OBITER DICTA.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 277, 28 February 1929, Page 1

OBITER DICTA.

(By Scrutator). Musings Upon Miracles— Fear for his ancient relics caused ; an Auckland cleric to rush into print j to try and forestall anything up-to- j date that might be said by Mr. H. D. A. Major, principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford, and the leading exponent of , the “ Modernist ” movement in Eng- j land. However, Dr. Major coolly disposes of miracle-monger in the sentence of his reply wherein he ad- i mits that the views expressed by the other correspondent might have been ! held by him, too, thirty years ago. ■* In other words, the Auckland shep- ' herd is only about a quarter of a century behind the times. Progress ever has a great battle to fight against the inertia of the static mind that never becomes dynamic. Nipped in the Bud— j While “ dealing in miracles ” one

may note the superstition of some Italians who a few days ago saw in the phenomenon of two seeming suns in the sky a divine recognition of the fact that there were now two temporal kings in Italy, the Pope as both spiritual and temporal ruler, the latter due to the recent agreement regarding the “ Roman question,” and Mussolini, the dictator. Here, they ‘ thought, was a modern miracle. The scientists quickly dispelled such an illusion, by showing that the phenomenon is commonly seen in other regions. Had this curious act of nature occurred in Rome about two thousand years ago, it would now be handed down to us in our literature as a true bill in the way of a miracle: The light of science shines too brightly nowadays to permit any addition to the list of “ miracles.” “ Stop, Look, Listen!”— In the new amendment to the Railways Act the “ Stop, Look, Listen!” injunction is to be replaced by “ drive carefully at a speed not in excess of fifteen miles per hour.” It is high time something sensible displaced chat senile stupidity. Men’s Dress Reform— | “ Scrutator ” was hoping that the Men’s Dress Reform League of Christchurch might be the means of introducing sensible summer dress for men throughout the Dominion, but “ K,” that Satanic satirist of the Press in the southern city, dashes such hopes to the powdery dust. He writes: “To swelter in tweeds through a hot summer is, of course, scarcely wise, hut the new League does not inspire confidence in me. Its executive includes some excellent citizens who are best known for their enthusiastic recommendation of a diet of carbon, turnip leaves, and mud, which I have always regarded as the solid counterpart of that debilitating fluid, cocoa. If one joined the League, .-as the irrationality of trousers might easily lead one to do, one might find that one had unwittingly committed oneself to League

luncheons —sliced pumpkifis and ex- , tract of dock, washed down with j lime-water. On the whole, trousers . are preferable.” Women’s Waists— ■, If we cannot draw much comfort t from a revolution in men’s wear, we may at least get satisfaction from women’s waists. It seems that the slim-slam period is drawing to a close, and that six-stone sylph will no longer be the fashionable figure. Backs and busts will follow the lines nature intended for them, and variety and individuality will delight us once more. The more generous lines will also mean the abandonment of the ugly style of wearing the dress too short to cover the knees, in order to avoid accentuation of the effect of rotundity. The new fashion coming: will remove some inartistic “ sights ” from our aching vision.