Week-end Chat

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 2, 25 September 1937, Page 12

Week-end Chat

"TRUTH."

COUSIN

ROSE.

COUNTRY ANDg TOWN.

Dear Everyane, — Witk golf .tournaments tke order pf the day, all who are i'nterested ar'e hopang for hue weather, so that,.we may liye up to our liame of "Sunny Hawke's1 Bay,; while. visitors from all parts fof ATew Zealand and from Australia. afe here. , This district ijs looking very. fresh and spring-like hqw after all the rain, with- willows in leaf/'and orchards'a pink cloud of peach blossom • or white with pear bloom. Some day we; as a fruit district. wjU: realiae our assets, and. follow: the1' sensible adviee given by Mrs. T. H. -liowry who addreSsed large meetings when she returned from a world tour. She urged that visitors- and tourists should always be able to buy our produets— baskets of peaehes at the orchards., grapes at the tvineyardS; fresh fruit in summer drinks at boarding houses and hotels, and fresh foods as grown in our gardens and orchards, but often not utilised as they might be. It is a fact that in this district, where tomatoes grow and waste in autumn, we buy and sell canned tomato soups, and expensive tomato juice in tins, and the fresh fruits are often withheld from. travellers, even though they are pining for a more fruity, ahd less New-Zealand-meaty diet. Some Engiish visitors to Hastings a fortnight ago said that they . hau trayelled all about iNew. Zealand for two months and had to eat meals that seemod very strange. ' ' Meat and cUops for breakfast!" they exelaimed about with horror, and 1 ' what enormous helps you givel ,? Oue of the party said thut they had not yet tasted Inow Zealand. bacon which was anything like' as nrce as the1 English bacon used for the national English breakfast— bacon and eggs. xt would be interesting if any reader who has had experience of both English and Kew Zealand bacon would give" their ideas on which tastes best. Here is a brief letter f ollowing a auojecc discussed a week ago: — Dear Cousin Hose. — I quite agree with "No Glare, ; 3 that a hot summer room would have been ' called by Diekens #Mr Mantelini," ' idemmed unpleasant,' ' and while I ara qiiQtlhgI may say that like Mrs. John Gilpin I have a frugal mind, an.d disiike seeing that chesterfield (acquired by much saving) rotting in a hot sun. The sun oan be over-rated. As the Italians say, no-one but an Englishman or a mad dog goes out in the mid-day sun. How delightful it is to come in from a hot street into a shady room. — -Yours, etc., "NO GLARE ALSO." Which does the average w!bman prefer, a concret.e slab or a small garden ? Surely most women who live in ilata wish for a tiny garden, or window boxes. Just somewhere to grow a little mignonette, a few crocus or tulip bulbs, a rose tree, and maybe a bush of parsley, thyme, and mint. Yet many new flats in Hastings are being built with concrete right up to the door steps. # # • Recently a group of people were giving their opinions on how best to comr bat sleeplessness. One prominent person actually said: "No-one but a fool would like awake," meaning that one should know how to get to sleep. A man said that his method was to place the fingertips of both hands together, tip to tip. This creates a current of electricity which is soothing and continuous throughout the body. Another said that to rela$ was the secret of curing sleeplessness. Relax thus: Begin at your eyelids and keep on Telaxing till you can loosely waggle your toes. You will discover that your eyes have been tensed, and that the whole body is keyed up, go that Telaxing takes some thought: Hardly is this done than sleep comes— so he says. • * • Eductionalists are saying that schoolanasters should not smoke as they set a bad e?capiple\to their pupils. A book written by Bishop Welldon, who was headmaster of Dulwich and Harrow, gives amusing incidents of sehool life. Here are two of his stories: — Some years ago a headmaster forbade smoking, not only for the boys, but for the mastOrs as well. Oue halfholiday two masters walked to a neighbouring copse for the purpose of enjoying some good cigars. They had only just lighted their cigars when they caught sight of two boys, who had come to the same copse for the same purpose of smoking. There ensued a momentary emtjarrassment ; then one of the boys, who must have possessed more than usual sang-froid, advancing to oue of the masters, said: "Please, sir, if you won5t sneak on us, then we won't sneak on you." The reasonab'leness of the boys is apt to take some queer forms. Glve them a, bad dlsciplinarian as a master, and they will lead him a dog's life. One mhappy man was so short-sightod that he never knew how many members of his class were absent: — At last it happened one day that the boys who had come to school for his lesson were not enough to fill all the row immediately beneath his desk. So those who had come brought in a stuffed seal from the museum and plaeed it before the master. The master then called upon the stuffed seal — or upon the boy who Qught to have been sitting where the stuffed seal was — to construe — and, no reply being possible, he set the seal an imposition. Apparently he v/as never aware of the ingehuity which had been exereised with so remarkable 11 suceess at his expense. s, Dear Cousin Rose,— It was good to lt ' see eo many women attending the political deputation meetlng lut vm!

It ehows that they are taking an intelligent interest in. politics .and real-. ise their responsibility. Now that the . women voters outnuxpber the men in the fpur citi,es and in the larger towns, their votes will be the deciding factor- as to whether we. have a demoeratie Government or a- dictatorohip. The pubMc nannot fail to view the-present Parliament and the'Bud- ; get with ^considerable concern. 1 1 Taxation in this .countiy as now. a night-. mare, for we are the highest taxed eountry in- the world, and ainounts to about £19 15/- per head, being about £3 "and £4 per head mere tnan Britain- and Australia respectively. The Government must be made' to eurb . its spending policy, an,d to proteet the taxpayer from unreasoniug State expenditure that cannot fail' to stifle ent'erprise, both business and individual. "The truth ia that politicians in this eountry, by voting millions for this.. and . millions for tht, have been "quite unable to appreciate the small dimensions of New Zealand and the ' elementary principle that one must cut one coat accerding to one's cloth. "— ours,, etc.,

Letters for this column on any subject of interest are received with pleasure. Write and tell readers how your own part of Hawke's Bay is looking in spring-time. ' Address your letters to