CURRENT TOPICS OF THE DAY

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 22 May 1914, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS OF THE DAY

(from various suueces) The "circulation of counterfeit , £10-notes in Auckland gained 1 such publicity that a day or two ago a little girl at Manakau espied a piece of paper on the road, which, on examination, she found to be £10. Thinking it was a counterfeit note, she threw, it away, but on returning home/ she informed her father. With a reprimand he hurried her back to the locality, and; luckily the parchment was recovered. It was subsequently found to be a £10 note lost by an Otaki resident. ** * - At a meeting of New York hotel proprietors an interesting discussion was provoked by the case of a " woman who visited five hotels on five successive evenings and in each instance caused a bowl of soup to be upset over her gown, for which she claimed damages." According to the allegations of the proprietors, there are a large number of New York women who, whenever they want a new dress, victimise hotels by " deliberately jostling a waiter so that he spills food on them." In future detectives will be stationed in the dining-rooms of hotels to watch women diners and note whether they or the waiters do the spilling. * * * The increasing tendency amongst some modern youths to subordinate business to the pursuit of sport was illustrated by an incident that occurred in Ashburton last week (says the Guardian). It is, as most employers of labour know, some-wha-t difficult to obtain the services of capable and willing boys, and one local business man has had his share of worry in this connection. However, he recently induced a lad to enter his service, and considered his troubles were over. . But he reckoned without a knowledge of the precocious spirit of present day youth plus the ruling passion for sport, and therefore experienced somewhat of'a shock on being informed by the latest addition to his staff that as the foot ball season had arrived, he could not attend to business all day. " I'll have to train, you know," said he, "and you'll have to let me off every afternoon." And the irony of it is tliat the employer had no-alternative. * ••- •::• In the opinion of Mr David Blair, a Melbourne business man, who has just returned from a visit to Japan, the Japanese are complaining very bitterly of the burden of taxation which at the ! present time is pressing hardest on the poorer classes. The naval scandals, also, Mr Blair says, have created a feeling of great unrest, and there is evidence of a widespread desire for more democratic government. Concerning the possibility of Japanese sovereignty over the Philippines, in response to a recent invitation made to that effect by a prominent Philipino, Mr Blair said that in present political conditions he thought It would be a calamitous mistake if America stopped in any way the good work of civilisation which she has achieved in the government of the islands. And Japan ? Well for the time being Japan had quite as much as she could conveniently attend to. * * * " For the circulation of found ationless falsehoods, Mr T.Gregory stands unrivalled. His latest statement is' conclusive of the I assertion." Thus summarily does | Mr Mackenzie reply in the London Daily Citizen to a letter by Mr Gregory, warning England ': against the proposal for a number | of Boy Scouts to emigrate to New i Zealand. Mr Gregory (referring ' evidently to Mr Sargood's i scheme), says : "Is it not one of I the objects to feed the conscript | army, now very much shaken ! owing to the opposition displayed ! by the passive resisters ?" j * * ■;;. ! You have, you English ladies, j often the business brain, but you i have it foi- yourselves (says a ! writer in the London Standard). | See you, the real backbone of j France (and you shall not forget, I you who admire commerce and i prosperity, for what it means ! that France is the most wealthy country in Europe), it is the bourgoise, the woman of the ! middle class, who is the partner ; of her husband. No Frenchman ; enters into any business matter without consulting his wife. The French workman brings every week his earnings to his wifeshe is the head, the brains of the association. lie is the hands and the muscles. It has been stated that a poor suffering wharf labourer wonders why he has to pay so much for his butter. One of the fraternity daring holidays made 6slod an hour putting it in the freezer.