A New Zealander in Sydney Town

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 894, 11 February 1930, Page 8

A New Zealander in Sydney Town

THE SUN’S Sydney Correspondent SYDNEY. February 6. N.S.W.'s New Governor Lady Game, wife of Air ViceHarsha! Sir Philip Game, Governordesignate of Xew South Wales, is of interest to Xew Zealanders, as she is a relative of Sir Henry Wigram, of Christchurch. Sir Henry might very ■well be designated the "grand old man” of aviation as far as New Zealand is concerned. Perhaps the brilliant career of his relative by marriage, in the Royal Air Force, had something to do with arousing the Canterbury knight's interest. After Sir Dudley de Chair and his family leave for England, the LieutenantGovernor, Sir William Cullen, will officially act until the new Governor arrives. The news of Sir Phillip's appointment leaked out before it. was authoritatively published. One enterprising journal informed its readers of the King's decision at least a week before the Premier announced it. One Sunday Paper Less

The immediate result of acquiring the daily and Sunday “Guardians” by Sir Hugh Dennison and his colleagues of Associated Newspapers, Ltd., has been the withdrawal of the “Sunday News.” Sydney was informed that in future it would be incorporated with the "Sunday Guardian.” whiclf. strangely enough, though only a few months old. is already a thriving youngster. Other important changes in the newspaper life of Sydney can be expected within the next lewweeks. M odern Portia's Potatoes

When Sydney housewives boycotted potatoes because of the exorbitant ’ price a few months ago the deter- | mined onslaught against the Sussex i Street merchants was led by Miss j Portia Geach, a most capable general, I and an interesting personality. I know; something of her generalship because j 1 once accompanied her upon a tour j of the markets. Miss Geach proved an adept at avoiding the Japanese onions, defunct sandwiches, and an occasional much-prized potato thrown at her little party by unsympathetic wharf labourers. The other day Miss Geach moved her flat, or rather Its contents, from Macquarie Street to Cremorne. Her most valued possession was a kerosene tin. For four months she had carefully tended the potato plants growing in it. “I am dying to see whether it. contains five pounds of potatoes or six,” confessed Miss Geach. who believes that flat-dwellers should not be debarred from a potato Patch on their balconies if they particularly want one. Eileen Sparks To Marry The ‘‘stage is all set” for the mar- : liage in Melbourne, on February 15,’ of Eileen Sparks, the Australian actress. In Christmas week Miss Sparks announced her engagement to Mr. Lionel A. Hooke, one of the Melbourne heads of Amalgamated Wireless, Ltd. It is her intention to retire Into private life. Actors Appeal To Government Members of the theatrical profession appealed to the Government this ■week for financial assistance. Their plight is. indeed, a sorry one. The sympathy of the public is with the “Poverty Pointers” even If it does not. show a practical manner of displaying it. However, to ask the Government to do all manner of impossible things by way of taxation with the talkies is out of the question. Thinking people realise that this form of amusement is here to stay. They agree, too. that the legitimate stage, after this period of transition, will return to popularity. Meanwhile, actors, and musicians, too, continue to suffer. One of. the direct causes of the talkies boom In this city is the failure of one of the biggest apartment blocks in Sydney, a building with 100 flats. When Us principal clients, theatrical folk of one type and another, could not afford to rent homes there,- the building went into the hands of receivers. There were, of course, other factors, but this undoubtedly was the determining one. Some people can adjust themselves to change. Others cannot do so. Bert le Blanc, the comedian, for instance, has taken over a fish shop at Bondi. Help or Musicians Passing through Hyde Park during the lunch hour the other day I stopped and listened to an excellent orchestra, of perhaps 40 or so players. All were members of the unemployed. All were anxious to earn an honest penny Throughout the city and suburbs it is by no means an uncommon sight these days to see a small group of musicians playing to passers-by. It is officially estimated that at least 700 professional musicians are out of work. The City Commissioners have granted the Town Hall free of charge, apart from the usual expenses, for four concerts by out-of-work musicians. Rather reluctantly they were forced to decline a request for a subsidy for » civic orchestra. They had not the power to grant it. No Pay For Artists

Muriel Starr's company, playing at the Palace last week, received no pay for the final week's work. Now they nre in the suburbs with an excellent melodramatic bill trying to retrieve their forlune. After the back-stage bands had been paid nothing was' left over, though J. C. Williamsons were more than generous concerning the rent of the theatre. It is still eniptv. The recent Jewish Opera Company met with the same experience, likewise a vaudeville companv at Clay's Gaiety Theatre in Oxford Street. Communists’ "Red” Wedding The average New Zealander is somelimes inclined to take the average Communist a little too seriously. Not half as seriously though as the Communists take themselves. Sydney had jts first “Red” wedding at the Communists' Hall in Sussex Street the other day, a dreary, uninteresting building, adorned with 3 draped portrait of tile late Niekolai Lenin. The parties followed the Soviet non-reli-gious formula. Hands were crossed over the emblem of the Communist Jnternat ional—the hammer and the t ickle on a red flag. A declaration set. out that their first duty was to the party. Home life was to be based on sex equality. Provision for children ' vas the equal duty of both parents. r l reachery to “the movement" automatically dissolved the union. Sir Truby In the Air Sir Truby King, who is paying Sydney another of his by-no-means infrequent visits, made a flight with his daughter .Mary over the eftv during the week Captain H. F. Rroadbent Vaa at i:h<& control*. ERIC RAMS DEN.