A New Zealander in Sydney Town

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1046, 9 August 1930, Page 28

A New Zealander in Sydney Town

THE SVX’S Sydney Correspondent SYDNEY. July 31.

New Federal Taxation The new Budget proposals of the Scullin Ministry have not added to the popularity of the Government. Not that that for one minute was to be expected. It is always a thankless task to find money for administrative purposes. The Government has been criticised principally, however, for its lack of economy. While Mr. Scullin preaches economy to the multitude, he is not prepared to carry the same doctrine into effect as far as the Government is concerned. A concerted protest against the new taxation proposals was made at a crowded meeting at the Town Hall yesterday, which was convened by the Lord Mayor (Alderman Marks, M.L.A.). It was decided to seek representation at an inter-State deputation which is to wait on the Prime Minister next week. The Budget has also been responsible for bringing into existence a Taxpayers’ Association, which is really representative of the great commercial interests of this city. Powerful pressure will be brought to bear upon the Government. It is realised, of course, that Mr. Scullin will not lend the same patient ear that Mr. Bruce might have beer expected to do under the same circumstances. State Government’s Victory

The possibility of the State Nationalist Party losing the Lane Cove seat, rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Walmsley, M.L.A., was hardly taken seriously. At the same time, it was rather difficult to estimate the strength of Mr. Hughes’s new Ausralian Party in his essentially suburban electorate. The new member, Mr. H. P. FitzSimons, is only 32 years of age. His father sat in the assembly before him. Though the Government, retained the seat by a substantial majority, the byelection was really no test as to the feeling of the people for the Bavin Ministry. Lane Cove has always been regarded as a “safe” seat for the Nationalist Party. Nevertheless, its retention has considerably heartened members of the party, who will have to face the electors of the State in a few months’ time. The Premier (Mr. Bavin) is making steady progress toward recovery from his recent operation. Rumour has it that he is the guest of Miss Macarthur Onslow at her old colonial home at Camden. An Artist’s Wanderings

We have always been proud to call Elloth Gruner, the painter, a New Zealander. Yet Mr. Gruner con-

fessed to me at dinner this evening that he knows nothing at all of the Dominion. He left the Gisborne district as a child, and has not been ill the country since. For the last six months he has been painting in the States of Victoria and South Australia, travelling by car, and staying wherever the spirit—or landscape—prompted him. For a painter. Elioth Gruner's output is surprisingly small. The quality though is notably high. One of his latest works, a large landscape of the Murruntbidgee country, was recently purchased by the trustees of the New South Wales National Gallery. Mr. Gruner is a quiet mannered, unassuming man in his early forties. When in town he invariably sits in his own particular corner at the Latin. Apart from the fact that Madame pays him special attention, as she does to all her guests of particular distinction, there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Gruner is one of the greatest masters of landscape in Australia. Archibald Memorial

Sicard’s groups of statuary for the Archibald memorial fountain are due in Sydney next month —considerably earlier than was anticipated. It is hoped that a commencement will be made with, the foundations for the memorial immediately afterward. It is to be erected in the northern portion of Hyde Park, not far distant from St. Mary’s Cathedral. The site is unique, as it laces Queen’s Square, one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city. So careful was the committee when selecting M. Sicard for this work —the sculptor, incidentally, was a friend of the late Georges Clemoneeau, who took the keenest interest in this work —that it had to be satisfied that he was “physically fit, and had sufficient resistance to live long enough under normal conditions” to complete it. Keen N.Z. Anthropologist

For nearly nine mouths during his stay on the Island of Tikopia, a tiny speck in Melanesia, Dr. Raymond Firth, anthropologist, of Auckland, saw no white men. He lived with the islanders, who happen to be Polynesians, observed their customs, and studied their traditions. Dr. Firth returned to civilisation after a year

with more than 50 notebooks crammed full of information. He told me at lunch the other day that when he saw Europeans again after his many months of exile in the interests of scienoe, he thought their faces to be out of proportion and their skins to be much too pale! He had become accustomed to the tanned complexions and the full features of his native hosts. Nowadays Dr. Firth is engaged as a lecturer at the Sydney University, where he is associated with that distinguished anthropologist, Dr. Radcliffe Brown. All his spare time, however, is occupied in sifting the fund of material gathered at Tikopia. Return of Jan Kubelik

Jan Kubelik has seen a great deal of Australia on his present visit. He has already played in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, and in the country districts of Queensland. Now he is ready to renew acquaintance with Sydney-siders, who have lauded and feted the distinguished visitor. Many years have passed since Kubelik was last in Sydney. His famous Strad, purchased in Leeds at. the sale of the instruments of a wealthy collector, has accompanied the violinist, likewise his Indian servant, its guardian, who is known as the indefatigable “Mr. Dawson.” N.Z. Commissioner in Queensland The recently appointed Goinmissioner for New Zealand in the Commonwealth, Mr. L. J. Schmitt, has been visiting Queensland. Tourist matters in. particular, I am informed, have been engaging his attention. —ERIC RAMSDEN.