OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 685, 18 November 1921, Page 5

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

ECHOES OF THE BY-ELECTION.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Auckland, November 11.

Mr Massey is reported to have said that he regards the result of the byeiection for Auckland East as “a vote of confidence in the Government.” That is surely rather an optimistic way of looking at it, considering That the Government candidate polled 2525 votes and the anti-Govemment candidates 4030 votes. The Labour candidate shaped well, all (things considered. Whether Mr Lee was wise in allowing two gentlemen holding such very extreme views as Messrs Holland and Fraser to come up to Auckland and “barrack” for him, however, is open to question Personally, I am (inclined to think it was a tactical blunder I am afraid Mr Lee was bitterly disappointed, and 1 1 fear the Hon. G. W. Russell was ditto ditto. After the strenuous way in which G.W,R. worked it is really too bad thai he should have polled only 1000 votes. No one could have worked harder, but Fate and the epidemic were against him. Let us drop the sympathetic tear and pass on to >the next paragraph.

LONG-SLEEVERS, WHISKY AND

TOBACCO While waiting for a car at the junction of Pitt Street and Karangahape Road the other morning, I overhoard rtwo gentlemen discussing the new tariff. Said one to the other: “I ’ear as kercolonial beer is goin’ to cost a bob a pint.” “My oath,” was the reply. “I reckon there’ll be somethin’ doin’ if that’s so. Let Bill Massey wait till ther gin’ral election nex’ year. That’s all.” The Prime Minister frankly acTmi,tted that he was “oujt for revenue,” so we might have known what to expect when the new tariff came down, but pi-obably few of us anticipated the doubling of the du)ty on spirits and “kerlonial” and the substantial increase of the duty on the weed. Gentleman, such as Mr Massey, in the enjoyment of large priitfate means and well stocked cellars, can afford to regard whisky a‘t 17s 6d olr £1 a bottle and two ounce “plugs” at eighteenpence, with indifference. Those less fortunately situated will find the new scale of prices “tough.” The inevitable rise in the price of spirits might have been allowed to pass. But when colonial beer is retailed at 8d or 9d per pint—as I am told i.t will be—there’s bound to be trouble. WHY NOT ? Some twelve months ago I ventured )to express the opinion in print that as the country was apparently becoming hard up the Government might do worse than offer a substantial reward for (the discovery of a payable alluvial gold field. The idea is not new, of course, because it has been given effect to before. But why should it not be tried again? Twelve mnoths ago we were becoming hard up* Now we have become hard up, and in spite of Mr Massey’s constant assurnaces that everything is going to be alright, and that all we have got to do is <to wait till the clouds roll by—and “keep smiling”—that sort of talk becomes, after a time, just a little tiring. Providence, i,t is said, helps those who help themselves. Why should we not fry to help ourselves by looking for more payable gold ? It is absurd to imagine that (there is no more payable gold to be found' in New Zealand. The strong probability is that there is far more gold waiting to be unearthed here than has yet been discovered. The Government is notorously in an impecunious condition, butt I venture to think it might find the expenditure of say £sooo—or even £lo,ooo—in the way I have suggested as good investment. Are you there, Mr. Massey!

OFF TO THE SOUTH SEAS! In spite of our being undeniably hard up as a nation, there is yet a good bit of money aboiyt. Witness the fact that an advertisement in an Auckland paper for a gentleman with £250 to join a party bound for the South Seas on a six months’ cruise for the purpose of making moving pictures, resulted in no fewer than 70C replies from men anxious to brave the perils of the “Sunny South.’' Now, seven hundred times £250 is £175,000. What dy’e think of that? The moving spirijt of this enterprise is a Canadian, Mr H. Reynolds. The trip is to be made in a small schooner and the party number:. 15, .including two ladies. The “Southern Star,” as the boat chartered for the trip s named, will start from Auckland on December 10th, and the places it will visit will include the Solomons and the New Hebrides—rboth ,the abode, as I understand, of cannibals. Thinking of that one is reminded of Sidney Smith’s parting words 'to. Bishop Selwyn when the latter was quitting England for New Zealand. “Goodbye, my dear Selwyn. I hope the Maoris won’t eait you, but if they do I sincerely trus£ you" may disagree with them.”

A HORRIBLE PLACE. Mr Forbes Eadie, a resident of Auckland, relates how, in the company of a friend, he passed through the Morningside reserve about six o’clock the other evening the sickening smell led the .two gentlemen jto seek for the cause. They soon discovered in a series of rubbish iand garbage dumps composed of decaying refuse of all kinds In the course of” a few minutes the investigators counted 231 ra,ts. Fully half of these animals were bad'ly diseased, and one of them killed wi.ch a stone by Mr Eadie was “a mass of suppurating sores.” Close by the principal dump is “a green pool of filth.” This makes interesting reading, does’nt it, with the plague knocking at our doors? It is quite evident the lesson the terrible oubreak of influenza in Auckland, two or three years ago, and which was responsible for 1000 deaths here, is unheeded by >':he local health authorities Is’nt it about time they sat up find took notice .