistrate was unablo to deal with the case of a woman, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing a fur, because proceedings had not been commenced within twelve months;, of the alleged theft. The Magistrate himself commented upon the absurdity of this provision. He had, he said, no alternative but to send the case to the Supreme Court at Blenheim, where possibly it would be the only ease, but none the less would Involve the calling of a grand jury, a common jury and all the witnesses again. * * * * *

A prosecution under the Arms Act which took place at Pukekohe the other day was even more quaint. A man had bought a rifle from the Trading Company, and duly registered it in accordance with the Act. When he tried to use it he found it would not Are and therefore returned it to the Company, at the same time informing the police and returning the registration permit. Nevertheless he was charged with delivering the firearm to a person (the manager of the Company) not entitled to obtain same, and the Company was charged with ’obtaining a firearm otherwise than in pursuance of a permit issued in that behalf by an authorised officer of the police. *** , • •

As might have been expected the Magistrate did not view the case seriously, and merely ordered each defendant to pay 7s costs. But what a bother about practically nothing. The original purchaser protested in Court that the rifle was not a firearm, and, on the Magistrate asking why not, replied: “Because it wouldn’t Are” Stout fellow I Quite an excellent reason in commonsenso though it didn’t hold water in law. *****

A distinguished personage, speaking at a school prize-giving ceremony in' England, a month or two ago, created somewhat of a sensation by saying that he believed the “loafer” to be the sheet anchor of every public school. In the mind of the average boy or man the picture called up by the word “loafer” would be that of a hopeless slacker, no good at work, games, or anything else, and, as such quite beyond possibility as a sheet anchor for anything, inanimate or animate, except perhaps vermin. Fortunately, however, the speaker went on to define his loafer more exactly. *****

The boy he had in mind, he explained, was one who had a great variety of interests, as for instance Martin, the naturalist, In “Tom Brown’s Schooldays," a book many of us have read with much enpoyment In our youth. The point the distinguished personage wished to make was that work and games are organised to such an extent in the public schools of today that boys have no scope for developing the variety of interests which they should have. Their minds and time are too much taken up by the orderly sequence of events, and he therefore advocated greater opportunites for , idleness, not for idleness alone but for the development of spontaneous habits of Industry based on interest. Thus defined the term “loafer” becomes far less opprobrious. * * » * *

Without a doubt the person with a variety of interests is the happiest; and equally without doubt many games nowadays are so highly organised as to have passed practically from the realm of sport to that of business, to the disadvantage of many who would engage in different pastimes for love of the games, but who have not., perhaps the time or means to specialise therein to the requisite extent, and must accordingly content themselves as lookers on at the deeds of those who have. However, there is at least one shining exception to this more or less universal rule in regard to games. The necessary implements are a bag of clubs, a small white ball, and a subscription comparatively smair in relation to the fountain of emotional wealth to he tapped thereby. Need one particularise further? Stars there be of the “plus four” magnitude, and others of the “28” dimension, but to each and all in season cometh the caress of successful achievement and the touch of chill calamity. In the “28” division calamity is more frequent than caress. Which is why the "twenty-eighter’s" chest swells more at knocking five off his usual 120 than the “plus four cr’s” does when he finishes half a dozen up on “the Colonel.” The moral of all this is that every person ought to have some hobby outside their own particular business. If they haven’t they will probably die of boredom in a few months after retiring from active work. *****

The Wanganui Competitions committee was recently presented with a claim for £2 damages by a Maori, who, while attending a session of the competitions last year, grievously rent his trousers upon a tack protruding from a seat, with the result that he had to sit where he was until the performance had concluded and the remainder of the audience had left. The committee, while sympathetic, could not see its way to pay compensation, and finally the Maori agreed to abandon his contemplated legal action. As a solatium the committee presented him with a ticket for the coming competitions. In other words a prominently parted pair of pants were partially patched with printed pasteboard. *****

New York’s great department stores found their sale rooms comparatively deserted while the shortage nf newspapers duo to the pressman s sirike was on. No oilier advertising medium commanded so many customera. Verb..fap._ ~ —-