After Dinner Gossip and Echoes of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue III, 18 July 1903, Page 160

After Dinner Gossip and Echoes of the Week.

Public versus Private Gambling:. No one who makes any study of the graver and more thoughtful articles in the English weekly, and even daily press, can have failed to notice the amount of

space recently devoted to serious animadversions on the extraordinary hold which cards in general, and bridge in particular, are beginning to exercise on the upper and middle classes of English society. The “Spectator” under the heading of “The Tyranny of Bridge,” and the “Express” under that of the “Curse of Bridge,” draw most unpleasant pictures of the financial and moral ruin being wrought broadcast by a game which two years’ since was practically unknown. It’ one-eighth of what these articles asseverate, is truth, the gambling fever in England has reached a dangerous pitch indeed, and yet, save by moral suasion one does not see exactly how it is to be mended or ended. How could ■the law deal with private gambling in private houses, it would be to all intents impossible! This naturally brings two thoughts to one’s mind, first, whether bridge or any other card gambling game has any hold on society in New’ Zealand - and secondly, since people will apparently gamble, if it is not better to have a craze for tote-betting, which can be regulated and even suppressed, rather than private house gambling, which could not -be regulated in the smallest degree, and which it would be utterly impossible to suppress. Gambling on cards is not, I believe, a New Zealand vice. A little “nap” at very •trifling stakes amongst, our women folk there may be and no doubt a certain amount of poker and bridge amongst men, but high stakes are practically unknown, ami cards as a means for gambling have no fascination foranj class orgrade of society. The worst feature of the card craze at Home would appear to be that women and unmarried girls lose such sums to men as they are utterly unable to pay, ami thus place themselves in the power of those specious and polished "scoundrels, of whom there are all too many in society. Now at all events, the girl who gambles on the “tote” avoids this danger. When her money is gone, she can’t lose any more. It is a cash transaction. Of course both are wrong, and I only wish to point out that while we are with justice perpetually upbraided for the tendency of our young people to gamble on the racecourse, this is perhaps a lesser evil t han hidden gambling at a game like bridge in private houses.

Nations and Chlldnan.

Men and women are. we know, “but children of a larger growth,” and nations and children have much in common, too. For instance, look at the ludicrously childish side of these international courtesies, which have such momentous consequences. For years past most v iolent Anglophobia reigned in Frame, and more especially in Paris. •Then, < ne fine day, King Edward plans a State visit to the French capital. Eu route he is enabled to do some honour to the President of the Republic by sending some of his finest battleships as an escort. What a simple thing! ,Yet France is delighted ns ever was infant with a new toy, and vows that the Paris welcome, and the Paris party, shall be the warmest ami best the King has ever been tendered. So thousands of pounds are spent in such decorations as children - grown-up children low and the English King is cheered to the echo by the very crowds which yelled with delight over British reverses in the early days of the war, and who chortled in unholy mirth over obscene cartoons against the late venerable Queen. And the shouting and the flags suffice. and we as n nation arc .satisfied, and delighted, and say to France: “Now you must send your little boy to

our party and you shall see how grand it will be, and you and I will be friends for ever ami ever!” And so the game goes on. President Loubet has now had his party, and the French are wild witli enthusiasm for the English, and all that belongs thereto. Meanwhile Germany, like the small boy in the next backyard, looks over the fence and says there is nothing in the party, and that the whole thing is, in the slang of the day, “a frost.” Of course it is all deeply serious, really, but as Gilbert says, “it has its ridiculous side,” and it is strange that such small things should influence great nations. But it is so, and always will lie. As I have pointed out before, the bitter spirit between England and America over the Venezuelan affair, which nearly resulted in war, was not really aroused by that dispute, the. inner bitterness sprang from the accusations of foul play made by Lord Dunraven when he lost his temper over not being able to win the America, Gup. Smile if you will, but ’tis a fact all the same!

Out and Out Prohibition.

“If a tiling is worth doing, it is worth doing well,” is evidently the motto of the Premier with regard to prohibition, and it is rather amusing to find .that in out-Heroding Herod, in announcing his intention of shutting off every opportunity of getting drink in places where prohibition is carried, lie has somewhat alarmed certain advanced leaders of the prohibition party. “Not only will I cancel the charters of clubs in prohibited districts,” says the Premier, “but I will punish people who keep it for their private use in their own homes,” whereupon Mr Isitt, of all men in the world, says the prohibitionists don’t wish to go so far as all that, or to interfere with the publie to that extent. Now, why this thusness, one wonders? Is it Mr Isitt’s notion that if the cat is let out of the bag in this way beforehand that the women voters —his party’s strength —will desert? If so, he is probably right. Thousands : of women who will vote for prohibition have nd objection to their men-folk having a bottle of beer or glass of whisky at home; they rather like them to do so, in fact, and these would probably refuse to “strike out the top line” if prohibition were enforced in private, houses. As a fact, one doubts if much domestic drinking, if one. may so term it, exists in the colonies, and certainly what little there is is of a harmless nature. For his meals the average colonial drinks tea, and the home consumption of beer or spirits is practically limited to a glass of ale with supper, or a night-cap on going to bed. There is no class which sits over its wine here, and the man guilty of showing intoxication in a private house commits a social offence which one is glad to know is generally considered unforgivable. The very worst tactics the prohibition advocates can adopt during the next few years will be to frighten the moderates with pictures .of the stgte of affairs which will prevail when prohibition is carried, and, vice-versa, the liquor party cannot do better than shout heart and soul with Mr Seddon that if prohibition is carried private persons who keep it in their houses shall be rigorously punished. Extremes have lost and won manv and many a battle, a fact which is obviously appreciated by the tacticians on lioth sides.

The Finest Game in the World. Mr Baume, N.H.R. for Auckland city, made, so I notice, last week the speech of the session (so far), according to . the critics of such matters in Wellington, and doubtless he is now in accord with Mr T. P. O'Connor, who has pronounced polities the finest game in the world. In one of those brilliantly descriptive

articles on the House of Commons from within, which made his mime, Mr O’Connor describes the scene a few weeks back, when Mr Balfour, attacked by his friends, was only saved from defeat and practical political extinction by, marvellous to relate, the lump vote of the Irish party. After holding one breathless with the tension of the occurrence

“Tay Pay” concludes:—“This is one of the scenes which explain the fascination of Parliament. In such a scene you ean see the uncertainties the rapid change of fortune, the vast stakes that turn on a card, the play of human hatreds and human ambitions, the rapid transformations, that make up the life of the politician, and that raise his profession to a plane of excitement, importance and uncertainty that makes the gamble of the racecourse or the card table appear but the insipid pastimes of women and babies.” Now, one wonders if it is like that out here—in a comparative degree, of course. If so one would think that more men of the Baume and Bedford stamp, men of University education and training, would be found to enter the lists, and the personnel of the House would be mightily raised. There is a tendency to regard colonial politics as petty, or even as dirty. But surely they need neither be one nor the other. The early success of Mr Baume should be an encouragement to others, and perhaps at next election we may see a “Young New Zealand Party” heading the polls in every direction.

The Arrival of the Motor.

ai.d that he must therefore ccme to them. The result is that the middleman sells him the ear at an increase on the muunfactiirer’s retail price of between 150 and 200 per cent. As an instance of t! e sort of thing the public have to put up with I may mention the case of a standard type of ear, the catalogue price of which is £320 net. The manufacturer is able to turn out this car at a cost price to himself of £B6, and the middleman takes £9O, or actually more than the car cost to build.

The day of the motor-car is not merely coming, it has come; and daily the number of people driving various forms of the new vehicles is increasing. The handy little “runabout” of various makes are, of course, the most numerous, but already we have a motor fire engine at Wanganui, and motor ’buses are on order for half a dozen towns and suburbs. Motor delivery ears are on order to arrive for tradesmen in both Wellington and Auckland, and a company to start a set of motor cabs is in embryo in the Northern City. Still, with all this, I am not one of those who believe that the horse will become extinct, as a section of the community asseverate. The horse will remain, both for the rich, those who can afford hobbies, I mean, and for the poor, those to whom motor traction will ever prove too expensive. Tradesmen in a large or even in a moderate way of business will doubtless tend to our daily needs in the provision line in motor waggons, but the small men, the fruit and vegetable vendors, the peddler--, in fact, no insignificant or unimportant section of our local communities, will still find the horse their best friend. The sensation of driving in a motor, at a good speed, is assuredly a pleasure worth living for, but so as certainly is the delight of sitting behind a spanking pair of horses, and the rich man will always afford himself both. Where the motor is going to revolutionise things is with the city worker. Life in the country will shortly, be a possibility- for the business man, for travelling at the moderate speed of twenty-five miles an hour he will be able to live ten, fifteen or even twenty- miles out from the city, and yet be able to run into work at the accustomed hour every morning. The pleasures of town and country life ean also be combined by- those who take up country- pursuits, and an immense rise should take place in the value of suitable land within the radius of thirty to forty miles of our various chief centres. At least, so it seems to me, but perhaps it is only an “after-dinner” vision after all.

In the Way of the Motor.

As things now are there are too many intermediate profits in the motor trade, too many liberal commissions for which the customer has to pay. Many people look upon this sort of thing as extortion, and either abandon the idea of purchasing a motor, or else think they are acting cleverly in going to a job manufacturer who puts together a motor composed of one part by one wellknown firm, another part by another wellknown firm, and a third portion by a third weil-known maker. The inexperienced purchaser supposes that he cannot go far wrong in ordering such a ear, seeing that all the component parts are by well-known makers. He soon discovers his mistake. None of the various component parts of his car thus thrown together were ever made to work in wit! each other, and soon there is a breakdown, followed by others at frequent intervals. The great beauty of the ears built by the leading manufacturers is the perfect harmony with which all the parts of the car work together, for . they have been manufactured, for each other in the same factory.

Apropos of motors and motoring, a writer in the “Express” (London) writes an interesting article dealing with things which stand between the public and motors and retard their general use. One of these is the middleman.

Children’s Quaint Sayings.

■When a private customer applies direct to a good maker, he is almost invariably told that he must wait six months, a year, 18 month, or even huger for the car he orders. Why is this? Because the middlemen, in view of the great demand, monopolise the output of the more prominent makers. They know that, as a rule, the customer docs not care to wait a year for his car,

Knowing my fondness for children and for their quaint sayings, a friend. sends me the following for readers of After Dinner Gossip:— There is a man who fancies he is the head of the house. This particular man has several small children, and it pleases him to discourse a great deal on the training of the young. A few days ago he had friends visiting him. His two little sons began to play about noisily. It is one of his theories that children should obey implicitly, and he wanted his friends to see how he carried it out in the training of his own family. “Johnny,” he said, sternly-, "stop that noise instantly.” Johnny looked up in surprise, then grinned a little. “Ob, Freddy,” he said to his brother as they went on with their noisy romp, “just listen to papa trying to talk like mamma.” • »