WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 49, 21 November 1921, Page 4

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM (By T.D.H.) Better a ten per cent, cut than to b* cut off the pay-roll. At least the Sinn Feinens can say they are asking for only one Parliament for Ireland, while Ulster wants two—or none at all. “Yes,” declared ihe excited Sunday night lecturer, "all along the untrodden paths of Nature you can see the footprints of an unseen hand.” Wellington Zoo is etill anxiously awaiting word when its new elephant may be expected.—lf‘ it would like to include a white elephant in its collection the Government has the Board of Trade for disposal. "The plagioclase occurs in large plates, highly twinned on the albite law, with occasionally fine examples of pericline twinning, mostly oligoclase and labradorite or andesine.”—A few more sentences like that, and most of us cease to feel any further interest in a geological report. Professor Park’s new bulletin on Western Southland, just issued by the Government, has many tit-bits of information stowed away in odd corners, however. For instance, it is interesting to know that "Alonowai" is not a proper Alaori word. The name was bestowed on the lake by Mr. James AlcKerrow, F.R.G.S., and the first half of it is derived from the Greek word monos—alone —while the second half is the Alaori wai—water. The lake now called Hauroko is miscalled, according to Professor Park, and its old Hauroto is the proper one. Again, one of the weirdest pieces of scenery in New Zealand, according to Professor Park, is at the Mount Linton coal mine near Nightcaps. A coal seam took fire here at sonic former date, and burned underground to. such an extent that 4.000,000 ’ tons of good coal were destroyed—a quantity equal to about two years output from all the mines of New Zealand. The ground above over a stretch of half a mile has caved in, and lies in tumbled ridges and hollows like a sea in hurricane, and the heat from below has burnt the clay to rich reds and orange colour, while here and there pinnacles of clinkered clay stand up. There is nothing like it away from the thermal district. The date and origin of the fire are unknown, and ihe Afaoris have no traditions relating to it.

A good word for the kea is put in by Professor Park. It is common over Western Southland at all altitudes above 2000 feet. In his travels there and around Lake AVakatipu Professor Park was unable to obtain any evidence that the bird killed sheep as alleged. Nearly fifty years back Professor Park began inquiring into the rumours, then first appearing in the newspapers, of sheep having been killed by keas. In every case in which' the statement was tracked down to a shepherd he admitted that he had made it on the strength of what some other shepherd had told him, and never once did the professor reach a man with first-hand evidence. The guides at Afount Cook, he states. . are positive that the kea is no sheep-killer in the Tasman Valley, where it is common. The principal charges of late years have come from Canterbury and Marlborough, but, the professor says they should bo sifted by shrewd cross, examination. Scientists hold' the charge not proven: runholders are divided in their opinion. Tn the meantime, the kea has been made an outlaw by the Government and .may be destroyed at sight. If the kea does not kill sheen it is curious that a baseless legend should have persisted so long.

The Tramp Philosopher: I’ve been to Auckland City, where the sun is veryhot and the summer days remind you of old Zangwill’s melting-pot; and I’ve pondered on the spirit of the portly men and fat, who are seen in shiny toppers in the nobby habitat. They built a war memorial up there the other day, and it cost a lot of money but the folks were glad to pay. No simple column marked it, no; no common cenotaph, but utilitarians had made ideal lovers laugh. Just by St. Paul’s it towers with its massive granite pile, and its frescoes and facades are in most grandiloquent style. Grey and solid is its granite, and the visitor, impressed, wonders if it doesn’t show the patriots at their best.—But the Auckland war memorial’s not worth a single darn, for it figures at the tram-stop as a good wet-weather barn. Yep, they built an orn’ery sheltershed in honour of their brave, so that travellers by tram should from the weather themselves save. AVe’re building one in Wellington, the folks begin to say, and I hope that they will build it in a diff’rent kind of way. For utilitarianism is a dangerous project, for it’s for the dead, not for yourselves they’re trying to collect. Let them build a sacred chapel, holy, sacred, sanctified—not think as Auckland did to profit by the men who died.

Ikey had a car for sale, and as Abraham was n, very great friend of his, he offered the car to him at a special price. Said Ikey, “Look. Abraham, I have a perfectly wonderful car for which I gave £1500; but I want to sell it, and as you are a very great friend of mine I will let you have it for £500.” Now Abraham knew a tiling or two about cars, and after he had thoroughly overhauled it. said to Ikey, "Well, old man, I am afraid I am going to giro you a bit of a shock, for I will give you £5O for the car," whereupon Ikey leapt in the eir for joy, exclaiming, “Abraham, I am now going to give you a shock; I’ll accept your offer with the greatest pleasure.” ON WITH THE DANCE! In days of lancers and gavottes My pretty little miss And gallant beau, both bowing low, Would dance somewhat— L T j H K 1 id .. S When bunny hugs and turkey trots Became the dancers’ bliss, Tfie two would slide and leap and glide About the room—--1 LT LH KI ES Then when, maxixe ami tango came She thought it not amiss. That tie should whirl and hurl and swirl Her 'round his waist— L kTHIS ' E The shimmy next became the rage; It caused an awful hiss; But yet the pair would always dare To vibrato just— L T I H K I E S And at the balls and proms to-day, They cheek-to-cheek and kiss — Ami it’s the truth—the blase youth Alid flapper dance— i L T 1 Lt K I E 8 —Jacy Bee.