A New Zealander In Sydney Town

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 14

A New Zealander In Sydney Town

THIS SOX'S Sydney Correspondent SYDNEY, December 24. Mr. Murray Fuller's Losses Keen regret is felt in Sydney art circles owing to the loss or the greater proportion of the British art collection, which Mr. E. Murray Fuller, 0 f Wellington, brought from England recently. As the bulk of the pictures was on the Manuka it would appear that Mr. Fuller will be a heavy loser. Mr and Mrs. Fuller spent a week* in Sydney after their successful show i n Melbourne. It was their intention, ton to hold a similar exhibition in Sydnev early in the New Year, after they had fulfilled engagements in New Zealand Motion Picture War Ends Economic pressure undoubtedly forced a truce in the £5.900.000 motion picture war between the respective interests of Union Theatres Ltd., and Hoyts Theatres. Ltd., the two big combines in the cinema trade in Australia. These two concerns have signed an agreement to the effect that their huge circuits will operate under a mutual working understanding to eliminate theatre building competition throughout the Commonwealth. No amalgamation is contemplated, but rather a consolidation of interests covering approximately ISO theatres’ At the same time an effort will be made to lay the foundation of the talking picture production industry in Australia. The almost immediate effect of the new understanding was a reduction in admission prices to Sydney theatres. It was considerably long overdue in the interests of the public. Premier’s Daughter to Marry

Miss Shirley Bavin, daughter of the Premier and Mrs. Bavin, is to be married in Sydney early next month to Lieutenant-Colonel J. S. Horn, R.N. (retired). Immediately after their marriage, they will leave for England where their home will be made. On her return from England recently it was announced that Miss Bavin’s engagement with Mr. John Bettington, the young cricketer-squatter, liad been broken off. It is strange how fate interferes in these matters. It was a last-minute decision that made the Premier’s daughter accompany her parents to England. There she renewed her friendship with her fiance, and as soon as she arrived in Sydney informed her father that she had changed her mind. Miss Bavin accompanied the Premier on a holiday visit to New Zealand soon after he assumed office. A Shock for Mr. Garden

Despite what the cables have to say, Mr. Jock Garden, the uncrowned Commissar of the Sydney Trades Hall, does not get- it all his own way He was vanquished "by the sitting member, Mr. Green, by a substantial majority for the eastern and southern suburbs seat on the Trades Council. A virulent attack on the leader of the extremist element by “Smith’s Weekly” resulted in Jock whipping in a writ for £5,000 damages against this newspaper. Personally, one can only speak of Jock Garden with the kindliest of feelings. He is one of the most likeable of men, an engaging conversationalist, an amusing raconteur, and a very human fellow altogether.

But Jock Garden, as leader of that coterie which includes Messrs. Kavanagh, Reeves and Ryan as it mouthpieces, must accept a fair share of the responsibility for those disgraceful scenes this State has witnessed during the last week or so. Surf Boom at Cooqce

Since the opening of the shark-proof swimming enclosure at Coogee on November 16, the Ranclwick Council has received £2,000 in fees, as against. £2BO for fees during the same period last year. Nearly 250,000 people have paid for admission to the area. The shark-proof net, after expert overhaul, was found to be in perfect con dition. It had stood every test to which it had been subjected. An Air Thrill

So accustomed is one to see parachute descents from a moving airplane in the movies, that the possibility of witnessing this hair-raising feat in the flesh did not give one any particular thrill. But I assure you it is a thrill! I saw a man descend from a plane at Bondi this week. The machine was flying at a height of 5 000 feet. For the first 1,000 feet the parachutist fell like a stone. For some reason the parachute refused to open. One expected him to land in the ocean. For a few seconds one had a mental vision of a school of Bondi sharks racing for his body! Then the parachute opened, and a contrary wind appeared to take its inanimate burden out to sea. A few minutes later, however, he was being swept over Ben Buckler. And there the parachutist lauded, in a thickly populated flat area, to the accompaniment of two blinding flashes from fused electric light wires. The parachute bumped him from one roof to another, the ropes meanwhile almost strangling him, as they had caught beneath his neck. The carnival authorities paid this young man for hia dare-devil feat. It appeared to be the hardest earned £BO I had heard of for a considerable time. New Zealand Singer Welcomed Madame Irene A nsley, the Auckland contralto, received an exceedingly flattering reception when she appeared this week as one of the principal soloists with the Royal Philharmonic Society. This year’s oratorio was. as usual, “The Messiah.” Madame Ainsley was also the leading soloist at the High Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral on Sunday in honour of the Pope's anniversary as a priest. The gathering was the most notable held in the Cathedral since the Eucharistic Congress. All the members of the consular corps appeared in uniform, impressive figures, too, were the Papal Knights, several of whom had only recently been advanced to that honour. Sir Mark Sheldon, who is wellknown in New Zealand through his business associations, was a distinguished member of that order in attendance. Back F-pm Japan Miss Carol West-Watson, daughter of the Bishop of Christchurch, is the guest of the Archbishop of Sydney and Mrs. 'Wright at Bishopscourt. Miss West-Watson arrived back from Japan with a party (including Professor Belshaw, of Auckland, and Mr. W. BMathieson, of Masterton), which attended the conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Kvoto. —ERIC RAMSDEN-