Tie Passing Show.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17840, 12 October 1929, Page 13 (Supplement)

Tie Passing Show.

'By “Free Lance.",;

HAMILTON seems to have a better '.public spirit than new arrivals from other parts will sometimes give us credit for. Of recent years there have been several gifts from the living and bequests from the dead to make conditions in the town better. The latest indication of this public spirit is the gift by Dr. Brewis and family of an area of land on the banks of the Waikato River, to be turned into a public park. The area is eminently suited for the purpose, and its beautification will tend to make the environs of the river, which are the envy of visitors and our pride, even more attractive. Can anything be more useful than to provide these open spaces, where the people of the town, under delightful conditions, can seek relaxation from business cares, and have their aesthetic tastes developed. The desire of the donors that the administration of the land shall be delegated to the Beautifying Society will he widely supported. The excellence of the Society’s work is generally recognised, and in its hands the public will rest assured that the land will be laid out to the best advantage. * * * ■» * The American cable man is not leaving much for the imagination of his readers to fill up in conection with the visit of the British Prime Minister, Mr Ramsay MacDonald. The description of the visit to White House was a gem. The Prime Minister was closely followed from the Green Room to the Blue Room, to the Red Room, thence to the Embassy. The fact that Mr MacDonald got up one morning at a somewhat early hour for a walk on the lawn at White House; that after breakfast President Hoovgr went to his ofilce, and that the Secretary of State joined him there for the transaction of the country's business was also duly put on record. This sort of journalism may appeal to the average American but it makes no appeal to the New Zealander, who dubs it piffle and snobbery. The worst feature of the business is that the wire charges have to lie met by long-suffering newspaper proprietors. The cable man evidently works on the principle that the more words lie can send the better; the readers would much prefer less quantity and better quality.

Comment and Criticism.

Whatever the effect of the blue room, th» green room and the red room may be, the world looks on hopefully at the meetings of MacDonald and Hoover. Mr MacDonald was a pacifist even during the war, so much so that he was regarded as a dangerous person. People who won’t kill are terribly dangerous. Mr Hoover stoutly denies that he has any pacifist beliefs, but his relief work in Belgium during the war and throughout Europe in the years of starvation following the armistice convinced people that he had a big international outlook, and the fact that he is, like his forbears, a Quaker, is borne in mind by his friends and his opponents alike. He can hardly be ignorant of the great experiment of William Penn and his band of Colonists who went to live among the Indians, took no arms, built no blockhouses and left their doors unbolted at a time when most of the settlers were living in continual terror and frequent conflict with the Redmen. How disarmament and fair treatment on that occasion proved an infinitely better protection than all the overwhelming superiority of the white people’s fighting forces and firearms is worth calling to mind. * # * * Little Denmark seems likely to con)e;very near to repeating William Penns experiment. The Socialist Government, which was returned to power recently after an election that turned chiefly on the disarmament issue, is asking its Parliament to reduce fighting forces to an “army" of 1600 men, to abolish compulsory service and to transform the navy into a coastguard service. Of course, Denmark is a small nation. It seems as though a nation, if it is small and weak enough, can afford to be fearless and to throw away its weapons. 9'* * * * Those tennis players who find it difficult to get past the “rabbit" stage may be interested to learn that according to a Southern exchange a lady of fifty, who has never played tennis, has stated her intention of taking a course under the Canterbury Association’s coaching scheme. Mayhe there is hope for all 1 ■ * * * * * The tenth year of matrimony is the most dangerous, according to an analysis in the British Registrar-General’s report on divorce. Formerly the eighth year was considered the riskiest. Is it that husbands arc getting better —or wives, more longsuffering?