Week end Chat

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 73, 18 December 1937, Page 14

Week end Chat

"HEALTH."

"SPINDEIFT." • *

' ' ANGLQ-NE W ZEALANDEK. '

"COUSIN BOSE."

COUNTRY ANDi TOWN.

December 18, 1937. Dear Everyone, It seems strange to one not versed in the present legislation and awards that healthy people should be out of work, or scraping along on sustenance. There is so much orchard work advertised, and even small school boys can earn several shillings a day. If a whole family reads the advertisements and put its backbone into manual work the girls at thinning, or pea picking, or somo similar job, the boys and men at other orchard work— the family finances would materially benefit over Christmas. It seems strange that schoolboys do not all realise what they could do if they wished, when they are longing for money to spend on "new togs" for swknming, a holiday, or presents. This week a small boy of eleven earned 3/on his first day's orchard work. A young man mentioned earning 1/8 an hour. They were not overtired. * • * To those who asked for Taupo notc.Cousin Eose must apologise that last week, in writing of the Waikato river, the rapids were mentioned as higher than the Huka Falls. As this was written by this river and rapids were breaking beside the writer, it was easy to forget that the falls were closer, and the rapids not very far below them. It is heart-breaking to see the destruction by fire in the native forest all about the Taupo district. A writer in the New Zealand Herald, commenting bitterly on this, says, "It seem>*fo be no-one 's business. ' ' Certainly it was terrible to see fire raging through bracken along the Taupo road about a mile or less from the sign board "P.W.D. Camp, No. 1," and to see the flames crossing the gully through very fine old rimu trees that are a joy to all who love the forest and which are certainly a most valuable asset, from a tourist point of view alone, to that part of New Zealand. It seemed strange that a roadman placidly worked near the fire, anfi that many men must have been at the camp who could fight the flames and save trees, that as timber, apart from their beauty, must have been worth hundreds of pounds. Such is the outlook, that fires can spoil scenery, fire has Bpoilt the hills by the famous Aratiatia rapids where hundreds go, and recent fires have killed hundreds of acres of bush as one comes near Taupo, skimming through .the broom and bush which iised once to cover the hills on the left. * * • This letter is sent in by a reader who adds her knowledge about the medicinal value of plants. Dear Cousin Eose,— I have a list here of plants and their uses you may be glad to have for this column. Water-melon elears the skin. Onions promote digestion and act on the liver, and are good for whooping cough and stomach trouble. Carrots for kidney complaint and used for poultices. Celery, good for rheumatlsm and neuralgia. Asparagus, gently stimulates the kidneys. Horse radish, tonic for digestion and cures hoarseness, and the tea is said to benefit those with rheumatism. Yours, etc.,

* • • I hope readera appreciate the picturesque language in which "Spindrift" has written this most interesting letter. Dear Cousin Eose,— My last week's letter had neeessarily to be somewhat vague, as it is too vast a subject to be dealt with satisfactorily in a few lines. Scenery, when all's said and done, is largely a matter of viewpoint, which is also often governed by contrasts. ^ For instance, anyone who has iived in mountainous country would probably be attracted by the placidity of a desert, and vice versa. Personally, I dislike plains and deserts, and delight in mountain fastnesses and thick, deep woods. Nevertheless, there is a grandeur in the Sahara Desert when the sun is just commencing to disperse the morning mists, that takes some surpassing. In contrast to that, the view of St. Paul's with all the buildings surrounding it silhouetted against the setting sun, has a charcn all its own. I have seen a person stand on a busy corner of a London street, gazing at the crowds, the traffic, the buildings, with an expression of sublime happiness on his face, that indicated that he was enjoying a scene that he had yearned for for years. It is impossible to define the word scenery," and apply it to one particular example of tho Oreator's handiwork. The majesty of gigantie trees, the careful blending of colours achieved by an artistic gardener, the limitless ocean, the tumbling waters of a cascade, frost and snow-spangled vegetation, and a hundred otlxer scenes, all have their beauty and appeal. To ascribe lovely scenery to any particular country is to expose one 's ignorance and bias. The more one travels, the more one realises that the Master Artist has painted piqtures over every spot on this little green earth. It lies with us to uso our eyes and intelligenee, to see and recognise the beauty that lies "all around us wherever we go. — Yours etc., '

This writer gently disagrees with some ideas in the letter on England published last week. & Dear Cousin Eose,— Surely "Spindrift" makos the New Zealanders out a little more ignorant than they are about England. After all, many of us are but one generation apart from completely English parents. I have never had the time or money to go to England, but having read so much about it, and seen so many pietures, I feel as if I should be like two friends who on their first visit recognised many spots. ' ' Why here is — so and so. " ''And this is — another noted place. ' ' To take a few writors at random. Hovv can we read Shakespeare, Scott (who did not al-

ways writo of Scotland), Dickena George Eliot, Jane Austen, Mrs. Gaslcell, among hosts of others, withoul acquiring some love for England. .1 know I should be at home in the land of my forefathers. — Yours, etcj

* * • This week ahead there will be manj family reunions in Hawke's Bay. W t are lucky in New Zealand that Christi mas eomes in summer, so that pleasanl camping or other holidays may coincidi with Christmas. But, an Englishmai was heard to say last week that he coulc not bear our hot Christmas. One cai imagine that Christmas pudding woul be quite a thrill on a cold frosty day But now many New Zealand womei buy a ready-made plum pudding ti create cheer without the hours oi cooking and preparing this old-worl dish entails. Thank you all for youi letters, and please give a Christmass] touch to your ^deas if you send a letta for the cominsr week.