OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 682, 8 November 1921, Page 5

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

MATRIMONY MADE EASY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Auckland, November 4,

It may surprise you to learn that Auckland now runs three or fpur matrimonial agencies. From enquiries I have instituted, I find that the people who appeal to these agencies <0 find “life partners” for them are generally country residents, who dwell “far from the maddening crowd,” and whose opportunities for social intercourse are limited. These often unsopfiiticated individuals, I am told, arp frequently so “bashful” that they are glad to pay an agent to “fix them*” and I should say he usually earns his fee because to be a really successful matrimony merchant must demand special qualities. He must be a good judge of character, with agreeable manners, and a knowledge of the world, and. above all, he must be possessed of tact, would be interesting to know how fcbese agency matches turn out, on the whole. It would certainly seem that a good deal of risk must necessarily attach to “heart-unions” contracted per the medium of an “agent,” but the mere fact that the Auckland' agencies carry on year after year is proof presumptive, at any rate, that 'there are plenty of candidates for connubial bliss who are prepared to employ a go-between when it comes to finding a mate. The proprietor of the first matrimonial agency, T. B. Hannaford* I knew well. I write of him in the past itense because he departed years and years ago, for the country where we are told there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage. (A lady friend •of mint, by the way, says “that’s why it is heaven”)), I remember T. B. H. telling me on one occasion that he had been the means of bringing abouft some three hundred marriages. He sgemed proud of it, Itoo.

ADVERTISING*. “The backbone of aU flow-a-days is advertising^Sel during the hearing of ai£j#plication, affecting a trade union, at the Auckland Supreme Court a day or (two ago. In saying that the speaker voiced the general opinion entertained by our business men. There is probably no city in the world in which the virtue of printrs’ ink judiciously applied is more keenly appreciated than Auckland. A glance through our daily papers will afford convincing testimony on that point. There is a little hoarding advertising in this city, and some screen advertising in the picture theatres, but fot every thousand pounds expended in that kind of advertising ,there ‘are probably tpn thousand! pounds invested in newspaper publicity. It is the paper that entering the homes of the people carries the traders appeals to every member of the family circle. Holloway, of pills and ointment fame, left a fortune of £5,000,000 behind him. Had he not recognised the value of advertising the chances are that he might have died a comparatively poor man.

BUSY PRISONERS. The annual report of the Prisons' Department, just issued, makes interesting reading. It shows thait able-bodied men incarcerated at Mt. Eden, are now kept fully' employed at suitable work, generally out-door labour, such as quarrying, stonedressing and building. Physical drill, under a competent instructor, is carried out daily, the beneficial result being apparent in. the appearance and bearing of 'the men. Indoor employments include boot making and coir-net making. Concrete floor making is another flourishing prison duty, and the manufadtrue of concrete roofing tiles has also been begun. At Mount Eden the prisoners are paid regular wages for their labour, their earnings going (to maintain, or help maintain, their dependants. Many a “hard citizen” acquires, while at Mt. Eden, a knowledge of some useful trade or handicraft, and is thus enabled (if hp chooses) to turn over a new leaf. CRUEL SPORT: In the Animals’ Protection and Game Bill, now before Parliament, the Government proposes, as you may have seen, to take considerable powers by Order-in-Council. One of these powers is in regard to regulating or prohibiting the shooting or killing of pigeons or other birds released from any trap, box or similar contrivance. But while the various Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are delighted with this Bill the gun clubs are bitterly opposed to it, and are stirring, by every means in their power to defeat it- The gun club men declare there is no cruelty in shootinig pigeons for sport, or at any rate no more cruelty than in shootinig game birds in the open. The other side maintains that the sport is abominably cruel, and that the keeping of Wt© unfortunate birds in small boxes or cages before they are released is also' to be strongly con-, demned. With a lively recollection of what the pigeon shooting matches in England meant when I lived in the Old Country I most sincerely hope that the Bill referred to may pass into law. Anyone who has seen the ground after a shooting match littered with bisds with broken legs and wings and dying in terrible ageny, can hardly entertain much douHt as to the cruelty involved in this form of “sport.”