RANDOM SHOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 288, 6 December 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS.

Sonic wrtto, a neighbours tiftine to lush, Home write—vain thought.! terneo.Unl cash, bouio wrilo to pUniue tlio country clash, And misea din. forme, an aim Inovorfnsh— 1 wiile for fun. Tub elections are over, and once more wo have settled down moo the humdrum monotony of everyday life. Some of us aro jubilant, forao satisfied, and some disappointed . Well, ili must bo so, I suppose; we cannot

all have our way in this world. But now that the ballot has been taken and the voice of tlio people declared, it is to be hoped that the little differences that have arisen in connection with th e various contests will be forgotten. There is no necessity why Brown and Smith should be bad friends for six months because their

political views wore irreconcilable, and neither is it necessary for houses to h&: divided againeC themselves on the twopenny halfpenny question of whether Blank is a botter Liberal than Konosnch, Wo are apt; to differ on political, ac well as on other questions', arid why should wo not ? Thoro are time;; when it is a positive virtue to agree to .differ. Howovor, the vote has been taken, tha fives have it, and if the noßs aro !-onsible uiuti they will waste no time in bad feeling, but conserve their strength for a year ov two, and renew the struggle under, luoro hopeful circv.mstances.

A man has only to put up for the position of member of Parliament to leavn moro about himself than ever ho know beforo. I Bhonld advipa an}- youiijj man with an arabitiioi! to enter Parlinaicnt to loud tho mosl; riotous life itruiKitiaWa, for then only can ho escape calumny. Stories of every kind aro told about tho aspirants for political hoiiours, and tho trouble is that most of them aro not spoken oprDtily, and no proof i» divert of thorn. True stories no man should object to, but lie* and inuenuoo* hiriteti iv the dark are only doservinpf ot contempt. Wo have nob yeb reached such a pitch of perfection in electiomwrlns; tauiicH iimt wo send on the p'atform to (he oppt'e-iny candirt.'ico a croup ut liabio*, «ll of abunt r.liO same who nnixo him by the lam" and cry " Pu," as Mark Twain tolls us. But wo'l'O Ejeitim; on, and may be expected to do bettor by-and-by. If one could have believed tho various electioneering agents, not a man in the iiold had atoprxjd short of any crime but murder. No wonder ninny a modest man with no particulnr iniquities to bo.»«t of is deterred from puttiny up for tbi) House. It wants a tough skin, a strong con.»cienco, a:i inditlbronco to smell, and lun-;s lillO leather, to stand an election campaign.

Brown can't make ft ont. I met him jzqing abnut to-day with a moefc dejneted atr," s :id r pu:«ied look in hU left Optic. I couldn't make Drown oub, and I asked him. Ho lieijan to fisplain that during the last tbreo weeks he li/id baen havinjj very pleasant, little chats occasionally with aomo of our leading citizens, who treated him in the most cot dial fashion. Every time ho mot them in the street, they stopped him with a pleasant bow and emile, and an inquiry nftor his wifo and children. Certainly, he sa.yc, they did talk mosjtly about the eloctionv. But he -.vn» getting rather to think that bo had mtujudfted his i'ollowmen. The candidates for election were especially friendly. But this morning Brown mot ono of his hobnobbing; silk-hatted frienda, and on nodding jovially was met with a cold .stnre, and never, oh, never, a word. Another looked across the street ata man, and altogether a cold clond seemed to hnvo settleddowr.on tho town. Thi3 is what had pnzfetod Brown. A word or ttvo unpuzzled him, and ho sworo a few.

The lot of candidates for Parliament is only one degree loss unhappy than that of tho poor devils of reporters who have to attend and give them "foil reports " night afr.<sr night. Tho reporter has no compensation, bub the candidate has a good one. Hβ con slang an opponent v.o his heart* content, and nobody thinks the worso of abuser or abused. To grumble is ciie pvondeets privilege of Uu Englishman, ftnd vituperative abuse adds greatly to the pleasure. Many of us are afraid to allow ourselves fche luxury. People are a« hasty. It is ono of -bbc mosb agreeable things In tho World tO tell 11 lHftil yon hate thnb he is a bigger fool than he looks, and to make other Chßbfcy remarks of a like kind. But it is somotiinos flo awkward. Something tells us we had better not. Generally it is the size of the man that se£tii3 to warn us off. Boots are made co heavy nowadays, and boijkj of these fellows are so robust and woll-developed. To do ifc thrash ft telephone mid then leave by bho nest boafc is pvob:ibly healthier and wiser fchan talking to tha man's face. Hβ is so apt to get vexed, and it's m> awk■ward when « man bigger than yon gets annoyed -in thnb sort of way, I meut>. .H.e always catches hold of you m roughly and the positionr, you /w&umo under guidance oJ his arms (and feet) are bo ungraceful.

Besides, it's not nice to have to sit dotrn co gently as you have to for a week eftcsr. It mnkes people a?k questions, and that is co onibarraasintr. So it's better to do it through a telephone if you can. There are othov ways, of enurse. Writing on telegraph pbsM or the pavement with chalk used to claim our attention a #ood deal come ycara ago. "Bill Snodks is A eneek." " Alice Tulip hae a new frok; Alice is awful dirty and tells lies." Legends such as these I saw on a tele- • graph post in Grafton Road the other day. So the custom ia still popular. But the beet way of all ia to become a candidate. Then you have only to hire the hull ond let yourself rip. Why, it must be delightful; nobody lninde, either. You can go and have a drink with the man after if you like. He ba* probably said twice as bad about you. There are certaioly compensations.

One does nob often hear a joke within the aacrod precincts of the Supreme Court, end when such * thing does occur it's usually a " bad 'un,' , which, if smiled upon irons the Bench, inevitably runs round the whale of the lawyer*, the witnesses and onlookers, while even tho prisoner at the bar Cannot eomehow reeUfc its ansefctling influence*. The notable Huntly pump case occupied the attention of the Court one afternoon this week, and things were becoming so wearisome that one juryroan actually dosed 6ft and "bad to be nwftfeetwrd, white others looked anything bus e'stseffiri os wide&wtWe. Mfenj? witnesses h<s<t to®ST) c3fti)«iJ end many mor© were to feitow. mul the mettoumy was brofceft by H man named Bailey, who camo forvfard ta ' trh'O evidence. Bailey had been one of accused originally, but was dismissed Hbecauee of the weakness of . the

evidence against him. The accused were charged with maliciously injuring a pump at tho Taupiri Extended Coal Company's mine, and Bailey vouchsafed the information that "ho had never been near the pump." He did not even know where it was. Then Mr Cotter, smilinff and bland, interposed with "You are a milkman, are you not, Mr Bailey ?" and the \vitness admitted fcho soft impeachment. Then there went round the Court a \ery mild titter; which in duo course reached His Honor, who proved himself quite equal to the occasion, and remarked that Mr (Jotter surely could not insinuate tliafc the nitneea would have tampered with the pump.

I have a great respect for His Honor Mr Justice Conolly as an upright and impartial judge. 1 have frequently watched dim on tho bench, and noticed what care and attention he devoted to each case, and bow judicious and judicial was his utterance. 1 was therefore very much surprised when I saw him reported as having epokon in a tone of irritation nboub •' protecting a witness against tlio labour Rang , ." It was nob li!ce him. It was nob what one whould expect from any judge. Common laymen may talk about a labour fcanc;, or a gang of land jobbers, or the lawyer gang, or tho Civil Servicegang, but even then itdoosnot sound well. But) a judge of the Supreme Court should neb allow people the opportunity to say thab ho is afieefced by class prejudices, lie may have had a bad dinner, or his wife may itavo scolded iiiTn Ihiit morning, or lie may have stepped on a tack iti gelfcinfj out ot bed, but he should f'Tget ail thft?o lictlo thin<;>; when on ti\c Bench, and hu should noli i rum It any claw, I run hiiro ilis Honor will fuel .sorry for hie conduct.

Should a man who has acted the villain towards a girl bo protected by his fellow." ? Should ho not rather bo openly exposed, and made to fool tho scorn ot his follow ovealnroa ? Thcso arc tha qac:>l.ion« that havo been a yroat mi'.ny people during the lust few weeks in connection with tho case of the unfortunatu (jirl who appearod boforo the Supreme Court charged with concealment of birth. When any man dcliborocely and with nmlice aforothontriit commits a great moral crime should ho not bo rnude v.i bpur the punishment deserved ? If ho coiiiiiiit a crime nirainst physical law lie i? relentlessly punished by nafcur«'a nv:n con; , . Bub the moral frolinj; of some won \= so blunt or so uneducntoci that they cm only bo tnaue fco fool the full force oi thoir yuilt for a crime ogainsb moruU by public exposure ii\ui puniphmrnt'. At present we iifiliet with plsriino ruicl punish* rnenti onl} r tho ono party, jronoroily tho innocent, to fchft crimo. Sor;iet.v*a fepiin<» on tho matter is disgracftfnlly orunl to tho party—disgracoiuily lonitt-.t t-i t.lio ofch«»r. But tho reader of this uiW dimply h\9 fliculder.'. murmur " It.'." n \iV v," and imrnt'diato'y s?o nrt'l h>.vo n wino with fch« villain. When vviil come tho change?