FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 2, 24 March 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By the LOOK-OUT MAN. Liberalism has fallen into so miserable a plight in Great Britain that even an ardent Liberal like Mr. Philip Guedalia has been roused to protest against the petty bickerTHE ings of his HEATHEN leaders. He conGRiN. fesses in a London journal that the fantastic spectacle the party presents to the outside world is such that Tory and Socialist alike may be forgiven an interval of wicked glee. ‘ Here was a party,” writes Mr. Guedella, “that had set before itself the common aim of all political parties —the conversion of the heathen. Yet half the missionaries were busily engaged in dancing round an ample pot prepared with loving care for the reception of one of their own number. Can we hope that these barbaric exercises will add to their persuasive power in the mission world? Hardly! Those cries, those lifted spears, those rather ill-tempered incantations, must surely the unconverted with an easy feeling that they are just as well outside. There is no need for the heathen to rage furiously together when the righteous are apparently resolved to do it for them. They need only grin. For who could be converted by a missionary with an eye still black from a fraternal disputation over a colleague’s diplomas?” How long is it possible for a grand opera star to retain her hold on the fickle public? Some of the older school have discovered that it is quite possible to continue SINGING AT making farewell SIXTY-FIVE. tours indefinitely. Melba’s alternate adieux in London and Sydney have become almost annual events, and it will be recalled that Albani, who was a veteran when she toured this country about 20 years ago, recently appeared at a benefit performance. America has a hardy annual, too. She is the magnificent Ernestine Schumann-Heink, one of the greatest exponents of Wagnerian roles the world has seen, and whose gallery of operatic portraiture includes

such difficult studies as Ortrud, Brangaene, Waltraute, and Erda. Madame Schumann-Heink has just celebrated her fiftieth anniversary as a singer by appearing with the New York Symphony Orchestra. All the New York critics were unanimous in calling attention to the fact that the younger generation of singers has much to learn from the methods of the diva. “You return to'us to-day,” said a speaker at her jubilee performance, “in the splendour of your matured art, to renew our joys of the past, and to give the younger generation an example of singing and interpretation in the truly grand style.” That, at the age of 65, is a tribute that any performer might be proud to receive. But Schumann-Heink is not a recliner upon laurels. She is now arranging for an appearance in a series of Wagnerian roles at the next winter season of the Metropolitan Opera House of New York! Americans dearly love to haVe things reduced to a formula, and an article written in an endeavour to analyse ■ difficult mental AND NOW | reactions, illusWE KNOW! trated by a graph devoured by a million readers. Some enterprising Americans have been collecting data from the Domestic Relations Court, and the Marriage Licence Bureau at Philadelphia, and have reached the momentous conclusion that the right age for a “happy ever afterward” union is 29 for the groom and 24 for the bride; 'deviations of four years on either side for the groom, and two for the bride, making no appreciable difference. Marriages in which the bride is under 21 and the groom under 24 becomes rapidly more dangerous as younger ages are considered. Marriages in which either party is 19 or younger are from 10 to 100 times more risky, and marriages of persons over 38 are from two to five times as risky, as are marriages at the ideal age. The conclusions were based on 1000 impartially selected cases. The cynics will form their own conclusions as to the efficacy of such methods. If it were possible to find an absolute solution to these riddles, the occupation of most of our magazine writers. and the circulation of most of our popular magazines, would disappear simultaneously. .

RUGBY TACTICS At the annual meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union, Mark Nicholls moved that in view of the visit to South Africa, all representative matches, the North v. South and trial matches be played under the old kick into touch rule. The opinion was expressed that New Zealand would be under a serious disadvantage if it did not prepare for the altered tactics necessitated by the old rule, since the International Board was not likely to alter it. The motion was carried unanimously.