OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 696, 3 January 1922, Page 4

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

IS THE PLAGUE COMING 7

(From Our Own Correspondent.) 5

Auckland, December 16.

In spite of the commendable activity of the health authorities'in preparing for the worst, the opinion of the man in the street seems to be that ifNew Zealand escapes aa’visitation of r the dread disease she will be fortunate. I'have said that the Health authol&S’' ties are showing commendable r-clifrffi ity in taking precautions, and so thfaffi are. At the same time it may bwfg question whether all that is, beirfgf done is all that could be done. For example, it seems an astounding thing that rubbistf tips or dumps * should still be allowed 'to exist. Of courss I'-am aware that some of these dump'sr have been closed or done away with. But only some of them! Others remain in full swing, and although they are supposed to be under exftra super- 1 vision the fact remains that , there they are, and that despite all thecare in the world they must necessarily constitute a grave menace to the city. Far better and safer would it be to abolish them all and establish temporary furnaces on their sites* where the refuse of the city might be destroyed day by day. Another thing that ought to be done, as it seems to me, is to insist that all boats arriving from the other side should not make fast to the wharves until their holds have been treated with burning or smouldering sulphur, or .something else, with a view to the destruction of sats.

A DOCTOR’S OPINION. Twenty years ago or more there wasf a terrible outbreak of plague in Sycfr ney. When F was last in Sydney I was shown the building, in a narrow 'thoroughfare off George Street, iil which the first case of plague occurred at the time above deferred tcuJ At that time Auckland was tremJ| ling in its shoes—as it is now—lesfl the disease should find its way lier«M from and many people stiJfl resident in this city will recall thM cheery prophecy of a well-knowr® Auckland doctor that if 'the riagu* should come do New Zealand number of white people would be very small. In fact he so far as to say that only about oaH person in a thousand would suffei|p White folks, added the doctor-, practically immune and couldn’t. gelT the disease if they tried. He said he-' was open to make a bet that hewould sleep in a bed in which a plague patient had died, and in the same bedding, and emerge from the ordeal not one penny the worse. Whether this was treating the matter more lightly than it deserved I don’t know. But I am quite convinced that when an epidemic of any kind fs about funk causes lots of people to get it.

COROMANDEL GOLD. I have on more than one occasion thrown out the suggestion that steps should be taken to find another payable goldfield in this country, and it was therefore with much interest that I read the remai'ks of Mr Creagh (chairman of the Auckland Stock Exchange) on the subject. In thei course of his annual address recently delivered, this gentleman, after^referring to the stagnation of the goldmining industry, in the Dominion, said something ought to be clone to entourage the sysematic prospecting of the Coromandel Peninsula. “Probably,” said Mr Creagh, “the CoiomaiH del field still contains untold wealth, yet nothing is being done to prospect and develop it in a systematic manner.” Thirty-five or forty years ago Coromandel produced great quantities of gold, and many fortunes were made there. Mr Creagh is not alone in thinking “there’s plenty more where that came from.” TheGovernment is notoriously hard up at presentj. But, in view of the golden results that might fairly be expected to follow thorough tematic prospecting at Coromandel and sundry other places, it wo W surely be worth the while of life powens that be at Wellington tofi£* fer a decent reward for the diMp*erv of a payable field.

IN PRAISE OF NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING Mr R. J. Strong a member of thecommercial staff of an Auckland daily recently delivered an address on newspaper advertising, which he declared (and very truly) was.infinitely-more effective than hQardings, trarn-siff 118 or films. Newspaper! publicity, be went on to say, not Only made buyers ’nd influenced their purchasese, but made it far easier to effect sales. It •reated a desire for. an article, gave ' usiness prestige to'the advertiser, ud stamped goods as reliable. The address was listened /to with close ■ttention by the commercial men pre"°nt. I may add thait there is^no city in New Zealand in wliich the value of.

sewspaper advertising is more keenly ippreciated than Auckland, -a

' A-T77 — - c V BEAUTY. SPECIALIST IN COURT.

The recent case in which a well:nown Auckland beauty-specialist figined (and not discreditably) seemed ;o show that there is. money in the

beautifying business in Auckland. It s, however, in London, Paris aand blew York that the “big” money is cade at this game. Madam Rachel, af “Bgaupful foe; Ever” fame, used to chargejfr fee oftone thousand guineas "or sAplying artificial complexions. She applied a sort of enamel to the :ace, which was really most effective —so Iqgg as.-the owner of the face refrained' from, laughing and yawning, [f she laughed or yawned the enamel was apt to crack—and bang went ‘ a thousand guineas! .