MARSHALLING RANKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 74, 18 June 1927, Page 5

MARSHALLING RANKS

THE SUN’S SYDNEY LETTER

ELECTION PREPARATIONS A CONFUSING CONFLICT Since Mr. Lang announced his sudden determination to go to the country at the earliest possible moment, everyone has heaved a sigh of relief, and State politics have ceased to be headliners in the newspapers. Along the waterfront and in other places where Labour electors predominate, copies of the rolls and clerks to enrol voters who are not already on the rolls, may be seen at tables extemporised at wharf entrances. No effort is to be spared to get all Mr. Lang’s supporters in line for the big battle of votes, which will have a new interest in the one-man electorates which have been mapped out since Mr. Lang got his majority at last elections. The whole position of the Labour Party is beyond the comprehension of the every-day man in the ifreet, and since Mr. Mutch was elected leader of the unofficial party, the problem v has been made more complicated. Many workingmen, however, will not vote for either of them. At the same time many who are not classed as workers will do so, for the effect of a Labour Government is always to make more money circulate. AWKWARD FOR TRAVELLERS The practice followed in Australia of holding all holidays on the following Monday gives an added value to the holiday by hitching it on to the weekend days off. But it has a paralysing effect on a city’s business, though nobody seriously worries ahout that in Sydney. Ships must sail and likewise arrive, and sometimes they are hampered by the holidays. For example!, the Ulimaroa, which sailed from Wellington one day earlier to avoid the King’s Birthday holiday on Fr ? day in New Zealand, arrived here early on Monday when the same holiday was being celebrated here. As the vessel is going to lay-off a trip to repair her bunkers, there was no serious loss of time, so far as getting her away again was concerned. The concern, indeed, is with those who find there will be no sailing for New Zealand this week. With this gap and a steamer short last week when the Maunganui went to Vancouver, New Zealanders bound for home realise that winter has come. MANLY AND THE GULF STREAM The warm current which flows from the tropics down the coast and is known locally as the Australian Gulf Stream, brings many strange sea denizens to the beaches. Last week it was flowing very strongly, causing steamers to make passages at the rate of 17 knots from Brisbane!, while an easterly wind was setting In close Inshore. The most striking result was that two surf club members caught a seasnake on a fishing line, and after a struggle killed it, when they found it measured five feet. These snakes are found in the still tropical waters and are deadly poisonous. A bite will kill a man in a few minutes. Probably the fishermen did not realise how near death they were, in their efforts to kill the snake in the boat. In the last few months a saw-fish and a grampus have been caught at Manly. NEW OFFICE AT GUVA News brought by the Sonoma last week of the appointment of an Indian Civil Service officer to the new post of Secretary of Indian Affairs in Fiji should interest New Zealanders, as one of Mr. Pearson's—the new officer—duties will relate to the repatriation of the indentured men who wish to leave Suva. Being highly conversant with Indian affairs, he will he able to

% % give sympathetic consideration to the desires of the 65,000 Indians now in Fiji. In the near future steps are to be taken to give the Indians a communal franchise to elect three of their number to the Legislative Council, which is the only governing body in Fiji. Since the Indians are regarded by the Imperial authorities as essential to the prosperity of Fiji, doubtless everything will be done to make the position so attractive that none will leave for New Zealand or other British places, especially since the entry of Indians in any number ceased in Fiji in 1916. The natural increase, however, is prodigious.

N.Z. PUBLICITY IN AUSTRALIA New Zealanders are notoriously modest in the matter of publicity. They appear to imagine that news of them and their doings get into the press by magic, and they like to see it there. So that although the Sydney newspapers send reporters to meet the New Zealand steamers, it is difficult to get even one-tenth of the interesting news which can be got on an American or an Eastern steamer. In the case of public men it is rather different, but even they are shy compared with the public men of any other country. When Mr. McLeod, Minister of Commerce, was here recently, his arrival was duly chronicled, but after that he faded into the background so far as newspaper news was concerned. Only one paper, the “Evening News,” reported his departure, after what had been a most important visit. Doubtless further details of his doings here will be sent back by telegraph. From New Zealand’s viewpoint, it is to be hoped that he took note of the fact that her representative in Sydney is housed in an office on the seventh floor of a bank building, where signs to attract callers are forbidden. REORGANISATION OF PUBLICITY Colonel Ryrie, who left last week to be Australia’s High Commissioner, has a charter to clean up Australia House in London. It is not suggested that any such step is needed here in the New Zealand office, but either an office on a ground floor or in a building where flags or posters may be exhibited should be its quarters. And more advertising should be done to tell people where it is. It is a positive fact that the main “New Zealand office” here is that of the Union Company, and in a lesser degree, Huddart Parker's office. Both these are in the shipping office ‘area in and near Bridge Street, and that is where the New Zealand office should be, not in Martin Place, near the New South Wales travel agencies, which are rivals in tourist attractions. The C.P.R., which works in with the U.S.S. Company, is in the same building as the latter. Just over the way, last week, the Mercantile and General Insurance Company of New Zealand opened a new ground floor corner office, for which the rent is only £9 a week. Why does New Zealand sleep at the switch? WILL LAWSON.