MATTERS OF MOMENT.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 18 September 1919, Page 3

MATTERS OF MOMENT.

[B,v a Casual Scribe.]

ATTENDING MEETINGS

In* common with most other places, meetings in Helensville —• public or otherwise —suffer from the lack of interest taken in them, and the poor attendances that usually result. Even the newly-formed Returned Soldiers' Association is no exception, and two attempts lately to get enough to attend to carry on committee business have resulted in failure. 'At v,th§.s'Jast ge'neraU meeting several' new members were elected to the committed, in place of those who had not attended meetings in the-past. It is apparent that the new committee takes about as much interest as the old one did. Of course, not all the members are to blame —a few invariably turn up, and wait about for the rest, who usually have no thought of attending. It is a pity that the members are so indifferent to the welfare of the large number of their fellow .members who require the assistance which the branch was mainly formed to give. Two attempts have been made to get a committee meeting to discuss matters relating to the Okahakura Estate, which was recently visited, and which is under offer to the Kaipara branch for soldier settlement, A third attempt will shortly be made to get a meeting, and if the committee can't turn up, no blame will be attachable to the really energetic members if they let the whole business drop, and end up by saying v Mafeesh, Association."

IN DARKEST HELENSVILLE

Anyone unfortunate or venturesome enough to be out on Thursday evening of last week had a pretty rough time of it. Incessant rain throughout the day and night made the footpaths and roads in a bad state, and water channels blocked in several places did their little bit towards making the lot of pedestrians a sad one. Added to these troubles was the fact that the town was pitch dark —nothing new, of course, as that is always the case. But it is on such a night as Thursday last that the absence of lighting is so marked. It will certainly be a wonderful boon when it is eventually installed.

OUR HUMOROUS TRAINS

The jokes perpetrated in connection with the Kaipara line are legion, and more than ever have been added since the train restrictions and the coal .shortage, The whole line lends itself to joking, and it is after all, better to see the humor of the situation than to get too serious about the train services that the people living on the Kaipara line are permitted to use, provided they have a good enough excuse and pay enough for the privilege.

GRATUITY MONEY

The recent deputation of Wellington soldiers to Parliment, in connection with the gratuity money promised to the soldiers who went overseas, suffered through the attention paid it by the inevitable crowd which assembled to seethe soldiers march on to Parliament Building. The larrikins in the crowd started a disturbance for which the soldiers were blamed, and in the end the only hearing the deputation could get was by the leaders going into one of the committee rooms in the building, and stating their case to the assembled heads. The gratuity scheme is one which has caused more talk among returned men than did the war. Some are optimistic that they are going to get a very square deal from the Government in regard to "blood money," and others are frankly pessimistic. One noticeable thing is that all the politicians — Reform, Liberal, Labour, and the rest — agree that the gratuity should be substantial. About the only thing that choice lot will ever agree on —for the simple reason that the elections are soon, and that the returned soldier is a good fellow, he has a vote, and " we'll do anything in and out of reason if you'll only give us your vote !"

A book recently purchased by the Helensville Library committee tells, by its price, a little tale of profiteering. The volume in question, "'The Sky Pilot," by Ralph Connor, cost the purchasers 5/-, the same price as the ether five books procured at the same time. The "Sky Pilot," however, is a story which was published some years before the war, and was then procurable at as low a price as 2/10. As the committee's purchase is without doubt prewar stock, an increase of 2/2 for an old edition seems out of all reason.